S  S  -  SL 


^**  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^J 


PRESENTED  BV 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN   BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION 


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/OS 


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X. 


DISCOURSES 


uroN 


THE   EXISTENCE 


ATTRIBUTES  OF   GOD. 


BY 

STEPHEN  CHARNOCK,  B.  D. 


FIRST  AMERICAN  EDITION,  IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 


VOL.  I. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PRESBYTERIAN    BOARD    OF    PUBLICATION. 

JAMES  RUSSELL,  PUBLISHING  AGENT. 

1840. 


PHILADELPHIA. 
WILLIAM  8.  HARTIEN,  PRIMTER. 


CONTENTS 


VOLUME  I. 


DISCOURSE  I. 
THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

PAGE 

The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God.  They  are  corrupt, 
they  have  done  abominable  works,  there  is  none  that  doetli  good. — 
Psalm  xiv.  1. -  9 

DISCOURSE  II. 

PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God.  They  are  corrupt, 
they  have  done  abominable  works,  there  is  none  that  doeth  good. — 
Psalm  xiv.  1. 86 

DISCOURSE  III. 

GOD     IS    A    SPIRIT. 

God  is  a  Spirit:  and  they  that  worship  him  must  worship  him  in  spirit 
and  in  truth. — John  iv.  24. 189 

DISCOURSE  IV. 

SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

God  is  a  Spirit:  and  they  that  worship  him  must  worship  him  in  spirit 
and  in  truth. — John  iv.  24. 222 

DISCOURSE  V. 

THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

Before  the  mountains  were  brought  forth,  or  ever  thou  hadst  formed 
the  earth  and  the  world,  even  from  everlasting  to  everlasting,  thou 
art  God.— Psalm  xc.  2. 306 


4  CONTENTS. 

DISCOURSE  VI. 
THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

PAGE 

They  shall  perish,  but  thou  shalt  endure:  yea,  all  of  them  shall  wax 
ohl  like  a  garment;  as  a  vesture  shalt  thou  change  them,  and  they 
shall  be  changed :  but  thou  art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall  have 
no  end.— Psalm  cii.  26,  27. 345 

DISCOURSE  VII. 

GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

Can  any  hide  himself  in  secret  places  that  I  shall  not  see  him?  saith 
the  Lord.  Do  not  I  fill  heaven  and  earth]  saith  the  Lord. — Jer. 
xxiii.  24. -  407 

DISCOURSE  VIII. 

GOD'S    KNOWLEDGE. 

Great  is  our  Lord,  and  of  great  power:  his  understanding  is  infinite. — 
Psalm  cxlvii.  5. 457 

DISCOURSE  IX. 

THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

To  God  only  wise,  be  glory  through  Jesus  Christ  for  ever.  Amen. — 
Rom.  xvi.  27. 566 


TO  THE  READER. 


This  long  since  promised  and  greatly  expected  volume  of  the  reverend 
author  upon  the  Divine  attributes,  being  transcribed  out  of  his  own  manu- 
scripts, by  the  unwearied  diligence  of  those  worthy  persons  that  undertook 
it,1  is  now  at  last  come  to  thy  hands.  Doubt  not  but  thy  reading  will  pay 
for  thy  waiting,  and  thy  satisfaction  make  full  compensation  for  thy  patience. 
In  the  epistle  before  his  Treatise  of  Providence,  it  was  intimated  that  his 
following  Discourses  would  not  be  inferior  to  that,  and  we  are  persuaded, 
that  ere  thou  hast  perused  one  half  of  this,  thou  wilt  acknowledge  that  it 
was  modestly  spoken.  Enough,  assure  thyself,  thou  wilt  find  here  for  thy 
entertainment  and  delight,  as  well  as  profit.  The  sublimity,  variety,  and 
rareness  of  the  truths  here  handled,  together  with  the  elegance  of  the  com- 
posure, neatness  of  the  style,  and  whatever  is  wont  to  make  any  book  desira- 
ble, will  all  concur  in  the  recommendation  of  this.  What  so  high  and  noble 
a  subject,  what  so  fit  for  his  meditations  or  thine,  as  the  highest  and  noblest 
Being,  and  those  transcendently  glorious  perfections  wherewith  he  is 
clothed  ?  A  mere  contemplation  of  the  Divine  excellencies  may  afford  much 
pleasure  to  any  man  that  loves  to  exercise  his  reason,  and  is  addicted  to 
speculation;  but  what  incomparable  sweetness  then  will  holy  souls  find,  in 
viewing  and  considering  those  perfections  now,  which  they  are  more  fully 
to  behold  hereafter;  and  seeing  what  manner  of  God,  how  wise  and  power- 
ful, how  great  and  good,  and  holy  he  is,  in  whom  the  covenant  interests 
them,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  whom  their  happiness  consists!  If  rich 
men  delight  to  sum  up  their  vast  revenues,  to  read  over  their  rentals,  look 
upon  their  hoards;  if  they  bless  themselves  in  their  great  wealth,  or,  to  use 
the  prophet's  words,  Jer.  ix.  23,  glory  in  their  riches,  well  may  believers  re- 
joice and  glory  in  their  knowing  the  Lord,  verse  24,  and  please  themselves 
in  seeing  how  rich  they  are  in  having  an  immensely  full  and  all-sufficient 
God  for  their  inheritance.  Alas!  how  little  do  most  men  know  that  Deity 
they  profess  to  serve  and  own,  not  as  their  Sovereign  only,  but  their  por- 
tion! To  such  this  author  might  say,  as  Paul  to  the  Athenians,  Whom  you 
ignorantly  worship,  him  declare  I  unto  you,  Acts  xvii.  23.  These  treatises, 
reader,  will  inform  thee  who  He  is  whom  thou  callest  thine,  present  thee 
with  a  view  of  thy  Chief  Good,  and  make  thee  value  thyself  a  thousand 
times  more  upon  thy  interest  in  God,  than  upon  all  external  accomplish- 
ments and  worldly  possessions.  Who  but  delights  to  hear  well  of  one  whom 
he  loves!  God  is  thy  love,  if  thou  be  a  believer;  and  then  it  cannot  but  fill 
thee  with  delight  and  rapture  to  hear  so  much  spoken  in  his  praise.  David 
desired  to  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  that  he  might  there  behold  his 

1  Mr.  J.  Wichcns,  Mr.  Ashton. 


(3  TO  THE  READER. 

beauty:  how  much  of  that  beauty  (if  thou  art  but  capable  of  seeing  it) 
mayest  thou  behold  in  this  volume,  which  was  our  author's  main  business, 
for  about  three  years  before  he  died,  to  display  beibre  his  hearers!  True, 
indeed,  the  Lord's  glory,  as  shining  forth  before  his  heavenly  courtiers  above, 
is  unapproachable  by  mortal  men;  but  what  of  it  is  visible  in  his  works, 
creation,  providence,  redemption,  falls  under  the  cognizance  of  his  inferior 
subjects  here;  and  this  is  in  a  great  measure  presented  to  view  in  these 
Discourses,  and  so  much  we  may  well  say,  as  may  (by  the  help  of  grace)  be 
effectual  to  raise  thy  admiration,  attract  thy  love,  provoke  thy  desires,  and 
enable  thee  to  make  some  guess  at  what  is  yet  unseen;  and  why  not  like- 
wise to  clear  thy  eyes,  and  prepare  them  for  future  sight,  as  well  as  turn 
them  away  from  the  contemptible  vanities  of  this  present  life]  Whatever  is 
glorious  in  this  world,  yet  (as  the  apostle  in  another  case)  hath  no  glory  by 
reason  of  the  glory  that  excels,  2  Cor.  iii.  10.  This  excellent  glory  is  the 
subject  of  this  book,  to  which  all  created  beauty  is  but  mere  shadow  and 
duskiness.  If  thy  eyes  be  well  fixed  on  this,  they  will  not  be  easily  drawn 
to  wander  after  other  objects:  if  thy  heart  be  taken  with  God,  it  will  be 
mortified  to  every  thing  that  is  not  God. 

But  thou  hast  in  this  book  not  only  an  excellent  subject  in  the  general, 
but  great  variety  of  matter,  for  the  employment  of  thy  understanding,  as 
well  as  enlivening  thy  affections,  and  that  too  such  as  thou  wilt  not  readily 
find  elsewhere;  many  excellent  things  which  are  out  of  the  road  of  ordinary 
preachers  and  writers,  and  which  may  be  grateful  to  the  curious,  no  less 
than  satisfactory  to  the  wise  and  judicious.  It  is  not  therefore  a  book  to  be 
played  with,  or  slept  over,  but  read  with  the  most  intent  and  serious  mind ; 
for  though  it  afford  much  pleasure  for  the  fancy,  yet  much  more  work  for 
the  heart,  and  has  indeed  enough  in  it  to  busy  all  the  faculties.  The  dress 
is  complete  and  decent,  yet  not  garish  or  theatrical;  the  rhetoric  masculine 
and  vigorous,  such  as  became  a  pulpit,  and  was  never  borrowed  from  the 
stage;  the  expressions  full,  clear,  apt,  and  such  as  are  best  suited  to  the 
weightiness  and  spirituality  of  the  truths  here  delivered.  It  is  plain  he  was 
no  empty  preacher,  but  was  more  for  sense  than  sound;  he  filled  up  his 
words  with  matter,  and  chose  rather  to  inform  his  hearers'  minds,  than  to 
gratify  any  itching  ears.  Yet  we  will  not  say  but  some  little  things,  a  word 
or  a  phrase  now  and  then  he  may  have,  which  no  doubt  had  he  lived  to  trans- 
cribe his  own  sermons,  he  would  have  altered.  If  in  some  lesser  matters 
he  differ  from  thee,  it  is  but  in  such  as  godly  and  learned  men  do  frequently, 
and  may  without  breach  of  charity  differ  in  among  themselves;  in  some 
things  he  may  differ  from  us  too,  and,  it  may  be,  we  from  each  other;  and 
where  are  there  any  two  persons,  who  have  in  all,  especially  the  more  dis- 
putable points  of  religion,  exactly  the  same  sentiments,  at  least  express 
themselves  altogether  in  the  same  terms  1  But  this  we  must  say,  that  though 
he  treat  of  many  of  the  most  abstruse  and  mysterious  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity, which  are  the  subjects  of  great  debates  and  controversies  in  the 
world,  yet  we  find  no  one  material  thing  in  which  he  may  justly  be  called 
heterodox  (unless  old  heresies  be  of  late  orthodox,  and  his  differing  from 
them  must  make  him  faulty);  but  generally  delivers  (as  in  his'  former 

1  Treatise  of  Providence,  and  of  Thoughts. 


TO  THE  READER.  7 

pieces)  what  is  most  consonant  to  the  faith  of  this,  and  other  the  best  re- 
formed churches.  He  was  not  indeed  for  that  modern  divinity  which  is  so 
much  in  vogue  with  some,  who  would  be  counted  the  only  sound  divines; 
having  tasted  the  old,  he  did  not  desire  the  new,  but  said  the  old  is  better. 
Some  errors,  especially  the  Socinian,  he  sets  himself  industriously  against, 
and  cuts  the  very  sinews  of  them,  yet,  sometimes,  almost  without  naming 
them. 

In  the  doctrinal  part  of  several  of  his  discourses,  thou  wilt  find  the  depth 
of  polemical  divinity,  and  in  his  inferences  from  thence  the  sweetness  of 
practical;  some  things  which  may  exercise  the  profoundest  scholar,  and 
others  which  may  instruct  and  edify  the  weakest  Christian.  Nothing  is 
more  nervous  than  his  reasonings,  and  nothing  more  affecting  than  his  appli- 
cations. Though  he  make  great  use  of  schoolmen,  yet  they  are  certainly 
more  beholden  to  him  than  he  to  them;  he  adopts  their  notions,  but  he  re- 
fines them  too,  and  improves  them,  and  reforms  them  from  the  barbarousness 
in  which  they  were  expressed,  and  dresses  them  up  in  his  own  language, 
(so  far  as  the  nature  of  the  matter  will  permit,  and  more  clear  terms  are  to 
be  found,)  and  so  makes  them  intelligible  to  common  capacities,  which  in 
their  original  rudeness  were  obscure  and  strange,  even  to  learned  heads. 

In  a  word,  he  handles  the  great  truths  of  the  gospel  with  that  perspicuity, 
gravity,  and  majesty  which  best  becomes  the  oracles  of  God ;  and  we  have 
reason  to  believe,  that  no  judicious  and  unbiassed  reader,  but  will  acknow- 
ledge this  to  be  incomparably  the  best  practical  treatise  the  world  ever  saw 
in  English  upon  this  subject.  What  Dr.  Jackson  did  (to  whom  our  author 
gave  all  due  respect)  was  more  brief,  and  in  another  way.  Dr.  Preston 
did  worthily  upon  the  attributes  in  his  day,  but  his  discourses  likewise  are 
more  succinct,  when  this  author's  are  more  full  and  large.  But  whatever 
were  the  mind  of  God  in  it,  it  was  not  his  will  that  either  of  these  two 
should  live  to  finish  what  he  had  begun,  both  being  taken  away  when  preach- 
ing upon  this  subject.  Happy  souls!  whose  last  breath  was  spent  in  so 
noble  a  work,  praising  God  while  they  had  any  being,  Psal.  cxlvi.  2. 

His  method  is  much  the  same  in  most  of  these  Discourses,  both  in  the 
doctrinal  and  practical  part,  which  will  make  the  whole  more  plain  and 
easy  to  ordinary  readers.  He  rarely  makes  objections,  and  yet  frequently 
answers  them,  by  implying  them  in  those  propositions  he  lays  down  for  the 
clearing  up  the  truths  he  asserts.  His  dexterity  is  admirable  in  the  appli- 
catory  work,  where  he  not  only  brings  down  the  highest  doctrines  to  the 
lowest  capacities,  but  collects  great  variety  of  proper,  pertinent,  useful,  and 
yet  (many  times)  unthought  of  inferences;  and  that  from  those  truth?, 
which  however  they  afford  much  matter  for  inquisition  and  speculation,  yet 
might  seem  (unless  to  the  most  intelligent  and  judicious  Christians)  to  have 
a  more  remote  influence  upon  the  practice.  He  is  not  like  some  school 
writers,  who  attenuate  and  rarify  the  matter  they  discourse  of  to  a  degree 
bordering  upon  annihilation;  at  least  beat  is  so  thin,  that  a  puff'  of  breath 
may  blow  it  away;  spin  their  thread  so  fine,  that  the  cloth,  when  made  up, 
proves  useless;  solidity  dwindles  into  niceties,  and  what  we  thought  we  had 
got  by  their  assertions,  we  lose  by  their  distinctions.  But  if  our  author 
have  some  subtilties  and  superfine  notions  in  his  argumentations,  yet  he 


g  TO  THE  READER. 

condenses  them  again,  and  consolidates  them  into  substantial  and  profitable 
corollaries  in  his  applications.  And  in  them  his  main  business  is,  as  to  dis- 
cipline a  profane  world  for  its  neglect  of  God,  and  contempt  of  him  in  his 
most  adorable  and  sinning-  perfections;  so  likewise  to  show  how  the  Divine 
attributes  are  not  only  infinitely  excellent  in  themselves,  but  a  grand  foun- 
dation for  all  true  Divine  worship,  and  should  be  the  great  motives  to  pro- 
voke men  to  the  exercise  of  faith,  and  love,  and  fear,  and  humility,  and  all 
that  holy  obedience  they  are  called  to  by  the  gospel.  And  this,  without 
perad venture,  is  the  great  end  of  all  those  rich  discoveries  God  has  in  his 
word  made  of  himself  to  us.  And,  reader,  if  these  elaborate  Discourses  of 
this  holy  man,  through  the  Lord's  blessing,  become  a  means  of  promoting 
holiness  in  thee,  and  stir  thee  up  to  love,  and  live  to  the  God  of  his  praise, 
Psal.  cix.  1,  we  are  well  assured  that  his  end  in  preaching  them  is  answer- 
ed, and  so  is  ours  in  publishing  them. 

Thine  in  the  Lord, 

EDW.  VEEL. 
RI.  ADAMS. 
A.  D.  1684. 


ON  THE 


EXISTENCE  AND  ATTRIBUTES  OF  GOD. 


DISCOURSE  I. 


ON  THE  EXISTENCE  OP  GOD. 


Psalm  xiv.  1. — The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God.     They  are  cor- 
rupt, they  have  done  abominable  works,  there  is  none  that  doeth  good. 

This  psalm  is  a  description  of  the  deplorable  corruption  by 
nature  of  every  son  of  Adam,  since  the  withering  of  that  com- 
mon root.  Some  restrain  it  to  the  Gentiles,  as  a  wilderness  full 
of  briers  and  thorns;  as  not  concerning  the  Jews,  the  garden  of 
God,  planted  by  his  grace,  and  watered  by  the  dew  of  heaven. 
But  the  apostle,  the  best  interpreter,  rectifies  this  in  extending 
it  by  name  to  Jews,  as  well  as  gentiles,  (Rom.  iii.  9.)  '  We 
have  before  proved  both  Jews  and  gentiles,  that  they  are  all 
under  sin  ;'  and  (ver.  10 — 12,)  cites  part  of  this  psalm  and  other 
passages  of  Scripture  for  the  further  evidence  of  it,  concluding 
by  Jews  and  gentiles,  every  person  in  the  world  naturally  in 
this  state  of  corruption. 

The  psalmist  first  declares  the  corruption  of  the  faculties  of 
the  soul,  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart;  secondly,  the  streams 
issuing  from  thence,  they  are  corrupt,  &c:  the  first  in  atheisti- 
cal principles,  the  other  in  unworthy  practices;  and  he  lays  all 
the  evil,  tyranny,  lust,  and  persecutions  by  men,  (as  if  the 
world  were  only  for  their  sake)  upon  their  neglect  of  God, 
and  the  atheism  cherished  in  their  hearts. 

The  fool,  a  term  in  Scripture  signifying  a  wicked  man,  used 
also  by  the  heathen  philosophers  to  signify  a  vicious  person, 
Vjj  as  coming  from  >pj  signifies  the  extinction  of  life  in  men, 
animals  and  plants;  so  the  word  ^  is  taken,  a  plant  that  hath 
lost  all  the  juice  that  made  it  lovely  and  useful.1  So  a  fool  is 
one  that  hath  lost  his  wisdom,  and  right  notion  of  God  and 

1  Isaiah  xl.  7.  p-i  ^aj  '  the  flower  fadeth.'     Isaiah  xxvii.  I, 
Vol.  I.— 2 


10  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

divine  things  which  are  communicated  to  man  by  creation  ;  one 
dead  in  sin,  yet  one  not  so  much  void  of  rational  faculties  as  of 
grace  in  those  faculties,  not  one  that  wants  reason,  but  abuses 
his  reason.     In  Scripture  the  word  signifies  foolish.1 

Said  in  his  heart;  that  is,  he  thinks,  or  he  doubts,  or  he 
wishes.  The  thoughts  of  the  heart  are  in  the  nature  of  words 
to  God;  though  not  to  men.  It  is  used  in  the  like  case  of  the 
atheistical  person,  (Ps.  x.  11,  13.)  '  He  hath  said  in  his  heart, 
God  hath  forgotten;  he  hath  said  in  his  heart,  Thou  wilt  not  re- 
quire it.'  He  doth  not  form  a  syllogism,  as  Calvin  speaks,  that 
there  is  no  God:  he  dares  not  openly  publish  it,  though  he  dares 
secretly  think  it.  He  cannot  rase  out  the  thoughts' of  a  Deity, 
though  he  endeavours  to  blot  those  characters  of  God  in  his 
soul.  He  hath  some  doubts  whether  there  be  a  God  or  no:  he 
wishes  there  were  not  any,  and  sometimes  hopes  there  is  none 
at  all.  He  could  not  so  ascertain  himself  by  convincing  argu- 
ments to  produce  to  the  world,  but  he  tampered  with  his  own 
heart  to  bring  it  to  that  persuasion,  and  smothered  in  himself 
those  notices  of  a  Deity;  which  is  so  plain  against  the  light  of 
nature,  that  such  a  man  may  well  be  called  a  fool  for  it. 

There  is  no  God2  *xhw  rv1?  non  potest  as  Domini,  Chaldee. 
It  is  not  Jehovah,  which  name  signifies  the  essence  of  God,  as 
the  prime  and  supreme  being;  but  Eloahia,  which  name  signi- 
fies the  providence  of  God,  God  as  a  ruler  and  judge.  Not 
that  he  denies  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being,  that  created 
the  world,  but  his  regarding  the  creatures,  his  government  of 
the  world,  and  consequently  his  reward  of  the  righteous  or  pun- 
ishments of  the  wicked. 

There  is  a  threefold  denial  of3  God,  1.  Quoad  existentiam; 
this  is  absolute  atheism.  2.  Quoad  Providcntiam,  or  his  in- 
spection into,  or  care  of  the  things  of  the  world,  bounding  him 
in  the  heavens.  3.  Quoad  naturam,  in  regard  of  one  or  other 
of  the  perfections  due  to  his  nature. 

Of  the  denial  of  the  providence  of  God  most  understand  this, 
not  excluding  the  absolute  atheist,  as  Diagoras  is  reported  to  be, 
nor  the  sceptical  atheist,  as  Protagoras,  who  doubted  whether 
there  were  a  God.4  Those  that  deny  the  providence  of  God, 
do  in  effect  deny  the  being  of  God;  for  they  strip  him  of  that 
wisdom,  goodness,  tenderness,  mercy,  justice,  righteousness, 
which  are  the  glory  of  the  Deity.  And  that  principle,  of  a 
greedy  desire  to  be  uncontrolled  in  their  lusts,  which  induceth 
men  to  a  denial  of  Providence,  that  thereby  they  might  stifle 
those  seeds  of  fear  which  infect  and  embitter  their  sinful  plea- 

1  Muis  Saj  and  asn  nb  put  together.     Dcut.  xxxii.  G.     '  O   foolish  people  and 
nwise.' 

2  o'n^N  vn  '  No  God.'     Muis.  3  Coceeius. 

4  Not  owning  him  as  the  Egyptians  called  Otov  lyxoopiov.     Eugubin  in  loc. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  J  J 

sures,  may  as  well  lead  them  to  deny  that  there  is  any  such 
being  as  a  God.  Thus  at  one  blow,  their  fears  may  be  dashed 
all  in  pieces  and  dissolved  by  (he  removal  of  the  foundation  : 
as  men  who  desire  liberty  to  commit  works  of  darkness, 
would  not  have  the  lights  in  the  house  dimmed,  but  extin- 
guished. What  men  say  against  Providence,  because  they 
would  have  no  check  on  their  lusts,  they  may  say  in  their 
hearts  against  the  existence  of  God  upon  the  same  account ; 
there  is  little  difference  between  the  dissenting  from  the  one 
and  disowning  the  other. 

They  are  corrupt,  they  have  done  abominable  works,  there 
is  none  that  doeth  good.  He  speaks  of  the  atheist  in  the  sin- 
gular,'the  fool;'  of  the  corruption  issuing  in  the  life  in  the 
plural ;  intimating  that  though  some  few  may  choke  in  their 
hearts  the  sentiments  of  God  and  his  providence,  and  positively 
deny  them,  yet  there  is  something  of  a  secret  atheism  in  all, 
which  is  the  fountain  of  the  evil  practices  in  their  lives,  not  an 
utter  disowning  of  the  being  of  a  God,  but  a  denial  or  doubting 
of  some  of  the  rights  of  his  nature.1  When  men  deny  the  God 
of  purity,  they  must  needs  be  polluted  in  soul  and  body,  and 
grow  brutish  in  their  actions.  When  the  sense  of  religion  is 
shaken  off,  all  kind  of  wickedness  is  eagerly  rushed  into,  where- 
by they  become  as  loathsome  to  God  as  putrefied  carcasses  are 
to  men.2  Not  one  or  two  evil  actions  is  the  product  of  such  a 
principle,  but  the  whole  scene  of  a  man's  life  is  corrupted  and 
becomes  execrable. 

No  man  is  exempted  from  some  spice  of  atheism  by  the  de- 
pravation of  his  nature,  which  the  psalmist  intimates,  'there  is 
none  that  doeth  good  :'  though  there  are  indelible  convictions 
of  the  being  of  a  God,  that  they  cannot  absolutely  deny  it;  yet 
there  are  some  atheistical  bubblings  in  the  hearts  of  men,  which 
evidence  themselves  in  their  actions.  As  the  apostle,  (Tit.  i. 
16.)  'They  profess  that  they  know  God,  but  in  works  they 
deny  him.'  Evil  works  are  a  dust  stirred  up  by  an  atheistical 
breath.  He  that  habituates  himself  in  some  sordid  lust,  can 
scarcely  be  said  seriously  and  firmly  to  believe  that  there  is  a 
God  in  being;  and  the  apostle  doth  not  say  that  they  know 
God,  but  they  profess  to  know  him ;  true  knowledge  and  pro- 
fession of  knowledge  are  distinct.  It  intimates  also  to  us,  the 
unreasonableness  of  atheism  in  the  consequence,  when  men 
shut  their  eyes  against  the  beams  of  so  clear  a  sun,  God  re- 
vengeth  himself  upon  them  for  their  impiety,  by  leaving  them 
to  their  own  wills ;  lets  them  fall  into  the  deepest  sink  and  dregs 

1  Atheism  absolute  is  not  in  all  men's  judgments,  but  practical  is  in  all  men's 
actions. 

2  The  Apostle  in  the  Romans  applying  the  latter  part  of  it  to  all  mankind, 
but  not  tho  former;  as  the  word  translated  corrupt  signifies. 


12  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

of  iniquity  ;  and  since  they  doubt  of  him  in  their  hearts,  suffers 
them  above  others  to  deny  him  in  their  works,  this  the  apostle 
discourseth  at  large.1  The  text  then  is  a  description  of  man's 
corruption. 

1.  Of  his  mind.  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart.  No  better 
title  than  that  of  a  fool  is  afforded  to  the  atheist. 

2.  Of  the  other  faculties,  1.  In  sins  of  commission,  expressed 
by  their  loathsomeness  {corrupt,  abominable,)  2.  In  sins  of 
omission  {there  is  none  that  doeth  good)  he  lays  down  the  cor- 
ruption of  the  mind  as  the  cause,  the  corruption  of  the  other 
faculties  as  the  effect. 

I.  It  is  a  great  folly  to  deny  or  doubt  of  the  existence  or  being 
of  God  :  or,  an  atheist  is  a  great  fool. 

II.  Practical  atheism  is  natural  to  man  in  his  corrupt  state. 
It  is  against  nature  as  constituted  by  God,  but  natural,  as  nature 
is  depraved  by  man:  the  absolute  disowning  of  the  being  of  a 
God  is  not  natural  to  men,  but  the  contrary  is  natural ;  but  an 
inconsideration  of  God,  or  misrepresentation  of  his  nature,  is 
natural  to  man  as  corrupt. 

III.  A  secret  atheism,  or  a  partial  atheism,  is  the  spring  of 
all  the  wicked  practices  in  the  world :  the  disorders  of  the  life 
spring  from  the  ill  dispositions  of  the  heart. 

For  the  first,  every  atheist  is  emphatically  a  fool.  If  he  were 
not  a  fool,  he  would  not  imagine  a  thing  so  contrary  to  the 
stream  of  the  universal  reason  of  the  world,  contrary  to  the 
rational  dictates  of  his  own  soul,  and  contrary  to  the  testimony 
of  every  creature,  and  link  in  the  chain  of  creation:  if  he  were 
not  a  fool,  he  would  not  strip  himself  of  humanity,  and  degrade 
himself  lower  than  the  most  despicable  brute.  It  is  a  folly;  for 
though  God  be  so  inaccessible  that  we  cannot  know  him  per- 
fectly, yet  he  is  so  much  in  the  light,  that  we  cannot  be  totally 
ignorant  of  him;  as  he  cannot  be  comprehended  in  his  essence, 
he  cannot  be  unknown  in  his  existence;  it  is  as  easy  by  reason 
to  understand  that  he  is,  as  it  is  difficult  to  know  what  he  is. 
The  demonstrations  reason  furnisheth  us  with  for  the  existence 
of  God,  will  be  evidences  of  the  atheist's  folly.  One  would 
think  there  were  little  need  of  spending  time  in  evidencing  this 
truth,  since,  in  the  principle  of  it,  it  seems  to  be  so  universally 
owned,  and  at  the  first  proposal  and  demand,  gains  the  assent 
of  most  men. 

But,  1.  Doth  not  the  growth  of  atheism  among  us,  render 
this  necessary?  may  it  not  justly  be  suspected  that  the  swarms 
of  atheists  are  more  numerous  in  our  times,  than  history  records 
to  have  been  in  any  age,  when  men  will  not  only  say  it  in  their 
hearts,  but  publish  it  with  their  lips,  and  boast  that  they  have 
shaken  off  those  shackles  which  bind  other  men's  consciences? 

•  Rom.  i.  24. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  13 

Doth  not  the  barefaced  debauchery  of  men  evidence  such  a 
settled  sentiment,  or  at  least  a  careless  belief  of  the  truth,  which 
lies  at  the  root  and  sprouts  up  in  such  venomous  branches  in 
the  world  ?    Can  men's  hearts  be  free  from  that  principle  where- 
with their  practices  are  so  openly  depraved  ?     It  is  true,  the 
light  of  nature  shines  too  vigorously  for  the  power  of  man  to- 
tally to  put  it  out;  yet  loathsome  actions  impair  and  weaken 
the  actual  thoughts  and  considerations  of  a  Deity,  and  are  like 
mists  that  darken  the  light  of  the  sun,  though  they  cannot  ex- 
tinguish it:  their  consciences,  as  a  candlestick,  must  hold  it, 
though  their  unrighteousness  obscure  it,  (Rom.  i.  18,)  '  Who 
hold  the  truth  in  unrighteousness.'     The  engraved  characters 
of  the  law  of  nature  remain,  though  they  daub  them  with  their 
polluting  lusts  to  make  them  illegible:  so  that  since  the  incon- 
sideration  of  a  Deity  is  the  cause  of  all  the  wickedness  and 
extravagances  of  men;  and,  as  Austin  saith,  the  proposition  is 
always  true,  the  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  &c,  and  more  evi- 
dently true  in  this  age.  than  any,  it  will  not  be  unnecessary  to 
discourse  of  the  demonstrations  of  this  first  principle.     The 
apostles  spent  little  time  in  urging  this  truth;  it  was  taken  for 
granted  all  over  the  world,  and  they  were  generally  devout  in 
the  worship  of  those  idols  they  thought  to  be  gods:  that  age  run 
from  one  God  to  many,  and  our  age  is  running  from  one  God 
to  none  at  all. 

2.  The  existence  of  God  is  the  foundation  of  all  religion.  The 
whole  building  totters  if  the  foundation  be  out  of  course:  if  we 
have  not  deliberate  and  right  notions  of  it,  we  shall  perform 
no  worship,  no  service,  yield  no  affection  to  him.  If  there  be 
not  a  God,  it  is  impossible  there  can  be  one,  for  eternity  is  essen- 
tial to  the  notion  of  a  God  ;  so  all  religion  would  be  vain,  and 
unreasonable  to  pay  homage  to  that  which  is  not  in  being,  nor 
can  ever  be.  We  must  first  believe  that  he  is,  and  that  he  is 
what  he  declares  himself  to  be,  before  we  can  seek  him,  adore 
him,  and  devote  our  affections  to  him.1  We  cannot  pay  God 
a  due  and  regular  homage,  unless  we  understand  him  in  his 
perfections,  what  he  is;  and  we  can  pay  him  no  homage  at  all, 
unless  we  believe  that  he  is. 

3.  It  is  fit  we  should  know  why  we  believe,  that  our  belief 
of  a  God  may  appear  to  be  upon  undeniable  evidence,  and  that 
we  may  give  a  better  reason  for  his  existence,  than  that  we 
have  heard  our  parents  and  teachers  tell  us  so,  and  our  acquaint- 
ance think  so.  It  is  as  much  as  to  say  there  is  no  God,  when 
we  know  not  why  we  believe  there  is,  and  would  not  consider 
the  arguments  for  his  existence. 

4.  It  is  necessary  to  depress  that  secret  atheism  which  is  in 
the  heart  of  every  man  by  nature.    Though  every  visible  object 

'  Hcb.  xi.  6. 


|4  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

which  offers  itself  to  our  sense,  presents  a  Deity  to  our  minds 
and  exhorts  us  to  subscribe  to  the  truth  of  it,  yet  there  is  a  root 
of  atheism  springing  up  sometimes  in  wavering  thoughts  and 
foolish  imaginations,  inordinate  actions,  and  secret  wishes.  Cer- 
tain it  is,  that  every  man  that  doth  not  love  God,  denies  God; 
now  can  he  that  disaffects  him,  and  hath  a  slavish  fear  of  him, 
wish  his  existence,  and  say  to  his  own  heart  with  any  cheerful- 
ness, there  is  a  God,  and  make  it  his  chief  care  to  persuade 
himself  of  it?  he  would  persuade  himself  there  is  no  God,  and 
stifle  the  seeds  of  it  in  his  reason  and  conscience,  that  he  might 
have  the  greatest  liberty  to  entertain  the  allurements  of  the 
flesh.  It  is  necessary  to  excite  men  to  daily  and  actual  consi- 
derations of  God  and  his  nature,  which  would  be  a  bar  to  much 
of  that  wickedness  which  overflows  in  the  lives  of  men. 

5.  Nor  is  it  unuseful  to  those  who  effectually  believe  and 
love  him;1  for  those  who  have  had  a  converse  with  God,  and 
felt  his  powerful  influences  in  the  secrets  of  their  hearts,  to 
take  a  prospect  of  those  satisfactory  accounts  which  reason 
gives  of  that  God  they  adore  and  love;  to  see  every  creature 
justify  them  in  their  owning  of  him,  and  affections  to  him: 
indeed,  the  evidences  of  a  God  striking  upon  the  conscience  of 
those  who  resolve  to  cleave  to  sin  as  their  chiefest  darling,  will 
dash  their  pleasures  with  unwelcome  mixtures. 

I  shall  further  premise  this,  That  the  folly  of  atheism  is 
evidenced  by  the  light  of  reason.  Men  that  will  not  listen  to 
Scripture,  as  having  no  counterpart  of  it  in  their  souls,  cannot 
easily  deny  natural  reason,  which  riseth  up  on  all  sides  for  the 
justification  of  this  truth.  There  is  a  natural  as  well  as  a  re- 
vealed knowledge,  and  the  book  of  the  creatures  is  legible  in 
declaring  the  being  of  a  God,  as  well  as  the  Scriptures  are  in 
declaring  the  nature  of  a  God;  there  are  outward  objects  in  the 
world,  and  common  principles  in  the  conscience,  whence  it  may 
be  inferred. 

For,  1.  God  in  regard  of  his  existence  is  not  only  the  disco- 
very of  faith,  but  of  reason.  God  hath  revealed  not  only  his 
being,  but  some  sparks  of  his  eternal' power  and  godhead  in  his 
works,  as  well  as  in  his  word.  (Rom.  i.  19,  20,) 'God  hath 
showed  it  unto  them,' — how?2  in  his  works;  by  the  things  that 
are  made,  it  is  a  discovery  to  our  reason,  as  shining  in  the  crea- 
tures; and  an  object  of  our  faith  as  breaking  out  upon  us  in  the 
Scriptures:  it  is  an  article  of  our  faith,  and  an  article  of  our 
reason.  Faith  supposeth  natural  knowledge,  as  grace  suppo- 
sed! nature.  Faith,  indeed,  is  properly  of  things  above  reason, 
purely  depending  upon  revelation.  What  can  be  demonstrated 
by  natural  light,  is  not  so  properly  the  object  of  faith;  though 

1  Cocceii  Sum.  Thcol.  c.  8.  §  1.  -  Aquinas. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  15 

ia  regard  of  the  addition  of  a  certainty  by  revelation,  it  is  so. 
The  belief  that  God  is,  which  the  apostle  speaks  of,1  is  not  so 
much  of  the  bare  existence  of  God,  as  what  God  is  in  relation 
to  them  that  seek  him,  viz.  a  re  warder.  The  apostle  speaks  of 
the  faith  of  Abel,  the  faith  of  Enoch,  such  a  faith  that  pleases 
God:  but  the  faith  of  Abel  testified  in  his  sacrifice,  and  the 
faith  of  Enoch  testified  in  his  walking  with  God,  was  not  sim- 
ply a  faith  of  the  existence  of  God.  Cain  in  the  time  of  Abel, 
other  men  in  the  world  in  the  time  of  Enoch,  believed  this  as 
well  as  they:  but  it  was  a  faith  joined  with  the  worship  of  God, 
and  desires  to  please  him  in  the  way  of  his  own  appointment; 
so  that  they  believed  that  God  was  such  as  he  had  declared 
himself  to  be  in  his  promise  to  Adam,  such  an  one  as  would  be 
as  good  as  his  word,  and  bruise  the  serpent's  head.  He  that 
seeks  to  God  according  to  the  mind  of  God,  must  believe  that 
he  is  such  a  God  that  will  pardon  sin,  and  justify  a  seeker  of 
him;  that  he  is  a  God  of  that  ability  and  will,  to  justify  a  sinner 
in  that  way  he  hath  appointed  for  the  clearing  the  holiness  of 
his  nature,  and  vindicating  the  honour  of  his  law  violated  by 
man.  No  man  can  seek  God  or  love  God,  unless  he  believe 
him  to  be  thus;  and  he  cannot  seek  God  without  a  discovery 
of  his  own  mind  how  he  would  be  sought.  For  it  is  not  a 
seeking  God  in  any  way  of  man's  invention,  that  renders  him 
capable  of  this  desired  fruit  of  a  reward.  He  that  believes  God 
as  a  rewarder,  must  believe  the  promise  of  God  concerning  the 
Messiah.  Men  under  the  conscience  of  sin  cannot  tell,  without 
a  divine  discovery,  whether  God  will  reward,  or  how  he  will 
reward  the  seekers  of  him;  and  therefore  cannot  act  towards 
him  as  an  object  of  faith.  Would  any  man  seek  God  merely 
because  he  is,  or  love  him  because  he  is,  if  he  did  not  know 
that  he  should  be  acceptable  to  him?  The  bare  existence  of  a 
thing  is  not  the  ground  of  affection  to  it,  but  those  qualities  of 
it  and  our  interest  in  it,  which  render  it  amiable  and  delightful. 
How  can  men,  whose  consciences  fly  in  their  faces,  seek  God 
or  love  him,  without  this  knowledge  that  he  is  a  rewarder? 
Nature  doth  not  show  any  way  to  a  sinner,  how  to  reconcile 
God's  provoked  justice  with  his  tenderness.  The  faith  the 
apostle  speaks  of  here  is  a  faith  that  eyes  the  reward  as  an 
encouragement,  and  the  will  of  God  as  the  rule  of  its  acting; 
he  doth  not  speak  simply  of  the  existence  of  God. 

I  have  spoken  the  more  of  this  place,  because  the  Socinians2 
use  this  to  decry  any  natural  knowledge  of  God,  and  that  the 
existence  of  God  is  only  to  be  known  by  revelation,  so  that  by 
that  reason  any  one  that  lived  without  the  Scripture  hath  no 
ground  to  believe  the  being  of  a  God.     The  Scripture  ascribes 

1  Ileb.  xi.  6.  2  Voet.  Thcol.  Natural,  cap.  3.  §  1.  p.  22. 


I  (J  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

a  knowledge  of  God  to  all  nations  in  the  world  (Rom.  i.  19;) 
not  only  a  faculty  of  knowing,  if  they  had  arguments  and 
demonstrations,  as  an  ignorant  man  in  any  art  hath  a  faculty 
to  know;  but  it  ascribes  an  actual  knowledge  (ver.  19)  'mani- 
fest in  them;'  (ver.  21)  'They  knew  God;'  not  they  might  know 
him;  they  knew  him  when  they  did  not  care  for  knowing  him. 
The  notices  of  God  are  as  intelligible  to  us  by  reason,  as  any 
object  in  the  world  is  visible;  he  is  written  in  every  letter. 

2.  We  are  often  in  the  Scripture  sent  to  take  a  prospect  of  the 
creatures  for  a  discovery  of  God.  The  apostles  drew  argu- 
ments from  the  topics  of  nature,  when  they  discoursed  with 
those  that  owned  the  Scripture  (Rom.  i.  19,)  as  well  as  when 
they  treated  with  those  that  were  ignorant  of  it,  as  Acts  xiv. 
16,  17.  And  among  the  philosophers  of  Athens  (Acts  xvii.  27, 
29,)  such  arguments  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  apostles  thought 
sufficient  to  convince  men  of  the  existence,  unity,  spirituality, 
and  patience  of  God.  Such  arguments  had  not  been  used  by 
them  and  the  prophets  from  the  visible  things  in  the  world  to 
silence  the  gentiles  with  whom  they  dealt,  had  not  this  truth,  and 
much  more  about  God,  been  demonstrable  by  natural  reason: 
they  knew  well  enough  that  probable  arguments  would  not 
satisfy  piercing  and  inquisitive  minds.1 

In  Paul's  account,  the  testimony  of  the  creatures  was  with- 
out, contradiction.  God  himself  justifies  this  way  of  proceed- 
ing by  his  own  example,  and  remits  Job  to  the  consideration  of 
the  creatures,  to  spell  out  something  of  his  divine  perfections.2 
And  this  is  so  convincing  an  argument  of  the  existence  of  God, 
that  God  never  vouchsafed  any  miracle,  or  put  forth  any  act  of 
omnipotency,  besides  what  was  evident  in  the  creatures,  for  the 
satisfaction  of  the  curiosity  of  any  atheist,  or  the  evincing  of  his 
being,  as  he  hath  done  for  the  evidencing  those  truths  which 
were  not  written  in  the  book  of  nature,  or  for  the  restoring  a  de- 
cayed worship,  or  the  protection  or  deliverance  of  his  people. 
Those  miracles  in  publishing  the  gospel,  indeed,  did  demon- 
strate the  existence  of  some  supreme  power;  but  they  were 
not  seals  designedly  affixed  for  that,  but  for  the  confirmation  of 
that  truth,  which  was  above  the  ken  of  purblind  reason,  and 
purely  the  birth  of  Divine  revelation.  Yet  what  proves  the 
truth  of  any  spiritual  doctrine,  proves  also  in  that  act  the  exis- 
tence of  the  Divine  Author  of  it.  The  revelation  always  im- 
plies a  revealer,  and  that  which  manifests  it  to  be  a  revelation, 
manifests  also  the  supreme  revealer  of  it.  By  the  same  light 
the  sun  manifests  other  things  to  us,  it  also  manifests  itself. 

'  Voct.  Theol.  Natural,  cap.  3.  §  1.  p.  22. 

~  Jul)  .wviii.  39,  40,  &C  It  is  but  one  truth  in  philosophy  and  divinity; 
that  which  is  false  in  one,  cannot  be  true  in  another;  truth,  in  what  appearance 
soever,  dotli  never  contradict  itself. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  17 

But  what  miracles  could  rationally  be  supposed  to  work  upon 
an  atheist,  who  is  not  drawn  to  a  sense  of  the  truth  proclaimed 
aloud  by  so  many  wonders  of  the  creation?  Let  us  now  pro- 
ceed to  the  demonstration  of  the  atheist's  folly. 

It  is  a  folly  to  deny  or  doubt  of  a  Sovereign  Being  incompre- 
hensible in  his  nature,  infinite  in  his  essence  and  perfections, 
independent  in  his  operations,  who  hath  given  being  to  the 
whole  frame  of  sensible  and  intelligible  creatures,  and  governs 
them  according  to  their  several  natures,  by  an  inconceivable 
wisdom ;  who  fills  the  heavens  with  the  glory  of  his  majesty, 
and  the  earth  with  the  influences  of  his  goodness. 

It  is  a  folly  inexcusable  to  renounce,  in  this  case,  all  appeal 
to  universal  consent,  and  the  joint  assurances  of  the  creatures. 

Reason  I.  'Tis  a  folly  to  deny  or  doubt  of  that  which  hath 
been  the  acknowledged  sentiment  of  all  nations,  in  all  places 
and  ages.  There  is  no  nation  but  hath  owned  some  kind  of 
religion,  and,  therefore,  no  nation  but  hath  consented  in  the 
notion  of  a  Supreme  Creator  and  Governor. 

1.  This  hath  been  universal.  2.  It  hath  been  constant  and 
uninterrupted.     3.  Natural  and  innate. 

First,  It  hath  been  universally  assented  to  by  the  judgments 
and  practices  of  all  nations  in  the  world. 

1.  No  nation  hath  been  exempt  from  it.  All  histories  of  for- 
mer and  latter  ages  have  not  produced  any  one  nation  but  fell 
under  the  force  of  this  truth.  Though  they  have  differed  in 
their  religions,  they  have  agreed  in  this  truth;  here  both  hea- 
then, Turk,  Jew,  and  Christian,  centre  without  any  contention. 
No  quarrel  was  ever  commenced  upon  this  score  ;  though  about 
other  opinions  wars  have  been  sharp,  and  enmities  irreconcila- 
ble. The.  notion  of  the  existence  of  a  Deity  was  the  same  in 
all,  Indians  as  well  as  Britons,  Americans  as  well  as  Jews.  It 
hath  not  been  an  opinion  peculiar  to  this  or  that  people,  to  this 
or  that  sect  of  philosophers;  but  hath  been  as  universal  as  the 
reason  whereby  men  are  differenced  from  other  creatures,  so 
that  some  have  rather  defined  man  by  animal  religiosum,  than 
animal  rationale.  'Tis  so  entwined  with  reason  that  a  man  can- 
not be  accounted  rational,  unless  he  own  an  object  of  religion; 
therefore  he  that  understands  not  this,  renounceth  his  humanity 
when  he  renounceth  a  Divinity.  No  instance  can  be  given  of 
any  one  people  in  the  world  that  disclaimed  it.  It  hath  been 
owned  by  the  wise  and  ignorant,  by  the  learned  and  stupid,  by 
those  who  had  no  other  guide  but  the  dimmest  light  of  nature, 
as  well  as  by  those  whose  candles  were  snuffed  by  a  more 
polite  education,  and  that  without  any  solemn  debate  and  con- 
tention. Though  some  philosophers  have  been  known  to  change 
their  opinions  in  the  concerns  of  nature,  yet  none  can  be  proved 
to  have  absolutely  changed  their  opinion  concerning  the  being 
Vol.  I.— 3 


18  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

of  a  God.  One  died  for  asserting  one  God;  none,  in  the  for- 
mer ages  upon  record,  hath  died  for  asserting  no  God.  Go  to 
utmost  bounds  of  America,  you  may  find  people  without  some 
broken  pieces  of  the  law  of  nature,  but  not  without  this  signa- 
ture and  stamp  upon  them,  though  they  wanted  commerce  with 
other  nations,  except  as  savage  as  themselves,  in  whom  the 
light  of  nature  was  as  it  were  sunk  into  the  socket,  who  are 
but  one  remove  from  brutes,  who  clothe  not  their  bodies,  cover 
not  their  shame,  yet  were  they  as  soon  known  to  own  a  God, 
as  they  were  known  to  be  a  people.  They  were  possessed  with 
the  notion  of  a  Supreme  Being,  the  author  of  the  world  ;  had 
an  object  of  religious  adoration ;  put  up  prayers  to  the  deity 
they  owned  for  the  good  things  they  wanted,  and  the  diverting 
the  evils  they  feared.  No  people  so  untamed  where  absolute 
perfect  atheism  had  gained  a  footing.  Not  one  nation  of  the 
world  known  in  the  time  of  the  Romans  that  were  without 
their  ceremonies,  whereby  they  signified  their  devotion  to  a 
deity.  They  had  their  places  of  worship,  where  they  made 
their  vows,  presented  their  prayers,  offered  their  sacrifices,  and 
implored  the  assistance  of  what  they  thought  to  be  a  god;  and 
in  their  distresses  ran  immediately,  without  any  deliberation, 
to  their  gods:  so  that  the  notion  of  a  deity  was  as  inward  and 
settled  in  them  as  their  own  souls,  and,  indeed,  runs  in  the  blood 
of  mankind.  The  distempers  of  the  understanding  cannot 
utterly  deface  it;  you  shall  scarce  find  the  most  distracted  mad- 
man, in  his  raving  fits,  to  deny  a  God,  though  he  may  blas- 
pheme, and  fancy  himself  one. 

2.  Nor  doth  the  idolatry  and  multiplicity  of  gods  in  the 
world  weaken,  but  confirm  this  universal  consent.  Whatso- 
ever unworthy  conceits  men  have  had  of  God  in  all  nations,  or 
whatsoever  degrading  representations  they  have  made  of  him, 
yet  they  all  concur  in  this,  that  there  is  a  Supreme  Power  to  be 
adored.  Though  one  people  worshipped  the  sun,  others  the 
fire — and  the  Egyptians,  gods  out  of  their  rivers,  gardens,  and 
fields;  yet  the  notion  of  a  Deity  existent,  who  created  and 
governed  the  world,  and  conferred  daily  benefits  upon  them, 
was  maintained  by  all,  though  applied  to  the  stars,  and  in  part 
to  those  sordid  creatures.  All  the  Dagons  of  the  world  esta- 
blish this  truth,  and  fall  down  before  it.  Had  not  the  nations 
owned  the  being  of  a  God,  they  had  never  offered  incense  to 
an  idol:  had  there  not  been  a  deep  impression  of  the  existence 
of  a  Deity,  they  had  never  exalted  creatures  below  themselves 
to  the  honour  of  altars:  men  could  not  so  easily  have  been  de- 
ceived by  forged  deities,  if  they  had  not  had  a  notion  of  a  real 
one.  Their  fondness  to  set  up  others  in  the  place  of  God, 
evidenced  a  natural  knowledge  that  there  was  one  who  had  a 
right  to  be  worshipped.     If  there  were  not  this  sentiment  of  a 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  ]  9 

Deity,  no  man  would  ever  have  made  an  image  of  a  piece  of 
wood,  worshipped  it,  prayed  to  it  and  said, "Deliver  me,  for 
thou  art  my  God."1  They  applied  a  general  notion  to  a  particu- 
lar image.  The  difference  is  in  the  manner,  and  immediate 
object  of  worship,  not  in  the  formal  ground  of  worship.  The 
worship  sprung  from  a  true  principle,  though  it  was  not  applied 
to  a  right  object:  while  they  were  rational  creatures  they  could 
not  deface  the  notion;  yet  while  they  were  corrupt  creatures  it 
was  not  difficult  to  apply  themselves  to  a  wrong  object  from  a 
true  principle.  A  blind  man  knows  he  hatha  way  to  go  as  well 
as  one  of  the  clearest  sight;  but  because  of  his  blindness  Sb 
he  may  miss  the  way  and  stumble  into  a  ditch.  No  man  would 
be  imposed  upon  to  take  a  Bristol  stone  instead  of  a  diamond, 
if  he  did  not  know  that  there  were  such  things  as  diamonds  in 
the  world:  nor  any  man  spread  forth  his  hands  to  an  idol,  if  he 
were  altogether  without  the  sense  of  a  Deity.  Whether  it  be 
a  false  or  true  God  men  apply  to,  yet  in  both,  the  natural  sen- 
timent of  a  God  is  evidenced;  all  their  mistakes  were  grafts 
inserted  in  this  stock,  since  they  would  multiply  gods  rather 
than  deny  a  Deity.2 

How  should  such  a  general  submission  be  entered  into  by 
all  the  world,  so  as  to  adore  things  of  a  base  alloy,  if  the  force 
of  religion  were  not  such,  that  in  any  fashion  a  man  would 
seek  the  satisfaction  of  his  natural  instinct  to  some  object  of 
worship?  This  great  diversity  confirms  this  consent  to  be  a 
good  argument,  for  it  evidenceth  it  not  to  be  a  cheat,  combina- 
tion or  conspiracy  to  deceive,  or  a  mutual  intelligence,  but 
every  one  finds  it  in  his  climate,  yea  in  himself.  People  would 
never  have  given  the  title  of  a  God  to  men  or  brutes  had  there 
not  been  a  pre-existing  and  unquestioned  persuasion,  that  there 
was  such  a  Being; — how  else  should  the  notion  of  a  God  come 
into  their  minds? — the  notion  that  there  is  a  God  must  be  more 
ancient.3 

3.  Whatsoever  disputes  there  have  been  in  the  world,  this 
of  the  existence  of  God  was  never  the  subject  of  contention. 
All  other  things  have  been  questioned.  What  jarrings  were 
there  among  philosophers  about  natural  things!  into  how  many 
parties  were  they  split!  with  what  animosities  did  they  main- 
tain their  several  judgments!  but  we  hear  of  no  solemn  con- 
troversies about  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being:  this  never 
met  with  any  considerable  contradiction:  no  nation,  that  hath 
put  other  things  to  question,  would  ever  suffer  this  to  be  dis- 
paraged, so  much  as  by  a  public  doubt.  We  find  among  the 
heathen  contentions  about  the  nature  of  God  and  the  number 
of  gods,  some  asserted  an  innumerable  multitude  of  gods,  some 

1  Isaiah  xliv.  17.  2  Charron  de  la  Sagesse,  Liv.  i.  ch.  7.  p.  43,  44. 

3  Gassend.  Phys.  §  1.  lib.  iv.  c.  2.  p.  291. 


20  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

affirmed  him  to  be  subject  to  birth  and  death,  some  affirmed 
the  entire  world  was  God;  others  fancied  him  to  be  a  circle  of 
a  bright  fire;  others  that  he  was  a  spirit  diffused  through  the 
whole  world:1  yet  they  unanimously  concurred  in  this,  as  the 
judgment  of  universal  reason,  that  there  was  such  a  sovereign 
Being :  and  those  that  were  sceptical  in  every  thing  else,  and 
asserted  that  the  greatest  certainty  was  that  there  was  nothing 
certain,  professed  a  certainty  in  this.  The  question  was  not 
whether  there  was  a  First  Cause,  but  what  it  was.  It  is  much 
the  same  thing,  as  the  disputes  about  the  nature  and  matter  of 
the  heavens,  the  sun  and  planets,  though  there  be  great  diver- 
sity of  judgments,  yet  all  agree  that  there  are  heavens,  sun, 
planets;  so  all  the  contentions  among  men  about  the  nature  of 
God,  weaken  not,  but  rather  confirm,  that  there  is  a  God,  since 
there  was  never  a  public  formal  debate  about  his  existence.  2 
Those  that  have  been  ready  to  pull  out  one  another's  eyes  for 
their  dissent  from  their  judgments,  sharply  censured  one  an- 
other's sentiments,  envied  the  births  of  one  another's  wits, 
always  shook  hands  with  an  unanimous  consent  in  this;  never 
censured  one  another  for  being  of  this  persuasion,  never  called 
it  into  question;  as  what  was  never  controverted  among  men 
professing  Christianity,  but  acknowledged  by  all,  though  con- 
tending about  other  things,  has  reason  to  be  judged  a  certain 
truth  belonging  to  the  Christian  religion;  so  what  was  never 
subjected  to  any  controversy,  but  acknowledged  by  the  whole 
world,  hath  reason  to-be  embraced  as  a  truth  without  any  doubt. 
4.  This  universal  consent  is  not  prejudiced  by  some  few  dis- 
senters. History  doth  not  reckon  twenty  professed  atheists  in 
all  ages  in  the  compass  of  the  whole  world:  and  we  have  not 
the  name  of  any  one  absolute  atheist  upon  record  in  Scripture: 
yet  it  is  questioned,  whether  any  of  them,  noted  in  hislory  with 
that  infamous  name,  were  downright  deniers  of  the  existence 
of  God,  but  rather  because  they  disparaged  the  deities  com- 
monly worshipped  by  the  nations  where  they  lived,  as  being 
of  a  clearer  reason  to  discern  that  those  qualities,  vulgarly  attri- 
buted to  their  gods,  as  lust  and  luxury,  wantonness  and  quar- 
rels, were  unworthy  of  the  nature  of  a  god. 3  But  suppose 
they  were  really  what  they  are  termed  to  be,  what  are  they  to 
the  multitude  of  men  that  have  sprung  out  of  the  loins  of  Adam? 
not  so  much  as  one  grain  of  ashes  is  to  all  that  were  ever  turn- 
ed into  that  form  by  any  fires  in  your  chimnies.  And  many 
more  were  not  sufficient  to  weigh  down  the  contrary  consent 
of  the  whole  world,  and  bear  down  an  universal  impression. 
Should  the  laws  of  a  country,  agreed  universally  to  by  the 
whole  body  of  the  people,  be  accounted  vain,  because  a  hun- 

•  Amyraut  des  Religions,  p.  50.        2  Gassend.  Phys.  §  1.  lib.  iv.  c.  2.  p.  291. 
3  Gassend.  ibid.  c.  7.  p.  282. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  21 

dred  men  of  those  millions  disapprove  of  them,  when  not  their 
reason,  but  their  folly  and  base  interest,  persuades  them  to  dis- 
like them  and  dispute  against  them?  What  if  some  men  be 
blind,  shall  any  conclude  from  thence  that  eyes  are  not  natural 
to  men?  shall  we  say  that  the  notion  of  the  existence  of  God 
is  not  natural  to  men,  because  a  very  small  number  have  been 
of  a  contrary  opinion?  shall  a  man  in  a  dungeon,  that  never 
saw  the  sun,  deny  that  there  is  a  sun,  because  one  or  two  blind 
men  tell  him  there  is  none,  when  thousands  assure  him  there 
is?1  Why  should  then  the  exceptions  of  a  few,  not  one  to 
millions,  discredit  that  which  is  voted  certainly  true  by  the 
joint  consent  of  the  world?  Add  this,  too,  that  if  those  that  are 
reported  to  be  atheists  had  had  any  considerable  reason  to  step 
aside  from  the  common  persuasion  of  the  whole  world,  it  is  a 
wonder  it  met  not  with  entertainment  by  great  numbers  of 
those,  who,  by  reason  of  their  notorious  wickedness  and  in- 
ward disquiets,  might  reasonably  be  thought  to  wish  in  their 
hearts  that  there  were  no  God.  It  is  strange  if  there  were  any 
reason  on  their  side,  that  in  so  long  a  space  of  time  as  hath  run 
out  from  the  creation  of  the  world,  there  could  not  be  engaged 
a  considerable  number  to  frame  a  society  for  the  profession  of 
it.  It  hath  died  with  the  person  that  started  it,  and  vanished 
as  soon  as  it  appeared. 

To  conclude  this,  is  it  not  folly  for  any  man  to  deny  or  doubt 
of  the  being  of  a  God,  to  dissent  from  all  mankind,  and  stand 
in  contradiction  to  human  nature?  What  is  the  general  dictate 
of  nature  is  a  certain  truth.  It  is  impossible  that  nature  can 
naturally  and  universally  lie.  And  therefore  those  that  ascribe 
all  to  nature,  and  set  it  in  the  place  of  God,  contradict  them- 
selves, if  they  give  not  credit  to  it  in  that  which  it  universally 
affirms.  A  general  consent  of  all  nations  is  to  be  esteemed  as 
a  law  of  nature.  2  Nature  cannot  plant  in  the  minds  of  all 
men  an  assent  to  a  falsity,  for  then  the  laws  of  nature  would 
be  destructive  to  the  reason  and  minds  of  men.  How  is  it  pos- 
sible, that  a  falsity  should  be  a  persuasion  spread  through  all 
nations,  engraven  upon  the  minds  of  all  men,  men  of  the  most 
towering,  and  men  of  the  most  creeping  understanding;  that 
they  should  consent  to  it  in  all  places,  and  in  those  places 
where  the  nations  have  not  had  any  known  commerce  with 
the  rest  of  the  known  world  ?  a  consent  not  settled  by  any  law 
of  man  to  constrain  people  to  a  belief  of  it:  and  indeed  it  is 
impossible  that  any  law  of  man  can  constrain  the  belief  of  the 
mind.  Would  not  he  deservedly  be  accounted  a  fool,  that 
should  deny  that  to  be  gold  which  hath  been  tried  and  ex- 
amined by  a  great  number  of  knowing  goldsmiths,  and  hath 

'  Gassend.  Phys.  §  1.  lib.  iv.  c.  7.  p.  290.  *  Cicero. 


22  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

passed  the  test  of  all  their  touchstones?  What  excess  of  folly 
would  it  be  for  him  to  deny  it  to  be  true  gold,  if  it  had  been 
tried  by  all  that  had  skill  in  that  metal  in  all  nations  in  the 
world! 

Secondly,  It  hath  been  a  constant  and  uninterrupted  consent. 
It  hath  been  as  ancient  as  the  first  age  of  the  world ;  no  man  is 
able  to  mention  any  time,  from  the  beginning  of  the  world, 
wherein  this  notion  hath  not  been  universally  owned;  it  is  as 
old  as  mankind,  and  hath  run  along  with  the  course  of  the  sun, 
nor  can  the  date  be  fixed  lower  than  that. 

1.  In  all  the  changes  of  the  world,  this  hath  been  maintain- 
ed. In  the  overturnings  of  the  government  of  states,  the  altera- 
tion of  modes  of  worship,  this  hath  stood'  unshaken.  The  rea- 
sons upon  which  it  was  founded  were,  in  all  revolutions  of 
time,  accounted  satisfactory  and  convincing,  nor  could  absolute 
atheism  in  the  changes  of  any  laws  ever  gain  the  favour  of  any 
one  body  of  people  to  be  established  by  a  law.  When  the 
honour  of  the  heathen  idols  was  laid  in  the  dust,  this  suffered 
no  impair.  The  being  of  one  God  was  more  vigorously  own- 
ed, when  the  unreasonableness  of  multiplicity  of  gods  was 
manifest;  and  grew  firmer  by  the  detection  of  counterfeits. 
When  other  parts  of  the  law  of  nature  have  been  violated  by 
some  nations,  this  hath  maintained  its  standing.  The  long 
series  of  ages  hath  been  so  far  from  blotting  it  out,  that  it  hath 
more  strongly  confirmed  it,  and  maketh  further  progress  in  the 
confirmation  of  it.  Time,  which  hath  eaten  out  the  strength  of 
other  things,  and  blasted  mere  inventions,  hath  not  been  able  to 
consume  this.  The  discovery  of  all  other  impostures,  never 
made  this  by  any  society  of  men  to  be  suspected  as  one.  It 
will  not  be  easy  to  name  any  imposture  that  hath  walked  per- 
petually in  the  world  without  being  discovered,  and  whipped 
out  by  some  nation  or  other.  Falsities  have  never  been  so  uni- 
versally and  constantly  owned  without  public  control  and  ques- 
tion. And  since  the  world  hath  detected  many  errors  of  the 
former  age,  and  learning  been  increased,  this  hath  been  so  far 
from  being  dimmed,  that  it  hath  shone  out  clearer  with  the 
increase  of  natural  knowledge,  and  received  fresh  and  more 
vigorous  confirmations. 

2.  The  fears  and  anxieties  in  the  consciences  of  men  have 
given  men  sufficient  occasion  to  root  it  out,  had  it  been  possible 
for  them  to  do  it.  If  the  notion  of  the  existence  of  God  had 
been  possible  to  have  been  dashed  out  of  the  minds  of  men, 
they  would  have  done  it  rather  than  have  suffered  so  many 
troubles  in  their  souls  upon  the  commission  of  sin;  since  there 
did  not  want  wickedness  and  wit  in  so  many  corrupt  ages  to 
have  attempted  it  and  prospered  in  it,  had  it  been  possible. 
How  comes  it  therefore  to  pass,  that  such  a  multitude  of  pro- 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  23 

fligate  persons  that  have  been  in  the  world  since  the  fall  of 
man,  should  not  have  rooted  out  this  principle,  and  dispossessed 
the  minds  of  men  of  that  which  gave  birth  to  their  tormenting 
fears  ?  How  is  it  possible  that  all  should  agree  together  in  a 
thing  which  created  fear,  and  an  obligation  against  the  interest 
of  the  flesh,  if  it  had  been  free  for  men  to  discharge  themselves 
of  it  ?  No  man,  as  far  as  corrupt  nature  bears  sway  in  him,  is 
willing  to  live  controlled. 

The  first  man  would  rather  be  a  god  himself  than  under 
one;1  why  should  men  continue  this  notion  in  them,  which 
shackled  them  in  their  vile  inclinations,  if  it  had  been  in  their 
power  utterly  to  deface  it  ?  If  it  were  an  imposture,  how  comes 
it  to  pass,  that  all  the  wicked  ages  of  the  world  could  never 
discover  that  to  be  a  cheat,  which  kept  them  in  continual 
alarms  ?  Men  wanted  not  will  to  shake  off  such  apprehensions; 
as  Adam,  so  all  his  posterity  are  desirous  to  hide  themselves 
from  God  upon  the  commission  of  sin,2  and  by  the  same  rea- 
son they  would  hide  God  from  their  souls.  What  is  the  reason 
they  could  never  attain  their  will  and  their  wish  by  all  their 
endeavours?  Could  they  possibly  have  satisfied  themselves 
that  there  were  no  God,  they  had  discarded  their  fears,  the  dis- 
turbers of  the  repose  of  their  lives,  and  been  unbridled  in  their 
pleasures.  The  wickedness  of  the  world  would  never  have 
preserved  that  which  was  a  perpetual  molestation  to  it,  had  it 
been  possible  to  be  rased  out. 

But  since  men  under  the  turmoils  and  lashes  of  their  own 
consciences  could  never  bring  their  hearts  to  a  settled  dissent 
from  this  truth,  it  evidenceth,  that  as  it  took  its  birth  at  the 
beginning  of  the  world,  it  cannot  expire,  no  not  in  the  ashes  of 
it,  nor  in  any  thing  but  the  reduction  of  the  soul  to  that  nothing 
from  whence  it  sprung.  This  conception  is  so  perpetual,  that 
the  nature  of  the  soul  must  be  dissolved  before  it  be  rooted  out, 
nor  can  it  be  extinct  while  the  soul  endures. 

3.  Let  it  be  considered  also  by  us  that  own  the  Scripture, 
that  the  devil  deems  it  impossible  to  root  out  this  sentiment. 
It  seems  to  be  so  perpetually  fixed,  that  the  devil  did  not  think 
fit  to  tempt  man  to  the  denial  of  the  existence  of  a  Deity,  but 
persuaded  him  to  believe  he  might  ascend  to  that  dignity  and 
become  a  god  himself;  Gen.  iii.  1.  'Hath  God  said?'  and  he 
there  owns  him  (ver.  5),  'Ye  shall  become  as  gods/  He  owns 
God  in  the  question  he  asks  the  woman,  and  persuades  our 
first  parents  to  be  gods  themselves.  And  in  all  stories,  both 
ancient  and  modern,  the  devil  was  never  able  to  tincture  men's 
minds  with  a  professed  denial  of  the  Deity,  which  would  have 
opened  a  door  to  a  world  of  more  wickedness  than  hath  been 

1  Gen.  iii.  5.  2  Gen.  iii.  9. 


24  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

acted,  and  took  away  the  bar  to  the  breaking  out  of  that  evil, 
which  is  naturally  in  the  hearts  of  men,  to  the  greater  preju- 
dice of  human  societies.  He  wanted  not  malice  to  rase  out 
all  the  notions  of  God,  but  power:  he  knew  it  was  impossible 
to  effect  it,  and  therefore  in  vain  to  attempt  it.  He  set  up  him- 
self in  several  places  of  the  ignorant  world  as  a  god,  but  never 
was  able  to  overthrow  the  opinion  of  the  being  of  a  God.  The 
impressions  of  a  Deity  were  so  strong  as  not  to  be  struck  out 
by  the  malice  and  power  of  hell. 

What  a  folly  is  it  then  in  any  to  contradict  or  doubt  of  this 
truth,  which  all  the  periods  of  time  have  not  been  able  to  wear 
out ;  which  all  the  wars  and  quarrels  of  men  with  their  own 
consciences  have  not  been  able  to  destroy;  which  ignorance 
and  debauchery,  its  two  greatest  enemies,  cannot  weaken; 
which  all  the  falsehoods  and  errors  which  have  reigned  in  one 
or  other  part  of  the  world,  have  not  been  able  to  banish;  which 
lives  in  the  consents  of  men  in  spite  of  all  their  wishes  to  the 
contrary,  and  hath  grown  stronger,  and  shone  clearer,  by  the 
improvements  of  natural  reason! 

Thirdly,  Natural  and  innate  ;  which  pleads  strongly  for  the 
perpetuity  of  it.  It  is  natural,  though  some  think  it  not  a 
principle  written  in  the  heart  of  man ; 1  it  is  so  natural  that  every 
man  is  born  with  a  restless  instinct  to  be  of  some  kind  of  reli- 
gion or  other,  which  implies  some  object  of  religion.  The  im- 
pression of  a  Deity  is  as  common  as  reason,  and  of  the  same 
age  with  reason.2  It  is  a  relic  of  knowledge  after  the  fall  of 
Adam,  like  fire  under  ashes,  which  sparkles  as  soon  as  ever  the 
heap  of  ashes  is  opened : — a  notion  sealed  up  in  the  soul  of 
every  man  ;3  else  how  could  those  people  who  were  unknown 
to  one  another,  separate  by  seas  and  mounts,  differing  in  various 
customs  and  manner  of  living,  who  had  no  mutual  intelligence 
one  with  another,  light  upon  this  as  a  common  sentiment,  if 
they  had  not  been  guided  by  one  uniform  reason  in  all  their 
minds,  by  one  nature  common  to  them  all:  though  their  cli- 
mates be  different,  their  tempers  and  constitutions  various,  their 
imaginations  in  some  things  as  distant  from  one  another  as 
heaven  is  from  earth,  the  ceremonies  of  their  religion  not  all 
of  the  same  kind ;  yet  wherever  you  find  human  nature,  you 
find  this  settled  persuasion.  So  that  the  notion  of  a  God  seems 
to  be  entwined  with  the  nature  of  man,  and  is  the  first  natural 
branch  of  common  reason,  or  upon  either  the  first  inspection  of 
a  man  into  himself  and  his  own  state  and  constitution,  or  upon 
the  first  sight  of  any  external  visible  object.  Nature  within 
man,  and  nature  without  man,  agree  upon  the  first  meeting  to- 
gether to  form  this  sentiment,  that  there  is  a  God.     It  is  as 

i  Pink.  Eph.  6,  p.  10,  11.  2  King  on  Jonah,  p.  16. 

3  Amyraut  dcs  Religions,  p.  6 — 9. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OE  GOD.  25 

natural  as  any  thing  we  call  a  common  principle.  One  thing 
which  is  called  a  common  principle  and  natural  is,  that  the 
whole  is  greater  than  the  parts.  It'  this  be  not  horn  with  us, 
yet  the  exercise  of  reason  essential  to  man  settles  it  as  a  certain 
maxim;  upon  the  dividing  any  thing  into  several  pails,  he 
finds  every  part  less  than  when  they  were  altogether.  Jiy  the 
same  exercise  of  reason,  we  cannot  cast  our  eyes  upon  any 
thing  in  the  world,  or  exercise  our  understandings  upon  our- 
selves, but  we  must  presently  imagine,  there  was  some  cause  of 
those  tilings,  some  cause  of  myself  and  my  own  being;  so  that 
this  truth  is  as  natural  to  man  as  any  thing  he  can  call  most 
natural  or  a  common  principle. 

It  must  be  confessed  by  all,  that  there  is  a  law  of  nature  writ- 
ten upon  the  hearts  of  men,  which  will  direct  them  to  commenda- 
ble actions,  if  they  will  attend  to  the  writing  in  their  own  con- 
sciences. This  law  cannot  be  considered  without  the  notice  of 
a  lawgiver.  For  it  is  but  a  natural  and  obvious  conclusion, 
that  some  superior  hand  engrafted  those  principles  in  man, 
since  he  finds  something  in  him  twitching  him  upon  the  pursuit 
of  uncomely  actions,  though  his  heart  be  mightily  inclined  to 
them;  man  knows  he  never  planted  this  principle  of  reluctancy 
in  his  own  soul ;  he  can  never  be  the  cause  of  that  which  he 
cannot  be  friends  with.  If  he  were  the  cause  of  it,  why  doth 
he  not  rid  himself  of  it?  No  man  would  endure  a  thing  that 
doth  frequently  molest  and  disquiet  him,  if  he  could  cashier  it. 
It  is  therefore  sown  in  man  by  some  hand  more  powerful  than 
man,  which  riseth  so  high,  and  is  rooted  so  strong,  that  all  the 
force  that  man  can  use  cannot  pull  it  up.  If  therefore  this 
principle  be  natural  in  man,  and  the  law  of  nature  be  natural, 
the  notion  of  a  lawgiver  must  be  as  natural,  as  the  notion  of 
a  printer,  or  that  there  is  a  printer,  is  obvious  upon  the  sight  of 
a  stamp  impressed.  After  this  the  multitude  of  effects  in  the 
world  step  in  to  strengthen  this  beam  of  natural  light,  and  the 
direct  conclusion  from  thence  is,  that  that  power  which  made 
those  outward  objects,  implanted  ibis  inward  principle.  This 
is  sown  in  us,  born  with  us,  and  sprouts  up  with  our  growth, 
or  as  one  saith;  it  is  like  letters  carved  upon  the  bark  of  a 
young  plant,  which  grows  up  together  with  us,  and  the  longer 
it  grows  the  letters  are  more  legible.1 

This  is  the  ground  of  this  universal  consent,  and  why  it  may 
well  be  termed  natural.  This  will  more  evidently  appear  to 
be  natural,  because, 

1.  This  consent  could  not  be  by  mere  tradition.  2.  Nor  by 
any  mutual  intelligence  of  governors  to  keep  people  in  awe, 
which  are  two  things  the  atheist  pleads;  the  first  hath  no  strong 

1  Charleston. 
Vol.  I.— 4 


26  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

foundation,  and  that  other  is  as  absurd  and  foolish  as  it  is 
wicked  and  abominable.  3.  Nor  was  it  fear  first  introduced  it. 
First,  It  could  not  be  by  mere  tradition.  Many  things  indeed 
are  entertained  by  posterity  which  their  ancestors  delivered  to 
them,  and  that  out  of  a  common  reverence  to  their  forefathers, 
and  an  opinion  that  they  had  a  better  prospect  of  things  than 
the  increase  of  the  corruption  of  succeeding  ages  would  permit 
them  to  have.  But  if  this  be  a  tradition  handed  from  our 
ancestors,  they  also  must  receive  it  from  theirs;  we  must  then 
ascend  to  the  first  man,  we  cannot  else  escape  a  confounding 
ourselves  with  running  into  infinite.  Was  it  then  the  only 
tradition  he  left  to  them?  Is  it  not  probable  he  acquainted  them 
with  other  things  in  conjunction  with  this,  the  nature  of  God, 
the  way  to  worship  him,  the  manner  of  the  world's  existence, 
his  own  state?  We  may  reasonably  suppose  him  to  have  a 
good  stock  of  knowledge;  what  is  become  of  it?  It  cannot  be 
supposed  that  the  first  man  should  acquaint  his  posterity  with 
an  object  of  worship,  and  leave  them  ignorant  of  a  mode  of 
worship  and  of  the  end  of  worship.  We  find  in  Scripture  his 
immediate  posterity  did  the  first  in  sacrifices,  and  without  doubt 
they  were  not  ignorant  of  the  other:  how  come  men  to  be  so 
uncertain  in  all  other  things,  and  so  confident  of  this,  if  it  were 
only  a  tradition?  How  did  debates  and  irreconcilable  questions 
start  up  concerning  other  things,  and  this  remain  untouched, 
but  by  a  small  number  ?  Whatsoever  tradition  the  first  man  left 
besides  this,  is  lost,  and  no  way  recoverable,  but  by  the  revela- 
tion God  hath  made  in  his  word.  How  comes  it  to  pass  this  tra- 
dition of  a  God  is  longer  lived  than  all  the  rest  which  we  may 
suppose  man  left  to  his  immediate  descendants?  How  come 
men  to  retain  the  one  and  forget  the  other?  What  was  the  rea- 
son this  survived  the  ruin  of  the  rest  and  surmounted  the 
uncertainties  into  which  the  other  sunk?  Was  it  likely  it  should 
be  handed  down  alone  without  other  attendants  on  it  at  first? 
Why  did  it  not  expire  among  the  Americans,  who  have  lost 
the  account  of  their  own  descent,  and  the  stock  from  whence 
they  sprung,  and  cannot  reckon  above  eight  hundred  or  a  thou- 
sand years  at  most?  Why  was  not  the  manner  of  the  worship 
of  a  God  transmitted  as  well  as  that  of  his  existence?  How 
came  men  to  dissent  in  their  opinions  concerning  his  nature, 
whether  he  was  corporeal  or  incorporeal,  finite  or  infinite, 
omnipresent  or  limited?  Why  were  not  men  as  negligent  to 
transmit  this  of  his  existence  as  that  of  his  nature?  No  reason 
can  be  rendered  for  the  security  of  this  above  the  other,  but 
that  there  is  so  clear  a  tincture  of  a  Deity  upon  the  minds  of 
men,  such  traces  and  shadows  of  him  in  the  creatures,  such 
indelible  instincts  within,  and  invincible  arguments  without,  to 
keep  up  this  universal  consent.     The  characters  are  so  deep 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  37 

that  they  cannot  possibly  be  rased  out,  which  would  have  been 
one  time  or  other,  in  one  nation  or  other,  had  it.  depended  only 
upon  tradition,  since  one  ago  shakes  off  frequently  the  senti- 
ments of  the  former.  I  cannot  think  of  above  one  which  may 
be  called  a  tradition,  which  indeed  was  kept  np  among  all 
nations,  viz.  sacrifices,  which  could  not  be  natural,  but  insti- 
tuted. What  ground  could  they  have  in  nature,  to  imagine 
that  the  blood  of  beasts  could  expiate  and  wash  off  the  guilt 
and  stains  of  a  rational  creature?  Yet  they  had  in  all  places 
(except  among  the  Jews,  and  some  of  them  only)  lost  the  know- 
ledge of  the  reason  and  end  of  the  institution,  which  the  Scrip- 
ture acquaints  us  was  to  typify  and  signify  the  redemption  by 
the  promised  seed.  This  tradition  hath  been  superannuated 
and  laid  aside  in  most  parts  of  the  world,  while  this  notion  of 
the  existence  of  a  God  hath  stood  firm.  But  suppose  it  were 
a  tradition,  was  it  likely  to  be  a  mere  invention  and  figment  of 
the  first  man?  Had  there  been  no  reason  for  it,  his  posterity 
would  soon  have  found  out  the  weakness  of  its  foundation. 
What  advantage  had  it  been  to  him  to  transmit  so  great  a  false- 
hood to  kindle  the  fears  or  raise  the  hopes  of  his  posterity,  if 
there  were  no  God?  It  cannot  be  supposed  he  should  be  so  void 
of  that  natural  affection  men  in  all  ages  bear  to  their  descendants, 
as  so  grossly  to  deceive  them,  and  be  so  contrary  to  the  simplicity 
and  plainness  which  appear  in  all  things  nearest  their  original. 

Secondly,  Neither  was  it  by  any  mutual  intelligence  of 
governors  among  themselves  to  keep  people  in  subjection  to 
them.  If  it  were  a  political  design  at  first,  it  seems  it  met  with  the 
general  nature  of  mankind  very  ready  to  give  it  entertainment. 

1.  It  is  unaccountable  how  this  should  come  to  pass.  It  must 
be  either  by  a  joint  assembly  of  them,  or  a  mutual  correspond- 
ence. If  by  an  assembly,  who  were  the  persons?  Let  the  name 
of  any  one  be  mentioned.  When  was  the  time  ?  Where  was 
the  place  of  this  appearance?  By  what  authority  did  they  meet 
together?  Who  made  the  first  motion,  and  first  started  this  great 
principle  of  policy?  By  what  means  could  they  assemble  from 
such  distant  parts  of  the  world?  Human  histories  are  utterly 
silent  in  it,  and  the  Scripture,  the  most  ancient  history,  gives  an 
account  of  the  attempt  of  Babel,  but  not  a  word  of  any  design 
of  this  nature.  What  mutual  correspondence  could  such  have, 
whose  interests  are  for  the  most  part  different,  and  their  designs 
contrary  to  one  another?  How  could  they,  who  were  divided 
by  such  vast  seas,  have  this  mutual  converse?  How  could  those 
who  were  different  in  their  customs  and  manners,  agree  so 
unanimously  together  in  one  thing  to  cheat  the  people?  If  there 
had  been  such  a  correspondence  between  the  governors  of  all 
nations,  what  is  the  reason  some  nations  should  be  unknown  to 
the  world  till  of  late  times?    How  could  the  business  be  so 


28  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

secretly  managed,  as  not  to  take  vent,  and  issue  in  a  discovery 
to  the  world?  Can  reason  suppose  so  many  in  a  joint  conspi- 
racy, and  no  man's  conscience  in  his  life  under  sharp  afflictions, 
or  on  his  death-bed,  when  conscience  is  most  awakened,  con- 
strain him  to  reveal  openly  the  cheat  that  beguiled  the  world? 
How  came  they  to  be  so  unanimous  in  this  notion,  and  to  differ 
in  their  rites  almost  in  every  country  ?  Why  could  they  not 
agree  in  one  mode  of  worship  throughout  all  the  world,  as  well 
as  m  this  universal  notion?  If  there  were  not  a  mutual  intelli- 
gence, it  cannot  be  conceived  how  in  every  nation  such  a  state 
engineer  should  rise  up  with  the  same  trick  to  keep  people  in 
awe.  What  is  the  reason  we  cannot  find  any  law  in  any  one 
nation  to  constrain  men  to  the  belief  of  the  existence  of  a  God, 
since  politic  stratagems  have  been  often  fortified  by  laws? 
Besides,  such  men  make  use  of  principles  received  to  effect 
their  contrivances,  and  are  not  so  impolitic  as  to  build  designs 
upon  principles  that  have  no  foundation  in  nature.  Some 
heathen  lawgivers  have  pretended  a  converse  with  their  gods, 
to  make  their  laws  be  received  by  the  people  with  greater  vene- 
ration, and  fix  with  stronger  obligation  the  observance  and 
perpetuity  of  them;  but  this  was  not  the  introducing  of  a  new 
principle,  but  the  supposition  of  an  old  received  notion,  that 
there  was  a  God,  and  an  application  of  that  principle  to  their 
present  design.  The  pretence  had  been  vain  had  not  the  notion 
of  a  God  been  ingrafted.  Politicians  are  so  little  possessed  with 
a  reverence  of  God,  that  the  first  mighty  one  in  the  Scripture 
(which  may  reasonably  gain  with  the  atheist  the  credit  of  the 
most  ancient  history  in  the  world,)  is  represented  without  any 
fear  of  God.1  An  invader  and  oppressor  of  his  neighbours,  and 
reputed  the  introducer  of  a  new  worship,  and  being  the  first 
that  built  cities  after  the  flood  (as  Cain  was  the  first  builder  of 
them  before  the  flood,)  built  also  idolatry  with  them,  and  erected 
a  new  worship,  and  was  so  far  from  strengthening  that  notion 
the  people  had  of  God,  that  he  endeavoured  to  corrupt  it.  The 
first  idolatry  in  common  histories  being  noted  to  proceed  from 
that  pari  of  the  world:  the  most  ancient,  idol  being  at  Babylon, 
and  supposed  to  be  first  invented  by  this  person;  whence,  by 
the  way,  perhaps  Rome  is  in  the  Revelation  called  Babylon. 
with  respeel  to  thai  similitude  of  their  saint  worship,  to  the 
idolatry  firs!  sel  up  in  that  place.2  'Tis  evident  politicians  have 
often  changed  the  worship  of  a  nation,  but  it  is  not  upon  record 
that,  the  first  thoughts  of  an  object  of  worship  ever  entered  into 
the  minds  ot"  people  by  any  trick  of  theirs. 

1  Gen.  x.  9.  'Nimrod  was  a  mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord.' 

2  Or  if  we  understand  it  as  some  think,  thai  he  defended  his  invasions  under  a 
pretext  of  the  preserving  religion,  it  assures  us  that  t  here  was  a  notion  of  an 
object  of  religion  before,  since  no  religion  can  be  without  an  object  of  worship. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD  99 

But  to  return  to  the  present  argument,  the  being  of  a  God  is 
owned  hy  some  nations  that  have  scarce  any  form  of  policy 
among  them.  'Tis  as  wonderful  how  any  wit  should  hit  upon 
such  an  invention,  as  it  is  absurd  to  ascribe  it  to  any  human 
device,  if  there  were  not  prevailing  arguments  to  constrain  the 
consent.  Besides,  how  is  it  possible  they  should  deceive  them- 
selves? What  is  the  reason  the  greatest  politicians  have  their 
fears  of  a  Deity  upon  their  unjust  practices,  as  well  as  other 
men  they  intended  to  befool?  How  many  of  them  have  had 
forlorn  consciences  upon  a  death-bed,  upon  the  consideration 
of  a  God  to  answer  an  account  to  in  another  world?  Is  it  cre- 
dible they  should  be  frighted  by  that  wherewith  they  knew 
they  beguiled  others?  No  man  satisfying  his  pleasures  would 
impose  such  a  deceit  upon  himself  to  render  and  make  himself 
more  miserable  than  the  creatures  he  hath  dominion  over. 

•,'.  It  is  also  unaccountable  how  it  should  endure  so  long  a  time; 
that  this  policy  should  be  so  fortunate  as  to  gain  ground  in  the 
consciences  of  men,  and  exercise  an  empire  over  them,  and 
meet  with  such  an  universal  success.  It'  the  notion  of  a  God 
were  a  state-engine,  and  introduced  by  some  politic  grandees, 
for  the  ease  of  government,  and  preserving  people  with  more 
facility  in  order,  how  comes  it  to  pass  the  first  broachers  of  it 
were  never  upon  record?  There  is  scarce  a  false  opinion  vented 
in  the  world,  but  may,  as  a  stream,  be  traced  to  the  first  head 
and  fountain.  The  inventors  of  particular  forms  of  worship  are 
known,  and  the  reasons  why  they  prescribed  them  known;  but 
what  grandee  was  the  author  of  this?  Who  can  pitch  a  time 
and  person  that  sprung  up  this  notion?  If  any  be  so  insolent 
as  to  impose  a  cheat,  he  can  hardly  be  supposed  to  be  so  suc- 
cessful as  to  deceive  the  whole  world  for  many  ages:  impos- 
tures  pass  not  free  through  the  whole  world  without  examina- 
tion and  discovery;  falsities  have  not  been  universally  and  con- 
stantly owned  without  control  and  question.  If  a  cheat  im- 
poseth  upon  some  towns  and  countries,  he  will  be  found  out  by 
the  more  piercing  inquiries  of  other  places;  and  it  is  not  easy 
to  name  any  imposture  that  hath  walked  so  long  in  its  disguise 
in  the1  world,  without  being  unmasked  and  whipped  out  by 
some  nation  or  other.  If  this  had  been  a  mere  trick,  there 
would  have  been  as  much  craft  in  some  to  discern  it  as  there 
was  in  others  to  contrive  it.  No  man  can  be  imagined  so  wise 
in  a  kingdom,  but  others  may  be  found  as  wise  as  himself:  and 
it  is  not  conceivable,  that  so  many  clear-sighted  men  in  all 
ages  should  be  ignorant  of  it,  and  not  endeavour  to  free  the 
world  from  so  great  a  falsity.  It  cannot  be  found  that  a  trick 
of  state  should  always  beguile  men  of  the  most  piercing  in- 
sights, as  well  as  the  most  credulous:  that  a  few  crafty  men 
should  befool  all  the  wise  men  in  the  world,  and  the  world  lie 


30  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

in  a  belief  of  it  and  never  like  to  be  freed  from  it.1  What  is 
the  reason  the  succeeding  politicians  never  knew  this  strata- 
gem, since  their  maxims  are  usually  handed  to  their  suc- 
cessors ?2 

This  persuasion  of  the  existence  of  God,  owes  not  itself  to 
any  imposture  or  subtlety  of  men:  if  it  had  not  been  agreeable 
to  common  nature  and  reason,  it  could  not  so  long  have  borne 
sway.  The  imposed  yoke  would  have  been  cast  off  by  multi- 
tude's; men  would  not  have  charged  themselves  with  that  which 
was  attended  with  consequences  displeasing  to  the  flesh,  and 
hindered  them  from  a  full  swing  of  their  rebellious  passions; 
such  a  shackle  would  have  mouldered  of  itself,  or  been  broke 
by  the  extravagances  human  nature  is  inclined  unto.  The 
wickedness  of  men,  without  question,  hath  prompted  them  to 
endeavour  to  unmask  it,  if  it  were  a  deception,  but  could  never 
yet  be  so  successful  as  to  free  the  world  from  a  persuasion,  or 
their  own  consciences  from  the  tincture  of  the  existence  of  a 
Deity.  It  must  be  therefore  of  a  more  ancient  date  than  the 
craft  of  statesmen,  and  descend  into  the  world  with  the  first 
appearance  of  human  nature.  Time,  which  hath  rectified 
many  errors,  improves  this  notion,  makes  it  strike  down  its 
roots  deeper,  and  spread  its  branches  larger. 

It  must  be  a  natural  truth  that  shines  clear  by  the  detection 
of  those  errors  that  have  befooled  the  world,  and  the  wit  of 
man  is  never  able  to  name  any  human  author  that  first  insinu- 
ated it  into  the  beliefs  of  men. 

Thirdly,  Nor  was  it  fear  first  introduced  it.  Fear  is  the  con- 
sequent of  wickedness.  As  man  was  not  created  with  any  inhe- 
rent sin,  so  he  was  not  created  with  any  terrifying  fears;  the 
one  had  been  against  the  holiness  of  the  Creator,  the  other 
against  his  goodness:  fear  did  not  make  this  opinion,  but  the 
opinion  of  the  being  of  a  Deity  was  the  cause  of  this  fear,  after 
his  sense  of  angering  the  Deity  by  his  wickedness.  The  object 
of  fear  is  before  the  act  of  fear;  there  could  not  be  an  act  of 
fear  exercised  about  the  Deity,  till  he  was  believed  to  be  ex- 
istent, and  not  only  so,  but  offended:  for  God  as  existent  only, 
is  not  the  object  of  fear  or  love;  it  is  not  the  existence  of  a 
thing  that  excites  any  of  those  affections,  but  the  relation  a 
thing  bears  to  us  in  particular,  God  is  good,  and  so  the  object 
of  love,  as  well  as  just,  and  thereby  the  object  of  fear.  He 
was  as  much  called  Love,3  and  Mens,  or  Mind,  in  regard 
of  his  goodness  and  understanding,  by  the  heathens,  as  by 
any  other  name.  Neither  of  those  names  were  proper  to 
insinuate  fear;  neither  was  fear  the  first  principle  that  made 

1  Fotherby  dc  Thcomastii.\,  j>.  HI. 

2  And  there  is  not  a  Richlieu  but  leaves  his  axioms  to  a  Mazarine. 

3  Eptjf. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 


31 


the  heathen  worship  a  God;  they  offered  sacrifices  out  of  gra- 
titude to  some,  as  well  as  to  others,  out  of  fear;  the  fear  of 
evils  in  the  world,  and  the  hopes  of  relief  and  assistance  from 
their  gods,  and  not  a  terrifying  fear  of  God,  was  the  principal 
spring  of  their  worship.  When  calamities  from  the  hands  of 
men,  or  judgments  by  the  influences  of  heaven  were  upon 
them,  they  implored  that  which  they  thought  a  Deity;  it  was 
not  their  fear  of  him,  but  a  hope  in  his  goodness,  and  persua- 
sion of  remedy  from  him,  for  the  averting  those  evils  that  ren- 
dered them  adorers  of  a  God:  if  they  had  not  had  pre-existent 
notions  of  his  being  and  goodness,  they  would  never  have  made 
addresses  to  him,  or  so  frequently  sought  to  that  they  only 
apprehended  as  a  terrifying  object.1  When  you  hear  men  calling 
upon  God  in  a  time  of  affrighting  thunder,  you  cannot  imagine 
that  the  fear  of  thunder  did  first  introduce  the  notion  of  a  God, 
but  implies,  that  it  was  before  apprehended  by  them,  or  stamped 
upon  them,  though  their  fear  doth  at  present  actuate  that  belief, 
and  engage  them  in  a  present  exercise  of  piety;  and  whereas 
the  Scripture  saith,  "The  fear  of  God  is  the  beginning  of  wis- 
dom,"2 or  of  all  religion;  it  is  not  understood  of  a  distracted 
and  terrifying  fear,  but  a  reverential  fear  of  him,  because  of 
his  holiness;  or  a  worship  of  him,  a  submission  to  him,  and 
sincere  seeking  of  him. 

Well,  then,  is  it  not  a  folly  for  an  atheist  to  deny  that  which 
is  the  reason  and  common  sentiment  of  the  whole  world;  to 
strip  himself  of  humanity,  run  counter  to  his  own  conscience, 
prefer  a  private  before  a  universal  judgment,  give  the  lie  to  his 
own  nature  and  reason,  assert  things  impossible  to  be  proved, 
nay,  impossible  to  be  acted,  forge  irrationalities  for  the  support 
of  iiis  fancy  against  the  common  persuasion  of  the  world,  and 
against  himself,  and  so  much  of  God  as  is  manifest  in  him  and 
every  man  ?3 

Reason  II.  It.  is  a  folly  to  deny  that  which  all  creatures  or 
all  things  in  the  world  manifest.4  Let  us  view  this  in  Scrip- 
ture, since  we  acknowledge  it,  and  after  consider  the  arguments 
from  natural  reason. 

The  apostle  resolves  it  (Rom.  i.  19,  20,)  "  The  invisible  things 
of  him  from  the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly  seen,  being 
understood  by  the  things  that,  are  made,  even  his  eternal  power 
and  Godhead,  so  that  they  are  without  excuse."  They  know, 
or  might  know,  by  the  things  that  were  made,  the  eternity  and 
power  of  God;  their  sense  might  take  a  circuit  about  every 
object,  and  their  minds  collect  the  being  and  something  of  the 
perfections  of  the  Deity.     The  first  discourse  of  the  mind  upon 

'  Gassend.  Phys.  §  1.  lib.  iv.  c.  2.  p.  201,  292.         ^  Prov.  ix.  10.  Psalm  cxi.  10. 
9  Rom.  i.  19.  '  Jupiter  est  quodcunquc  vides,  «fcc. 


32  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

the  sight  of  a  delicate  piece  of  workmanship,  is  the  conclusion 
of  the  being  of  an  artificer,  and  the  admiration  of  his  skill  and 
industry.  The  apostle  doth  not  say,  the  invisible  things  of  God 
are  believed,  or  they  have  an  opinion  of  them,  but  they  are 
seen,  and  clearly  seen.  They  are  like  crystal  glasses,  which 
give  a  clear  representation  of  the  existence  of  a  Deity,  like  that 
mirror,  reported  to  be  in  a  temple  in  Arcadia,  which  repre- 
sented to  the  spectator,  not  his  own  face,  but  the  image  of  that 
Deity  which  he  worshipped.  The  whole  world  is  like  a  looking- 
glass,  which,  whole  and  entire,  represents  the  image  of  God, 
and  every  broken  piece  of  it,  every  little  shred  of  a  creature 
doth  the  like;  not  only  the  great  ones,  elephants  and  the  levia- 
than, but  ants,  flies,  worms,  whose  bodies  rather  than  names 
we  know:  the  greater  cattle  and  the  creeping  things  (Gen.  i. 
24:)  not  naming  there  any  intermediate  creature,  to  direct  us 
to  view  him  in  the  smaller  letters,  as  well  as  the  greater  cha- 
racters of  the  world.  His  name  is  "glorious,"  and  his  attri- 
butes are  excellent  "in  all  the  earth ;"  l  in  every  creature,  as  the 
glory  of  the  sun  is  in  every  beam  and  smaller  flash ;  he  is  seen 
in  every  insect,  in  every  spire  of  grass.  The  voice  of  the  Cre- 
ator is  in  the  most  contemptible  creature.  The  apostle  adds, 
that  they  are  so  clearly  seen,  that  men  are  inexcusable  if  they 
have  not  some  knowledge  of  God  by  them;  if  they  might  not 
certainly  know  them,  they  might  have  some  excuse:  so  that  his 
existence  is  not  only  probably,  but  demonstratively  proved  from 
the  things  of  the  world.2 

Especially  the  heavens  declare  him,  which  God  "  stretches 
out  like  a  curtain,"3  or,  as  some  render  the  word,  a  "skin," 
whereby  is  signified,  that  heaven  is  an  open  book,  which  was 
anciently  made  of  the  skins  of  beasts,  that,  by  the  knowledge 
of  them  we  may  be  taught  the  knowledge  of  God.  Where 
Scripture  was  not  revealed,  the  world  served  for  a  witness  of  a 
God;  whatever  arguments  the  Scripture  uses  to  prove  it,  are 
drawn  from  nature  (though,  indeed,  it  doth  not  so  much  prove 
as  suppose  the  existence  of  a  God;)  but  what  arguments  it  uses 
are  from  the  creatures,  and  particularly  the  heavens,  which  are 
the  public  preachers  of  this  doctrine.  The  breath  of  God  sounds 
to  all  the  world  through  those  organ-pipes.  His  being  is  visible 
in  their  existence,  his  wisdom  in  their  frame,  his  power  in  their 
motion,  his  goodness  in  their  usefulness.  They  have  a  voice, 
and  their  voice  is  as  intelligible  as  any  common  language.4  And 
those  are  so  plain  heralds  of  a  Deity,  that  the  heathen  mistook 
them  for  deities,  and  gave  them  a  particular  adoration,  which 

'  Psalm  \ -III.  1.  2  Banes  in  Aquin.  Par.  2.  Qu.  2.  Artie.  2.  p.  78.  col.  2. 

Psalm  civ.  :2. 
4  '  For  their  voice  goeth  to  the  end  of  the  earth.'  Psalm  xix.  4. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  33 

was  due  to  that  God  they  declared.  The  first  idolatry  seems 
to  be  of  those  heavenly  bodies,  which  began  probably  in  the 
time  of  Nimrod.  In  Job's  time  it  is  certain  they  admired  the 
glory  of  the  sun,  and  the  brightness  of  the  moon,  not  without 
kissing  their  hands,  a  sign  of  adoration.1  It  is  evident  a  man 
may  as  well  doubt  whether  there  be  a  sun,  when  he  sees  his 
beams  gilding  the  earth,  as  doubt  whether  there  be  a  God, 
when  he  sees  his  works  spread  in  the  world. 

The  things  in  the  world  declare  the  existence  of  a  God,  1.  In 
their  production.  2.  Harmony.  3.  Preservation.  4.  Answering 
their  several  ends. 

First,  In  their  production.  The  declaration  of  the  existence 
of  God  was  the  chief  end  for  which  they  were  created,  that 
the  notion  of  a  supreme  and  independent  Eternal  Being  might 
more  easily  reach  the  active  understanding  of  man  from  the 
objects  of  sense,  dispersed  in  every  corner  of  the  world,  that 
he  might  pay  a  homage  and  devotion  to  the  Lord  of  all,  (Isaiah 
xl.  12,  13.  18,  19,  &c.)  'Have  you  not  understood  from  the 
foundation  of  the  earth,  it  is  he  that  sits  upon  the  circle  of  the 
heaven,'  &c.  How  could  this  great  heap  be  brought  into  being 
unless  a  God  had  framed  it?  Every  plant,  every  atom,  as  well 
as  every  star,  at  the  first  meeting  whispers  this  in  our  ears, '  I 
have  a  Creator;  I  am  witness  to  a  Deity.'  Who  ever  saw  statues 
or  pictures  but  presently  thinks  of  a  statuary  and  a  limner  ?  Who 
beholds  garments,  ships,  or  houses,  but  understands  there  was 
a  weaver,  a  carpenter,  an  architect  ?2  Who  can  cast  his  eyes 
about  the  world,  but  must  think  of  that  power  that  formed  it, 
and  that  the  goodness  which  appears  in  the  formation  of  it  hath 
a  perfect  residence  in  some  being?  'Those  things  that  are 
good  must  flow  from  something  perfectly  good:  that  which 
is  chief  in  any  kind  is  the  cause  of  all  that  kind.  Fire,  which 
is  most  hot,  is  the  cause  of  all  things  which  are  hot.  There  is 
some  being  therefore  which  is  the  cause  of  all  that  perfection 
which  is  in  the  creature;  and  this  is  God.'  {Aquin.  1  qu.  2. 
Artie.  3.)  All  things  that  are  demonstrate  something  from 
whence  they  are.  All  things  have  a  contracted  perfection,  and 
what  they  have  is  communicated  to  them.  Perfections  are  par- 
celled out  among  several  creatures.  Any  thing  that  is  imper- 
fect cannot  exist  of  itself.  We  are  led,  therefore,  by  them  to 
consider  a  fountain  which  bubbles  up  in  all  perfection;  a  hand 
which  distributes  those  several  degrees  of  being  and  perfection 
to  what  we  see.  We  see  that  which  is  imperfect;  our  minds 
conclude  something  perfect  to  exist  before  it.  Our  eye  sees 
the  streams,  but  our  understanding  riseth  to  the  head ;  as  the 

•  Job  xxxi.  26,  27. 

2  Philo.  ex  Petav.  Theolo.  Dog.  Tom.  I.  lib.  i.  c.  1.  p.  4.  somewhat  changed. 

Vol.  I.— 5 


34  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

eye  sees  the  shadow,  but  the  understanding  informs  us  whether 
it  be  the  shadow  of  a  man  or  of  a  beast. 

God  has  given  us  sense  to  behold  the  objects  in  the  world, 
and  understanding  to  reason  his  existence  from  them.  The 
understanding  cannot  conceive  a  thing  to  have  made  itself;  that 
is  against  all  reason.  As  they  are  made,  they  speak  out  a 
Maker,1  and  cannot  be  a  trick  of  chance,  since  they  are  made 
with  such  an  immense  wisdom,  that  is  too  big  for  the  grasp 
of  all  human  understanding.  Those  that  doubt  whether  the 
existence  of  God  be  an  implanted  principle,  yet  agree  that  the 
effects  in  the  world  lead  to  a  supreme  and  universal  cause  ; 
and  that  if  we  have  not  the  knowledge  of  it  rooted  in  our  na- 
tures, yet  we  have  it  by  discourse ;  since,  by  all  masters  of 
reason,  a.  processus  in  infinitum  must  be  accounted  impossible 
in  subordinate  causes.     This  will  appear  in  several  things. 

I.  The  world  and  every  creature  had  a  beginning.  The 
Scripture  ascertains  this  to  us.  David  who  was  not  the  first 
man,  gives  the  praise  to  God  of  his  being  'curiously  wrought,' 
&c.  (Psal.  cxxxix.  14,  15.)  God  gave  being  to  men,  and  plants, 
and  beasts  before  they  gave  being  to  one  another.  He  gives 
being  to  them  now  as  the  Fountain  of  all  being,  though  the 
several  modes  of  being  are  from  the  several  natures  of  second 
causes. 

It  is  true,  indeed,  we  are  ascertained  that  they  were  made  by 
the  true  God;  that  they  were  made  by  his  word;2  that  they 
were  made  of  nothing;  and  not  only  this  lower  world  wherein 
we  live,  but,  according  to  the  Jewish  division,  the  world  of 
men,  the  world  of  stars,  and  the  world  of  spirits  and  souls.  We 
do  no  not  waver  in  it,  or  doubt  of  it,  as  the  heathen  did  in  their 
disputes;  we  know  they  are  the  workmanship  of  the  true  God, 
of  that  God  we  adore,  not  of  false  gods;  'by  his  word,'  with- 
out any  instrument  or  engine,  as  in  earthly  structures ;  <  of 
things  which  do  not  appear,'  without  any  pre-existent  matter, 
as  all  artifical  works  of  men  are  framed.  Yet  the  proof  of  the 
beginning  of  the  world  is  affirmed  with  good  reason ;  and  if  it 
had  a  beginning,  it  had  also  some  higher  cause  than  itself: 
every  effect  hath  a  cause. 

The  world  was  not  eternal,  or  from  eternity.3  The  matter 
of  the  world  cannot  be  eternal.  Matter  cannot  subsist  with- 
out form,  nor  put  on  any  form  without  the  action  of  some  cause. 
This  cause  must  be  in  being  before  it  acted;  that  which  is  not 
cannot  act.  The  cause  of  the  world  must  necessarily  exist  be- 
fore any  matter  was  endued  with  any  form;  that,  therefore, 

i  Rom.  i.  20. 

2  Gen.  i.  "  By  faith  we  understand  that  the  worlds  were  framed  by  the  word  of 
God."  &.c.  Heb.  xi.  3. 

3  Daille  20.  Serm.  Psalm  cii.  26.  p.  13,  14. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  35 

cannot  be  eternal  before  which  another  did  subsist;  if  it  were 
from  eternity,  it  would  not  be  subject  to  mutation.  If  the  whole 
was  from  eternity,  why  not  also  the  parts;  what  makes  the 
changes  so  visible  then,  if  eternity  would  exempt  it  from  mu- 
tability ? 

1.  Time  cannot  be  infinite,  and,  therefore,  the  world  not  eter- 
nal. All  motion  hath  its  beginning;  if  it  were  otherwise,  we 
must  say  the  number  of  heavenly  revolutions  of  days  and 
nights,  which  are  past  to  this  instant,  is  actually  infinite,  which 
cannot  be  in  nature.1  If  it  were  so,  it  must  needs  be  granted 
that  a  part  is  equal  to  the  whole ;  because  infinite  being  equal 
to  infinite,  the  number  of  days  past  in  all  ages  to  the  beginning 
of  one  year  being  infinite  (as  they  would  be  supposing  the 
world  had  no  beginning)  would  by  consequence  be  equal  to 
the  number  of  days  which  shall  pass  to  the  end  of  the  next ; 
whereas  that  number  of  days  past  is  indeed  but  a  part;  and 
so  a  part  would  be  equal  to  the  whole. 

2.  Generations  of  men,  animals,  and  plants,  could  not  be 
from  eternity;  if  any  man  say  the  world  was  from  eternity, 
then  there  must  be  propagations  of  living  creatures  in  the 
same  manner  as  are  at  this  day;  for  without  this  the  world 
could  not  consist.2  What  we  see  now  done  must  have  been 
perpetually  done,  if  it  be  done  by  a  necessity  of  nature;  but 
we  see  nothing  now  that  doth  arise  but  by  a  mutual  propa- 
gation from  another.  If  the  world  were  eternal,  therefore, 
it  must  be  so  in  all  eternity.  Take  any  particular  species. 
Suppose  a  man,  if  men  were  from  eternity;  then  there  were 
perpetual  generations — some  were  born  into  the  world,  and 
some  died.  Now  the  natural  condition  of  generation  is,  that 
a  man  doth  not  generate  a  man,  nor  a  sheep  a  lamb,  as  soon 
as  ever  itself  is  brought  into  the  world;  but  get  strength  and 
vigour  by  degrees,  and  must  arrive  to  a  certain  stated  age  be- 
fore they  can  produce  the  like  ;  for  whilst  any  thing  is  little  and 
below  the  due  age,  it  cannot  increase  its  kind.  Men  therefore, 
and  other  creatures,  did  propagate  their  kind  by  the  same  law, 
not  as  soon  as  ever  they  were  born,  but  in  the  interval  of  some 
time;  and  children  grew  up  by  degrees  in  the  mother's  womb 
till  they  were  fit  to  be  brought  forth.  If  this  be  so,  then  there 
could  not  be  an  eternal  succession  of  propagating;  for  there  is 
no  eternal  continuation  of  time.  Time  is  always  to  be  con- 
ceived as  having  one  part  before  another;  but  that  perpetuity  of 
nativities  is  always  after  some  time,  wherein  it  could  not  be  for 
the  weakness  of  age.  If  no  man  then  can  conceive  a  propaga- 
tion from  eternity,  there  must  be  then  a  beginning  of  generation 
in  time,  and,  consequently,  the  creatures  were  made  in  time. 

'  Daille,  ut  supra.  »  Petav.  Theo.  Dogmat.  Tom.  I.  lib.  i  c.  2.  p.  15. 


36  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

1  If  the  world  were  eternal,  it  must  have  been  in  the  same 
posture  as  it  is  now,  in  a  state  of  generation  and  corruption; 
and  so  corruption  must  have  been  as  eternal  as  generation,  and 
then  things  that  do  generate  and  corrupt  must  have  eternally 
been  and  eternally  not  have  been:  there  must  be  some  first  way 
to  set  generation  on  work.'1  We  must  lose  ourselves  in  our 
conceptions  •,  we  cannot  conceive  a  father  before  a  child,  as  well 
as  we  cannot  conceive  a  child  before  a  father:  and  reason  is 
quite  bewildered,  and  cannot  return  into  a  right  way  of  concep- 
tion, till  it  conceive  one  first  of  every  kind:  one  first  man,  one 
first  animal,  one  first  plant,  from  whence  others  do  proceed. 
The  argument  is  unanswerable,  and  the  wisest  atheist  (if  any 
atheist  can  be  called  wise)  cannot  unloose  the  knot.  We  must 
come  to  something  that  is  first  in  every  kind,  and  this  first  must 
have  a  cause,  not  of  the  same  kind,  but  infinite  and  indepen- 
dent; otherwise  men  run  into  inconceivable  labyrinths  and 
contradictions. 

Man,  the  noblest  creature  upon  earth  hath  a  beginning.  No 
man  in  the  world  but  was  some  years  ago  no  man.  If  every 
man  we  see  had  a  beginning,  then  the  first  man  had  also  a  be- 
ginning, then  the  world  had  a  beginning :  for  the  earth,  which 
was  made  for  the  use  of  man,  had  wanted  that  end  for  which 
it  was  made.  We  must  pitch  upon  some  one  man  that  was 
unborn;  that  first  man  must  either  be  eternal ;  that  cannot  be, 
for  he  that  hath  no  beginning  hath  no  end;  or  must  spring  out 
of  the  earth  as  plants  and  trees  do ; 2  that  cannot  be :  why  should 
not  the  earth  produce  men  to  this  day,  as  it  doth  plants  and 
trees?  He  was  therefore  made;  and  whatsoever  is  made  hath 
some  cause  that  made  it,  which  is  God.  If  the  world  were  un- 
created it  were  then  immutable,  but  every  creature  upon  the 
earth  is  in  a  continual  flux,  always  changing:3  if  things  be  mu- 
table, they  were  created;  if  created,  they  were  made  by  some 
author:  whatsoever  hath  a  beginning  must  have  a  maker  ;  if  the 
world  hath  a  beginning,  there  was  then  a  time  when  it  was  not; 
it  must  have  some  cause  to  produce  it.  That  which  makes  is 
before  that  which  is  made,  and  this  is  God. 

II.  Which  will  appear  further  in  this  proposition,  No  crea- 
ture can  make  itself:  the  world  could  not  make  itself. 

If  every  man  had  a  beginning,  every  man  then  was  once 
nothing;  he  could  not  then  make  himself,  because  nothing  can- 
not be  the  cause  of  something;  'The  Lord  he  is  God;  he  hath 
made  us,  and  not  we  ourselves.'  (Ps.  c.  3.)  Whatsoever  begun 
in  time  was  not;  and  when  it  was  nothing,  it  had  nothing,  and 
could  do  nothing;  and  therefore  could  never  give  to  itself, 
nor  to  any  other,  to  be,  or  to  be  able  to  do:  for  then  it  gave 

1  Wolseley,  on  Atheism,  p.  47.         2  Petav.  ut  supra,  p.  10.  3Damascenus. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  37 

what  it  had  not,  and  did  what  it  could  not.  Since  reason 
must  acknowledge  a  first  of  every  kind,  a  first  man,  &c.  it  must 
acknowledge  him  created  and  made,  not  by  himself. '  why 
have  not  other  men  since  risen  up  by  themselves,  not  by  chance? 
why  hath  not  chance  produced  the  like  in  that  long  time  the 
word  hath  stood?  If  we  never  knew  any  thing  give  being  to 
itself,  how  can  we  imagine  any  thing  ever  could?  If  thechiefest 
part  of  this  lower  world  cannot,  nor  any  part  of  it  hath  been 
known  to  give  being  to  itself,  then  the  whole  cannot  be  sup- 
posed to  give  any  being  to  itself:  man  did  not  form  himself;  his 
body  is  not  from  himself;  it  would  then  have  the  power  of 
moving  itself,  but  that  is  not  able  to  live  or  act  without  the  pre- 
sence of  the  soul.  Whilst  the  soul  is  present,  the  body  moves; 
when  that  is  absent,  the  body  lies  as  a  senseless  log,  not  having 
the  least  action  or  motion.  His  soul  could  not  form  itself.  Can 
that  which  cannot  form  the  least  mote,  the  least  grain  of  dust, 
form  itself,  a  nobler  substance  than  any  upon  the  earth?  This 
will  be  evident  to  every  man's  reason,  if  we  consider, 

1.  Nothing  can  act  before  it  is.  The  first  man  was  not,  and 
therefore  could  not  make  himself  to  be.  For  any  thing  to  pro- 
duce itself  is  to  act:  if  it  acted  before  it  was,  it  was  then  some- 
thing and  nothing  at  the  same  time  ;  it  then  had  a  being  before 
it  had  a  being ;  it  acted  when  it  brought  itself  into  being.  How 
could  it  act  without  a  being,  unless  it  was?  So  that  if  it  were 
the  cause  of  itself,  it  must  be  before  itself  as  well  as  after  itself; 
it  was  before  it  was;  it  was  as  a  cause  before  it  was  as  an  effect. 
Action  always  supposeth  a  principle  from  whence  it  flows;  as 
nothing  hath  no  existence,  so  it  hath  no  operation;  there  must 
be,  therefore,  something  of  real  existence  to  give  a  being  to 
those  things  that  are,  and  every  cause  must  be  an  effect  of  some 
other  before  it  be  a  cause.  To  be  and  not  to  be  at  the  same 
time,  is  a  manifest  contradiction,  which  would  be,  if  any  thing 
made  itself.  That  which  makes  is  always  before  that  which 
is  made.  Who  will  say  the  house  is  before  the  carpenter,  or 
the  picture  before  the  limner?  The  world  as  a  creator  must  be 
before  itself  as  a  creature. 

2.  That  which  doth  not  understand  itself  and  order  itself 
could  not  make  itself.  If  the  first  man  fully  understood  his  own 
nature,  the  excellency  of  his  own  soul,  the  manner  of  its  opera- 
tions, why  was  not  that  understanding  conveyed  to  his  pos- 
terity? Are  not  many  of  them  found,  who  understand  their 
own  nature,  almost  as  little  as  a  beast  understands  itself;  or  a 
rose  understands  its  own  sweetness;  or  a  tulip  its  own  colours? 
The  Scripture,  indeed,  gives  us  an  account  how  this  came  about, 
viz.  by  the  deplorable  rebellion  of  man,  whereby  death   was 

1  Petav.  Theo.  Dog.  Tom.  I.  lib.  i.  c.  2.  p.  14. 


38  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

brought  upon  them  (a  spiritual  death,  which  includes  ignorance, 
as  well  as  an  inability  to  spiritual  action.1)  Thus  he  fell  from  his 
honour,  and  became  like  the  beasts  that  perish,  and  not  retain- 
ing God  in  his  knowledge,  retained  not  himself  in  his  own 
knowledge. 

But  what  reply  can  an  atheist  make  to  it,  who  acknowledges 
no  higher  cause  than  nature?  If  the  soul  made  itself,  how 
comes  it  to  be  so  dark,  so  wanting  in  its  knowledge  of  itself, 
and  of  other  things  ?  If  the  soul  made  its  own  understanding, 
whence  did  the  defect  arise  ? .  If  some  first  principle  was  set- 
tled by  the  first  man  in  himself,  where  was  the  stop  that  he  did 
not  implant  all  in  his  own  mind,  and  consequently,  in  the  minds 
of  all  his  decendants?  Our  souls  know  little  of  themselves, 
little  of  the  world,  are  every  day  upon  new  inquiries,  have  little 
satisfaction  in  themselves,  meet  with  many  an  invincible  difficul- 
ty in  their  way,  and  when  they  seem  to  come  to  some  resolution 
in  some  cases  stagger  again,  and,  like  a  stone  rolled  up  to  the 
top  of  the  hill,  quickly  find  themselves  again  at  the  foot.  How 
come  they  to  be  so  purblind  in  truth?  so  short  of  that  which 
they  judge  true  goodness?  How  comes  it  to  pass  that  they 
cannot  order  their  own  rebellious  affections,  but  suffer  the 
reins  they  have  to  hold  over  their  affections  to  be  taken  out  of 
their  hands  by  the  unruly  fancy  and  flesh?  This  no  man  that 
denies  the  being  of  a  God,  and  the  revelation  in  Scripture,  can 
give  an  account  of.  Blessed  be  God  that  we  have  the  Scripture, 
which  gives  us  an  account  of  those  things,  that  all  the  wit  of 
men  could  never  inform  us  of;  and  that  when  they  are  dis- 
covered and  known  by  revelation,  they  appear  not  contrary  to 
reason ! 

3.  If  the  first  man  made  himself,  how  came  he  to  limit  him- 
self? If  he  gave  himself  being,  why  did  he  not  give  himself  all 
the  perfections  and  ornaments  of  being?  Nothing  that  made 
itself  could  sit  down  contented  with  a  little,  but  would  have 
had  as  much  power  to  give  itself  that  which  is  less,  as  to  give 
itself  being,  when  it  was  nothing.  The  excellences  it  wanted 
had  not  been  more  difficult  to  gain  than  the  other  which  it 
possessed,  as  belonging  to  its  nature.  If  the  first  man  had 
been  independent  upon  another,  and  had  his  perfection  from 
himself,  he  might  have  acquired  that  perfection  he  wanted  as 
well  as  have  bestowed  upon  himself  that  perfection  he  had;  and 
then  there  would  have  been  no  bounds  set  to  him.  He  would 
have  been  omniscient  and  immutable.  He  might  have  given 
himself  what  he  would;  if  he  had  had  the  setting  his  own  bounds, 
he  would  have  set  none  at  all;  for  what  should  restrain  him? 
No  man  now  wants  ambition  to  be  what  he  is  not;  and  if  the 

'  Gen  ii.  17.    Psalm  xlix.  20. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  39 

first  man  had  not  been  determined  by  another,  but  had  given 
himself  being,  he  would  not  have  remained  in  that  determi- 
nate being,  no  more  than  a  toad  would  remain  a  toad,  if  it  had 
power  to  make  itself  a  man,  and  that  power  it  would  have  had, 
if  it  had  given  itself  a  being.  Whatsoever  gives  itself  being, 
would  give  itself  all  degrees  of  being,  and  so  would  have  no 
imperfection,  because  every  imperfection  is  a  want  of  some 
degree  of  being.  He  that  could  give  himself  matter  and  life, 
might  give  himself  every  thing.1  The  giving  of  life  is  an  act 
of  omnipotence;  and  what  is  omnipotent  in  one  thing  may  be 
in  all.  Besides,  if  the  first  man  had  made  himself,  he  would 
have  conveyed  himself  to  all  his  posterity  in  the  same  manner; 
every  man  would  have  had  all  the  perfections  of  the  first  man, 
as  every  creature  has  the  perfections  of  the  same  kind,  from 
whence  it  naturally  issues;  all  are  desirous  to  communicate 
what  they  can  to  their  posterity.  Communicative  goodness  be- 
longs to  every  nature.  Every  plant  propagates  its  kind  in  the 
same  perfection  it  hath  itself;  and  the  nearer  any  thing  comes 
to  a  rational  nature,  the  greater  affection  it  hath  to  that  which 
descends  from  it;  therefore  this  affection  belongs  to  a  rational 
nature,  much  more.  The  first  man,  therefore,  if  he  had  had 
power  to  give  himself  being,  and,  consequently,  all  perfection, 
he  would  have  had  as  much  power  to  convey  it  down  to  his 
posterity;  no  impediment  could  have  stopped  his  way ;  then  all 
souls  proceeding  from  that  first  man  would  have  been  equally 
intellectual.  What  should  hinder  them  from  inheriting  the 
same  perfections  ?  Whence  should  they  have  divers  qualifica- 
tions and  differences  in  their  understandings  ?  No  man  then 
would  have  been  subject  to  those  weaknesses,  doubtings,  and 
unsatisfied  desires  of  knowledge  and  perfection.  But  seeing  all 
souls  are  not  alike,  it  is  certain  they  depend  upon  some  other 
cause  for  the  communication  of  that  excellency  they  have.  If 
the  perfections  of  men  be  so  contracted  and  kept  within  certain 
bounds,  it  is  certain  that  they  were  not  in  his  own  power,  and 
so  were  not  from  himself.  Whatsoever  hath  a  determinate 
being  must  be  limited  by  some  superior  cause.  There  is,  there- 
fore, some  superior  power,  that  hath  thus  determined  the  crea- 
ture by  set  bounds  and  distinct  measures,  and  hath  assigned  to 
every  one  its  proper  nature,  that  it  should  not  be  greater  or  less 
than  it  is;  who  hath  said  of  every  one  as  of  the  waves  of  the 
sea, '  Hitherto  shalt  thou  come,  but  no  further;2  and  this  is  God. 
Man  could  not  have  reserved  any  perfection  from  his  posterity; 
for  since  he  doth  propagate  not  by  choice,  but  nature,  he  could 
no  more  have  kept  back  any  perfection  from  them,  than  he 

1  Therefore  the  heathens  called  God  *o  ov  the  only  Being-.     Other  things  were 
not  beings,  because  they  had  not  all  degrees  of  being. 

2  Job  xxxviii.  11. 


40  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

could,  as  he  pleased,  have  given  any  perfection  belonging  to 
his  nature  to  them. 

4.  That  which  hath  power  to  give  itself  being,  cannot  want 
power  to  preserve  that  being.  Preservation  is  not  more  diffi- 
cult than  creation.  If  the  first  man  made  himself,  why  did  he 
not  preserve  himself?  He  is  not  now  among  the  living  in  the 
world.  How  came  he  to  be  so  feeble  as  to  sink  into  the  grave? 
Why  did  he  not  inspire  himself  with  new  heat  and  moisture, 
and  fill  his  languishing  limbs  and  declining  body  with  new 
strength?  Why  did  he  not  chase  away  diseases  and  death  at 
the  first  approach  ?  What  creature  can  find  the  dust  of  the  first 
man?  All  his  posterity  traverse  the  stage  and  retire  again;  in 
a  short  space  their  age  departs,  and  is  removed  from  them  '  as 
a  shepherd's  tent,'  and  is  '  cut  off  with  pining  sickness.'1  '  The 
life  of  man  is  as  a  wind,  and  like  a  cloud  that  is  consumed  and 
vanishes  away.  The  eye  that  sees  him  shall  see  him  no  more; 
he  returns  not  to  his  house,  neither  doth  his  place  know  him 
any  more.'2  The  Scripture  gives  us  the  reason  of  this,  and  lays 
it  upon  the  score  of  sin  against  his  Creator,  which  no  man, 
without  revelation,  can  give  any  satisfactory  account  of.  Had 
the  first  man  made  himself,  he  had  been  sufficient  for  himself, 
able  to  support  himself  without  the  assistance  of  any  creature. 
He  would  not  have  needed  animals  and  plants,  and  other  helps 
to  nourish  and  refresh  him,  nor  medicines  to  cure  him.  He 
could  not  be  beholden  to  other  things  for  his  support,  which  he 
is  certain  he  never  made  for  himself.  His  own  nature  would 
have  continued  that  vigour,  which  once  he  had  conferred  upon 
himself.  He  would  not  have  needed  the  heat  and  light  of  the 
sun;  he  would  have  wanted  nothing  sufficient  for  himself  in 
himself;  he  needed  not  have  sought  without  himself  for  his  own 
preservation  and  comfort.  What  depends  upon  another,  is  not 
of  itself;  and  what  depends  upon  things  inferior  to  itself,  is 
less  of  itself.  Since  nothing  can  subsist  of  itself,  since  we  see 
those  things  upon  which  man  depends  for  his  nourishment  and 
subsistence,  growing  and  decaying,  starting  into  the  world  and 
retiring  from  it,  as  well  as  man  himself;  some  preserving  cause 
must  be  concluded,  upon  which  all  depends. 

5.  If  the  first  man  did  produce  himself,  why  did  he  not  pro- 
duce himself  before? 

It  hath  been  already  proved  that  he  had  a  beginning,  and 
could  not  be  from  eternity.  Why  then  did  he  not  make  him- 
self before?  Not  because  he  would  not;  for  having  no  being, 
he  could  have  no  will :  he  could  neither  be  willing  nor  not 
willing.  If  he  could  not  then,  how  could  he  afterwards?  If 
it  were  in  his  own  power,  he  could  have  done  it,  he  would 

1  Isaiah  xxxviii.  12.  2  Job  vii.  6 — 9. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  4 \ 

have  done  it ;  if  it  were  not  in  his  own  power,  then  it  was  in 
the  power  of  some  other  cause,  and  that  is  God.  How  came 
he  by  that  power  to  produce  himself?  If  the  power  of  pro- 
ducing himself  were  communicated  by  another,  then  man  could 
not  be  the  cause  of  himself;  that  is  the  cause  of  it  which  com- 
municated that  power  to  it.  But  if  the  power  of  being  was 
in  and  from  himself,  and  in  no  other,  nor  communicated  to  him, 
man  would  always  have  been  in  act,  and  always  have  existed; 
no  hinderance  can  be  conceived.  For  that  which  had  the  power 
of  being  in  itself,  was  invincible  by  any  thing  that  should  stand 
in  the  way  of  its  own  being. 

We  may  conclude  from  hence,  the  excellency  of  the  Scrip- 
ture; that  it  is  a  word  not  to  be  refused  credit.  It  gives  us  the 
most  rational  account  of  things  in  the  1st  and  2d  of  Genesis, 
which  nothing  in  the  world  else  is  able  to  do. 

III.  No  creature  could  make  the  world.  No  creature  can 
create  another.  If  it  creates  of  nothing,  it  is  then  omnipotent 
and  so  not  a  creature.  If  it  makes  something  of  matter  unfit 
for  that  which  is  produced  out  of  it,  then  the  inquiry  will  be, 
Who  was  the  cause  of  the  matter?  and  so  we  must  arrive  to 
some  uncreated  being,  the  cause  of  all.  Whatsoever  gives 
being  to  any  other,  must  be  the  highest  being,  and  must  possess 
all  the  perfections  of  that  which  it  gives  being  to.  What  visible 
creature  is  there  which  possesses  the  perfections  of  the  whole 
world?  If,  therefore,  an  invisible  creature  made  the  world, 
the  same  inquiries  will  return,  whence  that  creature  had  its 
being?  for  he  could  not  make  himself.  If  any  creature  did 
create  the  world,  he  must  do  it  by  the  strength  and  virtue  of 
another,  which  first  gave  him  being,  and  this  is  God.  For 
whatsoever  hath  its  existence  and  virtue  of  acting  from  another, 
is  not  God.  If  it  hath  its  virtue  from  another,  it  is  then  a  second 
cause,  and  so  supposeth  a  first  cause.  It  must  have  some  cause 
of  itself,  or  be  eternally  existent.  If  eternally  existent,  it  is  not 
a  second  cause,  but  God;  if  not  eternally  existent,  we  must 
come  to  something  at  length  which  was  the  cause  of  it,  or  else 
be  bewildered  without  being  able  to  give  an  account  of  any 
thing.  We  must  come  at  last  to  an  infinite,  eternal,  indepen- 
dent Being,  that  was  the  first  cause  of  this  structure  and  fabric 
wherein  we  and  all  creatures  dwell.  The  Scripture  proclaims 
this  aloud,  '  I  am  the  Lord,  and  there  is  none  else:  I  form  the 
light,  and  I  create  darkness.' '  Man,  the  noblest  creature,  can- 
not of  himself  make  a  man,  the  chiefest  part  of  the  world.  If 
our  parents  only,  without  a  superior  power,  made  our  bodies 
or  souls,  they  would  know  the  frame  of  them;  a*s  he  that  makes 
a  lock  knows  the  wards  of  it;  he  that  makes  any  curious  piece 

1  Isaiah  xlv.  6,  7.     Deut.  iv.  35. 
Vol.  I.— 6 


42  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

of  arras,  knows  how  he  sets  the  various  colours  together,  and 
how  many  threads  went  to  each  division  in  the  web;  he  that 
makes  a  watch,  having  the  idea  of  the  whole  work  in  his  mind, 
knows  the  motions  of  it,  and  the  reason  of  those  motions.  But 
both  parents  and  children  are  equally  ignorant  of  the  nature  of 
their  souls  and  bodies,  and  of  the  reason  of  their  motions.  God 
only,  that  had  the  supreme  hand  in  forming  us,  in  whose  'hook 
all  our  members  are  written,  which  in  continuance  were  fash- 
ioned,' '  knows  what  we  all  are  ignorant  of.  If  man  hath,  in 
an  ordinary  course  of  generation,  his  being  chiefly  from  a 
higher  cause  than  his  parents,  the  world  then  certainly  had  its 
being  from  some  infinitely  wise  intelligent  being,  which  is  God. 
If  it  were,  as  some  fancy,  made  by  an  assembly  of  atoms,  there 
must  be  some  infinite  intelligent  cause  that  made  them,  some 
cause  that  separated  them,  some  cause  that  mingled  them  to- 
gether for  the  piling  up  so  comely  a  structure  as  the  world.  It 
is  the  most  absurd  thing  to  think  they  should  meet  together  by 
hazard,  and  rank  themselves  in  that  order  we  see,  without  a 
higher  and  a  wise  agent.  So  that  no  creature  could  make  the 
world.  For  supposing  any  creature  was  formed  before  this 
visible  world,  and  might  have  a  hand  in  disposing  things,  yet 
he  must  have  a  cause  of  himself,  and  must  act  by  the  virtue 
and  strength  of  another,  and  this  is  God. 

IV.  From  hence  it  follows,  that  there  is  a  first  cause  of  things, 
which  we  call  God.  There  must  be  something  supreme  in  the 
order  of  nature,  something  which  is  greater  than  all,  which 
hath  nothing  beyond  it  or  above  it,  otherwise  we  must  run  in 
infinitum.  We  see  not  a  river,  but  we  conclude  a  fountain; 
a  watch,  but  we  conclude  an  artificer.  As  all  number  begins 
from  unity,  so  all  the  multitude  of  things  in  the  world  begins 
from  some  unity,  oneness  as  the  principle  of  it.  It  is  natural 
to  arise  from  a  view  of  those  things,  to  the  conception  of  a 
nature  more  perfect  than  any.  As  from  heat  mixed  with  cold, 
and  light  mixed  with  darkness,  men  conceive  and  arise  in  their 
understandings  to  an  intense  heat  and  a  pure  light;  and  from 
a  corporeal  or  bodily  substance  joined  with  an  incorporeal,  (as 
man  is  an  earthly  body  and  a  spiritual  soul,)  we  ascend  to  a 
conception  of  a  substance  purely  incorporeal  and  spiritual:  so 
from  a  multitude  of  things  in  the  world,  reason  leads  us  to  one 
choice  being  above  all.  And  since  in  all  natures  in  the  world, 
we  still  find  a  superior  nature;  the  nature  of  one  beast  above 
the  nature  of  another;  the  nature  of  man  above  the  nature  of 
beasts;  and  some  invisible  nature,  the  worker  of  strange  effects 
in  the  air  and  earth,  which  cannot  be  ascribed  to  any  visible 
cause,  we  must  suppose  some  nature  above  all  those,  of  incon- 
ceivable perfection. 

1  Psalm  cxxxix.  16 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  43 

Every  sceptic,  one  that  doubts  whether  there  be  any  thing 
real  or  not  in  the  world,  that  counts  every  thing  an  appearance, 
must  necessarily  own  a  first  cause.1  They  cannot  reasonably 
doubt,  but  that  there  is  some  first  cause  which  makes  the  things 
appear  so  to  them.  They  cannot  be  the  cause  of  their  own 
appearance.  For  as  nothing  can  have  a  being  from  itself,  so 
nothing  can  appear  by  itself  and  its  own  force.  Nothing  can 
be  and  not  be  at  the  same  time.  But  that  which  is  not  and 
yet  seems  to  be;  if  it  be  the  cause  why  it  seems  to  be  what  it  is 
not,  it  may  be  said  to  be  and  not  to  be.  But  certainly  such 
persons  must  think  themselves  to  exist.  If  they  do  not,  they 
cannot  think;  and  if  they  do  exist,  they  must  have  some  cause 
of  that  existence.  So  that  which  way  soever  we  turn  ourselves, 
we  must  in  reason  own  a  first  cause  of  the  world.  Well,  then, 
might  the  Psalmist  term  an  atheist  a  fool,  that  disowns  a  God 
against  his  own  reason.  Without  owning  a  God  as  the  first 
cause  of  the  world,  no  man  can  give  any  tolerable  or  satisfac- 
tory account  of  the  world  to  his  own  reason.  And  this  first 
cause, 

1.  Must  necessarily  exist.  It  is  necessary  that  He  by  whom 
all  things  are,  should  be  before  all  things,  and  nothing  before 
him.  2  And  if  nothing  be  before  him,  he  comes  not  from  any 
other;  and  then  he  always  was,  and  without  beginning.  He  is 
from  himself;  not  that  he  once  was  not,  but  because  he  hath 
not  his  existence  from  another,  and  therefore  of  necessity  he 
did  exist  from  all  eternity.  Nothing  can  make  itself,  or  bring 
itself  into  being;  therefore  there  must  be  some  being  which 
hath  no  cause,  that  depends  upon  no  other,  never  was  pro- 
duced by  any  other,  but  was  what  he  is  from  eternity,  and 
cannot  be  otherwise;  and  is  not  what  he  is  by  will,  but  nature, 
necessarily  existing,  and  always  existing  without  any  capacity 
or  possibility  ever  not  to  be. 

2.  Must  be  infinitely  perfect.  Since  man  knows  he  is  an 
imperfect  being,  he  must  suppose  the  perfections  he  wants  are 
seated  in  some  other  being  which  hath  limited  him,  and  upon 
which  he  depends.  Whatsoever  we  conceive  of  excellency  or 
perfection,  must  be  in  God.  For  we  can  conceive  no  perfection 
but  what  God  hath  given  us  a  power  to  conceive.  And  he 
that  gave  us  a  power  to  conceive  a  transcendent  perfection 
above  whatever  we  saw  or  heard  of,  hath  much  more  in  him- 
self; else  he  could  not  give  us  such  a  conception. 

Secondly,  As  the  production  of  the  world,  so  the  harmony  of 
all  the  parts  of  it  declare  the  being  and  wisdom  of  a  God. 
Without  the  acknowledging  God,  the  atheist  can  give  no  ac- 
count  of  those  things.     The  multitude,  elegancy,  variety,  and 

1  Coccci  sum  Theol.  c.  8.  §  33,  &c. 

2  Petav.  Theol.  Dog.  Tom.  I.  lib.  i.  c.  2.  p.  10,  11. 


44  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

beauty  of  all  things  are  steps  whereby  to  ascend  to  one  foun- 
tain and  original  of  them.  Is  it  not  a  folly  to  deny  the  being 
of  a  wise  agent,  who  sparkles  in  the  beauty  and  motions  of  the 
heavens,  rides  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind,  and  is  written  upon 
the  flowers  and  fruits  of  plants?  As  the  cause  is  known  by  the 
effects,  so  the  wisdom  of  the  cause  is  known  by  the  elegancy 
of  the  work,  the  proportion  of  the  parts  to  one  another.  Who 
can  imagine  the  world  could  be  rashly  made,  and  without  con- 
sultation, which,  in  every  part  of  it,  is  so  artificially  framed? 
No  work  of  art  springs  up  of  its  own  accord. '  The  world  is 
framed  by  an  excellent  art,  and,  therefore,  made  by  some  skil- 
ful artist.  As  we  hear  not  a  melodious  instrument,  but  we 
conclude  there  is  a  musician  that  touches  it,  as  well  as  some 
skilful  hand  that  framed  and  disposed  it  for  those  lessons;  and 
no  man  that  hears  the  pleasant  sound  of  a  lute  but  will  fix  his 
thoughts,  not  upon  the  instrument  itself,  but  upon  the  skill  of 
the  artist  that  made  it,  and  the  art  of  the  musician  that  strikes 
it,  though  he  should  not  see  the  first,  when  he  saw  the  lute, 
nor  see  the  other,  when  he  hears  the  harmony:  so  a  rational 
creature  confines  not  his  thoughts  to  his  sense  when  he  sees  the 
sun  in  its  glory,  and  the  moon  walking  in  its  brightness;  but 
riseth  up  in  a  contemplation  and  admiration  of  that  Infinite 
Spirit  that  composed,  and  filled  them  with  such  sweetness. 
This  appears, 

1.  In  the  linking  contrary  qualities  together.  All  things  are 
compounded  of  the  elements.  Those  are  endued  with  contrary 
qualities,  dryness  and  moisture,  heat  and  cold.  These  would 
always  be  contending  with  and  infesting  one  another's  rights, 
till  the  contest  ended  in  the  destruction  of  one  or  both.  Where 
fire  is  predominant,  it  would  suck  up  the  water;  where  water 
is  prevalent,  it  would  quench  the  fire.  The  heat  would  wholly 
expel  the  cold,  or  the  cold  overpower  the  heat;  yet  we  see 
them  chained  and  linked  one  within  another  in  every  body 
upon  the  earth,  and  rendering  mutual  offices  for  the  benefit  of 
that  body  wherein  they  are  seated,  and  all  conspiring  together 
in  their  particular  quarrels  for  the  public  interest  of  the  body. 
How  could  those  contraries,  that  of  themselves  observe  no 
order,  that  are  always  preying  upon  one  another,  jointly  accord 
together  of  themselves,  for  one  common  end,  if  they  were  not 
linked  in  a  common  band,  and  reduced  to  that  order  by  some 
incomprehensible  wisdom  and  power,  which  keeps  a  hand 
upon  them,  orders  their  motions  and  directs  their  events,  and 
makes  them  readily  pass  into  one  another's  natures?  Confu- 
sion had  been  the  result  of  the  discord  and  diversity  of  their 
natures;  no  composition  could  have  been  of  those  conflicting 

i  Philo.  Judse.  Petav.  Thcolog.  Dog.  Tom.  I.  lib.  i.  c.  1.  p.  9. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  45 

qualities  for  the  frame  of  any  body,  nor  any  harmony  arise 
from  so  many  jarring  strings,  if  they  had  not  been  reduced  into 
concord  by  one  that  is  supreme  Lord  over  them,  and  knows 
how  to  dispose  their  varieties  and  enmities  for  the  public  good. 
If  a  man  should  see  a  large  city  or  country,  consisting  of  great 
multitudes  of  men,  of  different  tempers,  full  of  frauds,  and  fac- 
tions, and  animosities  in  their  natures  against  one  another,  yet 
living  together  in  good  order  and  peace,  without  oppressing 
and  invading  one  another,  and  joining  together  for  the  public 
good,  he  would  presently  conclude  there  were  some  excellent 
governor,  who  tempered  them  by  his  wisdom,  and  preserved 
the  public  peace,  though  he  had  never  yet  beheld  him  with  his 
eye. '  It  is  as  necessary  to  conclude  a  God,  who  moderates  the 
contrarieties  in  the  world,  as  to  conclude  a  wise  prince  who 
overrules  the  contrary  dispositions  in  a  state,  making  every 
one  to  keep  his  own  bounds  and  confines.  Things  that  are 
contrary  to  one  another  subsist  in  an  admirable  order. 

2.  In  the  subserviency  of  one  thing  to  another.  All  the 
members  of  living  creatures  are  curiously  fitted  for  the  service 
of  one  another,  destined  to  a  particular  end,  and  endued  with 
a  virtue  to  attain  that  end,  and  so  distinctly  placed,  that  one  is 
no  hinderance  to  the  other  in  its  operations. 2  Is  not  this  more 
admirable  than  to  be  the  work  of  chance,  which  is  incapable 
to  settle  such  an  order,  and  fix  particular  and  general  ends, 
causing  an  exact  correspondency  of  all  the  parts  with  one  an- 
other, and  every  part  to  conspire  together  for  one  common  end? 
One  thing  is  fitted  for  another.  The  eye  is  fitted  for  the  sun, 
and  the  sun  fitted  for  the  eye.  Several  sorts  of  food  are  fitted 
for  several  creatures,  and  those  creatures  fitted  with  organs  for 
the  partaking  that  food. 

(1.)  Subserviency  of  heavenly  bodies.  The  sun,  the  heart 
of  the  world,  is  not  for  itself,  but  for  the  good  of  the  world,  as 
the  heart  of  man  is  for  the  good  of  the  body. 3  How  conveni- 
ently is  the  sun  placed,  at' a  distance  from  the  earth,  and  the 
upper  heavens,  to  enlighten  the  stars  above,  and  enliven  the 
earth  below?  If  it  were  either  higher  or  lower,  one  part  would 
want  its  influences.  It  is  not  in  the  higher  parts  of  the  hea- 
vens; the  earth  then  which  lives  and  fructifies  by  its  influence 
would  have  been  exposed  to  a  perpetual  winter  and  chillness, 
unable  to  have  produced  any  thing  for  the  sustenance  of  man 
or  beast.  If  seated  lower,  the  earth  had  been  parched  up,  the 
world  made  uninhabitable,  and  long  since  had  been  consumed 
to  ashes  by  the  strength  of  its  heat.  Consider  the  motion,  as 
well  as  the  situation  of  the  sun.  Had  it  stood  still,  one  part  of 
the  world  had  been  cherished  by  its  beams,  and  the  other  left 

'  Athanasius  Petav.  Theol.  Dog.  Tom.  I.  lib.  i.  c.  1.  p.  4,  5. 

2  Gassend.  Physic.  §  1.  lib.  iv.  c.  2.  p.  315.  3  Lessius. 


46  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

in  a  desolate  widowhood,  in  a  disconsolate  darkness.  Besides, 
the  earth  would  have  had  no  shelter  from  its  perpendicular 
heams  striking  perpetually,  and  without  any  remission,  upon 
it.  The  same  incommodities  would  have  followed  upon  its 
fixedness  as  upon  its  too  great  nearness.  By  a  constant  day 
the  beauty  of  the  stars  had  been  obscured,  the  knowledge  of 
their  motions  been  prevented,  and  a  considerable  part  of  the 
glorious  wisdom  of  the  Creator,  in  those  choice  '  works  of  his 
fingers,' 1  had  been  veiled  from  our  eyes.  It  moves  in  a  fixed 
line,  visits  all  parts  of  the  earth,  scatters  in  the  day  its  refresh- 
ing blessings  in  every  creek  of  the  earth,  and  removes  the  mask 
from  the  other  beauties  of  heaven  in  the  night,  which  sparkle 
out  to  the  glory  of  the  Creator.  It  spreads  its  light,  warms  the 
earth,  cherisheth  the  seeds,  excites  the  spirit  in  the  earth,  and 
brings  fruit  to  maturity.  View  also  the  air,  the  vast  extent 
between  heaven  and  earth,  which  serves  for  a  water-course,  a 
cistern  for  water,  to  bedew  the  face  of  the  sun-burnt  earth,  to 
satisfy  the  desolate  ground,  and  to  cause  the  '  bud  of  the  ten- 
der herb  to  spring  forth.' 2  Could  chance  appoint  the  clouds 
of  the  air  to  interpose  as  fans  between  the  scorching  heat  of 
the  sun,  and  the  faint  bodies  of  the  creatures?  Can  that  be  the 
'father  of  the  rain,  or  beget  the  drops  of  dew?'3  Could  any 
thing  so  blind  settle  those  ordinances  of  heaven  for  the  preser- 
vation of  creatures  on  the  earth?  Can  this  either  bring  or  stay 
the  bottles  of  heaven,  when  the  <  dust  grows  into  hardness,  and 
the  clods  cleave  fast  together?'4 

(2.)  Subserviency  of  the  lower  world,  the  earth,  and  sea, 
which  was  created  to  be  inhabited,  (Isa.  xlv.  IS.)  The  sea 
affords  water  to  the  rivers,  the  rivers,  like  so  many  veins,  are 
spread  through  the  whole  body  of  the  earth,  to  refresh  and 
enable  it  to  bring  forth  fruit  for  the  sustenance  of  man  and 
beast,  (Psa.  civ.  10,  11.)  '  He  sends  the  springs  into  the  val- 
leys, which  run  among  the  hills;  they  give  drink  to  every  beast 
of  the  field;  the  wild  asses  quench  their  thirst.  He  causes  the 
grass  to  grow  for  the  cattle,  and  the  herb  for  the  service  of 
man,  that  he  may  bring  forth  food  out  of  the  earth.'  (ver.  14.) 
The  trees  are  provided  for  shades  against  the  extremity  of 
heat,  a  refuge  for  the  panting  beasts,  an  '  habitation  for  birds,' 
wherein  to  make  their  nests  (ver.  17,)  and  a  basket  for  their 
provision.  How  are  the  valleys  and  mountains  of  the  earth 
disposed  for  the  pleasure  and  profit  of  man!  Every  year  are 
the  fields  covered  with  harvests,  for  the  nourishing  the  crea- 
tures; no  part  is  barren,  but  beneficial  to  man.  The  moun- 
tains that  are  not  clothed  with  grass  for  his  food,  are  set  with 
stones  to  make  him  an  habitation;  they  have  their  peculiar  ser- 

1  Psalm  viii.  3.     2  Job  xxxviii.  25.27.     3  Job  xxxviii.  28.     *  Job  xxxviii.  37,  38. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  47 

vices  of  metals  and  minerals,  for  the  conveniency  and  comfort 
and  benefit  of  man.  Things  which  are  not  fit  for  his  food,  are 
medicines  for  his  cure,  under  some  painful  sickness.  Where 
the  earth  brings  not  forth  corn,  it  brings  forth  roots  for  the  ser- 
vice of  other  creatures.  Wood  abounds  more  in  those  coun- 
tries where  the  cold  is  stronger  than  in  others.  Can  this  be  the 
result  of  chance,  or  not  rather  of  an  Infinite  Wisdom?  Consi- 
der the  usefulness  of  the  sea,  for  the  supply  of  rivers  to  refresh 
the  earth:  '  Which  go  up  by  the  mountains  and  down  by  the 
valleys  into  the  place  God  hath  founded  for  them,'  (Psal.  civ. 
S:)  a  store-house  for  fish,  for  the  nourishment  of  other  crea- 
tures, a  shop  of  medicines  for  cure,  and  pearls  for  ornament: 
the  band  that  ties  remote  nations  together,  by  giving  opportu- 
nity of  passage  to,  and  commerce  with,  one  another.  How 
should  that  natural  inclination  of  the  sea  to  cover  the  earth, 
submit  to  this  subserviency  to  the  creatures?  Who  hath 
bounded  this  fluid  mass  of  water  in  certain  limits,  and  con- 
fined it  to  its  own  channel,  for  the  accommodation  of  such 
creatures,  who,  by  its  common  law,  can  only  be  upon  the 
earth?  Naturally  the  earth  was  covered  with  the  deep  as 
with  a  garment;  the  waters  stood  above  (he  mountains.  '  Who 
set  a  bound  that  they  might  not  pass  over,'1  that  they  return 
not  again  to  cover  the  earth?  Was  it  blind  chance,  or  an  Infi- 
nite Power,  that  'shut  up  the  sea  with  doors,  and  made  thick 
darkness  a  swaddling  band  for  it,  and  said,  'Hitherto  shall 
thou  come  and  no  further,  and  here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be 
stayed?'2  Al'l  things  are  so  ordered,  that  they  are  not  propter 
se,  but  propter  aliud.  What  advantage  accrues  to  the  sun  by 
its  unwearied  rolling  about  the  world?  Doth  it  increase  the 
perfection  of  its  nature  by  all  its  circuits?  No;  but  it  serves 
the  inferior  world,  it  impregnates  things  by  its  heat.  Not  the 
most  abject  thing  but  hath  its  end  and  use.  There  is  a  straight 
connexion:  the  earth  could  not  bring  forth  fruit  without  the 
heavens;  the  heavens  could  not  water  the  earth,  without  va- 
pours from  it. 

(3.)  All  this  subserviency  of  creatures  centres  in  man.  Other 
creatures  are  served  by  those  things,  as  well  as  ourselves,  and 
they  are  provided  for  their  nourishment  and  refreshment,  as 
well  as  ours  ;3  yet,  both  they,  and  all  creatures  meet  in  man,  as 
lines  in  their  centres.  Tilings  that  have  no  life  or  sense,  are 
made  for  those  that  have  both  life  and  sense;  and  those  that 
have  life  and  sense,  are  made  for  those  that  are  endued  with 
reason.  When  the  Psalmist  admiringly  considers  the  heavens, 
moon  and  stars,  he  intimates  man  to  be  the  end  for  which  they 
were  created,   (Ps.   viii.   3,  4:)  'What  is  man,  that  thou  art 

1  Psalm  civ.  6.  9.  2  J0b  xxxviii.  8,  9.  11. 

3  Amirald.  de  Trinitate,  pp.  13,  18. 


48  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

mindful  of  him?'  He  expresseth  more  particularly  the  domin- 
ion that  man  hath  'over  the  beasts  of  the  field,  the  fowl  of  the 
air,  and  whatsoever  passes  through  the  paths  of  the  sea'  (ver. 
6 — 8;)  and  concludes  from  thence,  the  'excellency  of  God's 
name  in  all  the  earth.'  All  things  in  the  world,  one  way  or 
other,  centre  in  an  usefulness  for  man;  some  to  feed  him,  some 
to  clothe  him,  some  to  delight  him,  others  to  instruct  him,  some 
to  exercise  his  wit,  and  others  his  strength.  Since  man  did  not 
make  them,  he  did  not  also  order  them  for  his  own  use.  If 
they  conspire  to  serve  him  who  never  made  them,  they  direct 
man  to  acknowledge  another,  who  is  the  joint  Creator  both  of 
the  lord  and  the  servants  under  his  dominion;  and  therefore,  as 
the  inferior  natures  are  ordered  by  an  invisible  hand  for  the 
good  of  man,  so  the  nature  of  man  is,  by  the  same  hand,  order- 
ed to  acknowledge  the  existence  and  the  glory  of  the  Creator 
of  him.  This  visible  order  man  knows  he  did  not  constitute; 
he  did  not  settle  those  creatures  in  subserviency  to  himself; 
they  were  placed  in  that  order  before  he  had  any  acquaintance 
with  them,  or  existence  of  himself;  which  is  a  question  God 
puts  to  Job,  to  consider  of  (Job  xxxviii.  4:)  '  Where  wast  thou 
when  I  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth?  declare,  if  thou  hast 
understanding.'  All  is  ordered  for  man's  use;  the  heavens 
answer  to  the  earth,  as  a  roof  to  a  floor,  both  composing  a  de- 
lightful habitation  for  man;  vapours  ascend  from  the  earth,  and 
the  heaven  concocts  them,  and  returns  them  back  in  welcome 
showers  for  the  supplying  of  the  earth.1  The  light  of  the  sun 
descends  to  beautify  the  earth,  and  employs  its  heat  to  bring 
forth  its  fruits,  and  this  for  the  good  of  the  community,  whereof 
man  is  the  head;  and  though  all  creatures  have  distinct  natures, 
and  must  act  for  particular  ends,  according  to  the  law  of  their 
creation,  yet  there  is  a  joint  combination  for  the  good  of  the 
whole,  as  the  common  end;  just  as  all  the  rivers  in  the  world, 
from  what  part  soever  they  come,  whether  north  or  south,  fall 
into  the  sea,  for  the  supply  of  that  mass  of  waters,  which  loudly 
proclaims  some  infinitely  wise  nature,  who  made  those  things 
in  so  exact  an  harmony.  '  As  in  a  clock,  the  hammer  which 
strikes  the  bell  leads  us  to  the  next  wheel,  that  to  another,  the 
little  wheel  to  a  greater,  whence  it  derives  its  motion,  this  at 
last  to  the  spring,  which  acquaints  us  that  there  was  some  artist 
that  framed  them  in  this  subordination  to  one  another,  for  this 
orderly  motion.'2 

(4.)  This  order  or  subserviency  is  regular  and  uniform; 
every  thing  is  determined  to  its  peculiar  nature.3  The  sun  and 
moon  make  day  and  night,  months  and  years,  determine  the 
seasons,  never  are  defective  in  coming  back  to  their  station  and 

'  Jer.  x.  13.  2  Morn,  de  Verit.  c.  1.  p.  7.  3  Amiraut 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  49 

place;  they  wander  not  from  their  roads,  shock  not  against  one 
another,  nor  hinder  one  another  in  the  functions  assigned  them. 
From  a  small  grain  or  seed,  a  tree  springs,  with  body,  root, 
bark,  leaves,  fruit  of  the  same  shape,  figure,  smell,  taste;  that 
there  should  be  as  many  parts  in  one,  as  in  all  of  the  same 
kind,  and  no  more;  and  that  in  the  womb  of  a  sensitive  crea- 
ture, should  be  formed  one  of  the  same  kind,  with  all  the  due 
members,  and  no  more;  and  the  creature  that  produceth  it 
knows  not  how  it  is  formed,  or  how  it  is  perfected.  If  we  say 
this  is  nature,  this  nature  is  an  intelligent  being;  if  not,  how 
can  it  direct  all  causes  to  such  uniform  ends?  if  it  be  intelligent, 
this  nature  must  be  the  same  we  call  God, '  who  ordered  every 
herb  to  yield  seed,  and  every  fruit  tree  to  yield  fruit  after  its 
kind,  and  also  every  beast,  and  every  creeping  thing  after  its 
kind.'  (Gen.  i.  11,  12.  24.)  And  every  thing  is  determined  to 
its  particular  season;  the  sap  riseth  from  the  root  at  its  appoint- 
ed time,  enlivening  and  clothing  the  branches  with  a  new  gar- 
ment at  such  a  time  of  the  sun's  returning,  not  wholly  hindered 
by  any  accidental  coldness  of  the  weather,  it  being  often  colder 
at  its  return,  than  it  was  at  the  sun's  departure.  All  things 
have  their  seasons  of  flourishing,  budding,  blossoming,  bring- 
ing forth  fruit ;  they  ripen  in  their  seasons,  cast  their  leaves  at 
the  same  time,  throw  off  their  old  clothes,  and  in  the  spring 
appear  with  new  garments,  but  still  in  the  same  fashion.  The 
winds  and  the  rain  have  their  seasons,  and  seem  to  be  admin- 
istered by  laws  for  the  profit  of  man.1  No  satisfactory  cause 
of  those  things  can  be  ascribed  to  the  earth,  the  sea,  to  the  air, 
or  stars.  '  Can  any  understand  the  spreading  of  his  clouds,  or 
the  noise  of  his  tabernacle?'  (Job  xxxviii.  29.)  The  natural 
reason  of  those  things  cannot  be  demonstrated,  without  re- 
course to  an  infinite  and  intelligent  being;  nothing  can  be  ren- 
dered capable  of  the  direction  of  those  things  but  a  God. 

This  regularity  in  plants  and  animals  is  in  all  nations.  The 
heavens  have  the  same  motion  in  all  parts  of  the  world; 
all  men  have  the  same  law  of  nature  in  their  mind;  all  crea- 
tures are  stamped  with  the  same  law  of  creation.  In  all  parts 
the  same  creatures  serve  for  the  same  use;  and  though  there 
be  different  creatures  in  India  and  Europe,  yet  they  have  the 
same  subordination,  the  same  subserviency  to  one  another, 
and  ultimately  to  man;  which  shows  that  there  is  a  God,  and 
but  one  God,  who  tunes  all  those  different  strings  to  the  same 
notes  in  all  places.  Is  it  nature  merely  conducts  these  natural 
causes  in  due  measures  to  their  proper  effects,  without  inter- 
fering with  one  another?  Can  mere  nature  be  the  cause  of 
those  musical  proportions  of  time?     You  may  as  well  conceive 

1  Coccei.  sum.  Theol.  c.  8.  §  77. 

Vol.  I.— 7 


50  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

a  lute  to  sound  its  own  strings  without  the  hand  of  an  artist;  a 
city  well  governed  without  a  governor;  an  army  keep  its  sta- 
tions without  a  general,  as  imagine  so  exact  an  order  without 
an  orderer.  Would  any  man,  when  he  hears  a  clock  strike, 
by  fit  intervals,  the  hour  of  the  day,  imagine  this  regularity  in 
it  without  the  direction  of  one  that  had  understanding  to  man- 
age it?  He  would  not  only  regard  the  motion  of  the  clock  but 
commend  the  diligence  of  the  clock-keeper. 

(5.)  This  order  and  subserviency  is  constant.  Children 
change  the  customs  and  manners  of  their  fathers;  magistrates 
change  the  laws  they  have  received  from  their  ancestors,  and 
enact  new  ones  in  their  room:  but  in  the  world  all  things  con- 
sist as  they  were  created  at  the  beginning;  the  law  of  nature 
in  the  creatures  hath  met  with  no  change.  Who  can  behold 
the  sun  rising  in  the  morning,  the  moon  shining  in  the  night, 
increasing  and  decreasing  in  its  due  spaces,  the  stars  in  their 
regular  motions  night  after  night,  for  all  ages,  and  yet  deny  a 
President  over  them?1  And  this  motion  of  the  heavenly  bo- 
dies, being  contrary  to  the  nature  of  other  creatures,  who  move 
in  order  to  rest,  must  be  from  some  higher  cause.  But  those, 
ever  since  the  settling  in  their  places,  have  been  perpetually 
rounding  the  world.  What  nature,  but  one  powerful  and  in- 
telligent, could  give  that  perpetual  motion  to  the  sun,2  which 
being  bigger  than  the  earth  a  hundred  sixty-six  times,  runs 
many  thousand  miles  with  a  mighty  swiftness  in  the  space  of 
an  hour,  with  an  unwearied  diligence  performing  its  daily  task, 
and,  as  a  strong  man,  rejoicing  to  run  its  race,  for  above  five 
thousand  years  together,  without  intermission,  but  in  the  time 
of  Joshua?3  It  is  not  nature's  sun,  but  God's  sun,  which  he 
'  makes  to  rise  upon  the  just  and  unjust."4  So  a  plant  receives 
its  nourishment  from  the  earth,  sends  forth  its  juice  to  every 
branch,  forms  a  bud  which  spreads  it  into  a  blossom  and  flower; 
the  leaves  of  this  drop  off,  and  leave  a  fruit  of  the  same  colour 
and  taste,  every  year,  which,  being  ripened  by  the  sun,  leaves 
seeds  behind  it  for  the  propagation  of  its  like,  which  contains 
in  the  nature  of  it  the  same  kind  of  buds,  blossoms,  fruit,  which 
were  before;  and  being  nourished  in  the  womb  of  the  earth, 
and  quickened  by  the  power  of  the  sun,  discovers  itself  at 
length,  in  all  the  progresses  and  motions  which  its  predecessor 
did.  Thus  in  all  ages,  in  all  places,  every  year  it  performs  the 
same  task,  spins  out  fruit  of  the  same  colour,  taste,  virtue,  to 
refresh  the  several  creatures  for  which  they  are  provided. 
This  settled  state  of  things  comes  from  that  God  who  laid  the 
'foundations  of  the  earth,'  that  it  should  '  not  be  removed'  for 

i  Pctav.  ex  Athanas.  Theol.  Dog.  Tom.  I.  lib.  i.  c.  1.  §  4. 

2  Whether  it  be  the  sun  or  the  cartli  that  moves,  it  is  all  one.  Whence  have 
either  of  them  this  constant  and  uniform  motion?     3  Josh.  x.  13.     4  Matt.  v.  45. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  51 

ever;1  and  set  '  ordinances  for  them'  to  act  by  a  stated  law;2 
according  to  which  they  move  as  if  they  understood  themselves 
to  have  made  a  covenant  with  their  Creator.3 

3.  Add  to  this  union  of  contrary  qualities,  and  the  subser- 
viency of  one  thing  to  another,  the  admirable  variety  and 
diversity  of  things  in  the  world.  What  variety  of  metals, 
living  creatures,  plants!  what  variety  and  distinction  in  the 
shape  of  their  leaves,  flowers,  smell,  resulting  from  them !  Who 
can  number  up  the  several  sorts  of  beasts  on  the  earth,  birds  in 
the  air, fish  in  the  sea?  How  various  are  their  motions!  Some 
creep,  some  go,  some  fly,  some  swim;  and  in  all  this  variety 
each  creature  hath  organs  or  members,  fitted  for  their  peculiar 
motion.  If  you  consider  the  multitude  of  stars,  which  shine 
like  jewels  in  the  heavens,  their  different  magnitudes,  or  the 
variety  of  colours  in  the  flowers  and  tapestry  of  the  earth, 
you  could  no  more  conclude  they  made  themselves,  or  were 
made  by  chance,  than  you  can  imagine  a  piece  of  arras,  with 
a  diversity  of  figures  and  colours,  either  wove  itself,  or  were 
knit  together  by  hazard. 

How  delicious  is  the  sap  of  the  vine,  when  turned  into  wine, 
above  that  of  a  crab!  Both  have  the  same  womb  of  earth  to 
conceive  them,  both  agree  in  the  nature  of  wood  and  twigs,  as 
channels  to  convey  it  into  fruit.  What  is  that  which  makes 
the  one  so  sweet,  the  other  so  sour,  or  makes  that  sweet  which 
was  a  few  weeks  before  unpleasantly  sharp?  Is  it  the  earth? 
No:  they  both  have  the  same  soil;  the  branches  may  touch 
each  other;  the  strings  of  their  roots  may,  under  ground,  en- 
twine about  one  another.  Is  it  the  sun  ?  both  have  the  same 
beams.  Why  is  not  the  taste  and  colour  of  the  one  as  gratify- 
ing as  the  other?  Is  it  the  root?  the  taste  of  that  is  far  differ- 
ent from  that  of  the  fruit  it  bears.  Why  do  they  not,  when 
they  have  the  same  soil,  the  same  sun,  and  stand  near  one 
another,  borrow  something  from  one  another's  natures?  No 
reason  can  be  rendered,  but  that  there  is  a  God  of  infinite  wis- 
dom hath  determined  this  variety,  and  bound  up  the  nature  of 
each  creature  within  itself.  'Everything  follows  the  law  of 
its  creation;  and  it  is  worthy  observation,  that  the  Creator  of 
them  hath  not  given  that  power  to  animals,  which  arise  from 
different  species,  to  propagate  the  like  to  themselves;  as  mules, 
that  arise  from  different  species.  No  reason  can  be  rendered 
of  this,  but  the  fixed  determination  of  the  Creator,  that  those 
species  which  were  created  by  him  should  not  be  lost  in  those 
mixtures  which  are  contrary  to  the  law  of  the  creation.' 4  This 
cannot  possibly  be  ascribed  to  that  which  is  commonly  called 

1  Psalm  civ.  5.  2  Job  xxxviii.  33. 

3  Jcr.  xxxiii.  20.  *  Amirald.  de  Trinitatc,  p.  21. 


52  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

nature,  but  unto  the  God  of  nature,  who  will  not  have  his  crea- 
tures exceed  their  bounds  or  come  short  of  them. 

Now  since  among  those  varieties  there  are  some  things  bet- 
ter than  other,  yet  all  are  good  in  their  kind,  and  partake  of 
goodness,1  there  must  be  something  better  and  more  excellent 
than  all  those,  from  whom  they  derive  that  goodness,  which 
inheres  in  their  nature  and  is  communicated  by  them  to  others: 
and  this  excellent  Being  must  inherit,  in  an  eminent  way  in  his 
own  nature,  the  goodness  of  all  those  varieties,  since  they 
made  not  themselves,  but  were  made  by  another.  All  that 
goodness  which  is  scattered  in  those  varieties  must  be  infinitely 
concentred  in  that  nature,  which  distributed  those  various  per- 
fections to  them  (Ps.  xciv.  9:)  'He  that  planted  the  ear,  shall 
not  he  hear;  he  that  formed  the  eye,  shall  not  he  see;  he  that 
teacheth  man  knowledge,  shall  not  he  know  V  The  Creator  is 
greater  than  the  creature,  and  whatsoever  is  in  his  effects,  is 
but  an  impression  of  some  excellency  in  himself;  there  is, 
therefore,  some  chief  fountain  of  goodness  whence  all  those 
various  goodnesses  in  the  world  do  flow. 

From  all  this  it  follows,  if  there  be  an  order,  and  harmony, 
there  must  be  an  Orderer ;  one  that  '  made  the  earth  by  his 
power,  established  the  world  by  his  wisdom,  and  stretched  out 
the  heavens  by  his  discretion.'  (Jer.  x.  12).  Order  being  the 
effect,  cannot  be  the  cause  of  itself:  order  is  the  disposition  of 
things  to  an  end,  and  is  not  intelligent,  but  implies  an  intelligent 
Orderer;  and,  therefore,  it  is  as  certain  that  there  is  a  God,  as 
it  is  certain  there  is  order  in  the  world.  Order  is  an  effect  of 
reason  and  counsel;  this  reason  and  counsel  must  have  its  resi- 
dence in  some  being  before  this  order  was  fixed:  the  things 
ordered  are  always  distinct  from  that  reason  and  counsel 
whereby  they  are  ordered,  and  also  after  it,  as  the  effect  is 
after  the  cause.  No  man  begins  a  piece  of  work  but  he  hath 
the  model  of  it  in  his  own  mind:  no  man  builds  a  house,  or 
makes  a  watch,  but  he  hath  the  idea  or  copy  of  it  in  his  own 
head.  This  beautiful  world  bespeaks  an  idea  of  it,  or  a  model: 
since  there  is  such  a  magnificent  wisdom  in  the  make  of  each 
creature,  and  the  proportion  of  one  creature  to  another,  this 
model  must  be  before  the  world,  as  the  pattern  is  always  be- 
fore the  thing  that  is  wrought  by  it.  This,  therefore,  must  be 
in  some  intelligent  and  wise  agent,  and  this  is  God.  Since  the 
reason  of  those  things  exceed  the  reason  and  all  the  art  of  man, 
who  can  ascribe  them  to  any  inferior  cause  ?  Chance  it  could 
not  be;  the  motions  of  chance  are  not  constant,  and  at  set  sea- 
sons, as  the  motions  of  creatures  are.  That  which  is  by 
chance  is  contingent,  this  is  necessary;  uniformity  can  never 

i  Gen.  i.  31. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  53 

be  the  birth  of  chance.  Who  can  imagine  that  all  the  parts  of 
a  watch  can  meet  together  and  put  themselves  in  order  and 
motion  by  chance  ?  '  Nor  can  it  be  nature  only,  which  indeed 
is  a  disposition  of  second  causes.  If  nature  hath  not  an  under- 
standing, it  cannot  work  such  effects.  If  nature  therefore  uses 
counsel  to  begin  a  thing,  reason  to  dispose  it,  art  to  effect  it, 
virtue  to  complete  it,  and  power  to  govern  it,  why  should  it  be 
called  nature  rather  than  God?'1  Nothing  so  sure  as  that 
which  hath  an  end  to  which  it  tends,  hath  a  cause  by  which  it 
is  ordered  to  that  end.  Since  therefore  all  things  are  ordered 
in  subserviency  to  the  good  of  man,  they  are  so  ordered  by 
Him  that  made  both  man  and  them;  and  man  must  acknow- 
ledge the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  his  Creator,  and  act  in  sub- 
serviency to  his  glory,  as  other  creatures  act  in  subserviency  to 
his  good.  Sensible  objects  were  not  made  only  to  gratify  the 
sense  of  man,  but  to  hand  something  to  his  mind  as  he  is  a 
rational  creature;  to  discover  God  to  him  as  an  object  of  love 
and  desire  to  be  enjoyed.  If  this  be  not  the  effect  of  it,  the 
order  of  the  creature,  as  to  such  an  one,  is  in  vain,  and  falls 
short  of  its  true  end.2 

To  conclude  this:  As  when  a  man  comes  into  a  palace,  built 
according  to  the  exactest  rule  of  art,  and  with  an  unexception- 
able conveniency  for  the  inhabitants,  he  would  acknowledge 
both  the  being  and  skill  of  the  builder;  so  whosoever  shall  ob- 
serve the  disposition  of  all  the  parts  of  the  world,  their  con- 
nexion, comeliness,  the  variety  of  seasons,  the  swarms  of 
different  creatures,  and  the  mutual  offices  they  render  to  one 
another,  cannot  conclude  less,  than  that  it  was  contrived  by  an 
infinite  skill,  effected  by  infinite  power,  and  governed  by  infi- 
nite wisdom.  None  can  imagine  a  ship  to  be  orderly  conducted 
without  a  pilot;  nor  the  parts  of  the  world  to  perform  their 
several  functions  without  a  wise  guide;  considering  the  mem- 
bers of  the  body  cannot  perform  theirs,  without  the  active  pre- 
sence of  the  soul.  The  atheist,  then,  is  a  fool  to  deny  that 
which  every  creature  in  his  constitution  asserts,  and  thereby 
renders  himself  unable  to  give  a  satisfactory  account  of  that 
constant  uniformity  in  the  motions  of  the  creatures. 

Thirdly,  As  the  production  and  harmony,  so  particular  crea- 
tures, pursuing  and  attaining  their  ends,  manifest  that  there  is 
a  God.  All  particular  creatures  have  natural  instincts,  which 
move  them  for  some  end.  The  intending  of  an  end  is  a  pro- 
perty of  a  rational  creature;  since  the  lower  creatures  cannot 
challenge  that  title,  they  must  act  by  the  understanding  and 
direction  of  another;  and  since  man  cannot  challenge  the 
honour  of  inspiring  the  creatures  with  such  instincts,  it  must 
be  ascribed  to  some   nature  infinitely  above  any  creature  in 

1  Lactantius.  2  Coccei.  Sum.  Theol.  c.  8.  §  63,  64. 


54  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

understanding.  No  creature  doth  determine  itself.  Why  do 
the  fruits  and  grain  of  the  earth  nourish  us,  when  the  earth 
which  instrumentally  gives  them  that  fitness,  cannot  nourish 
us,  but  because  their  several  ends  are  determined  by  one  higher 
than  the  world  ? 

1.  Several  creatures  have  several  natures.  How  soon  will 
all  creatures,  as  soon  as  they  see  the  light  move  to  that  where- 
by they  must  live,  and  make  use  of  the  natural  arms  God  hath 
given  their  kind,  for  their  defence,  before  they  are  grown  to  any 
maturity  to  afford  them  that  defence!  The  Scripture  makes 
the  appetite  of  infants  to  their  milk  a  foundation  of  the  divine 
glory,  (Psal.  viii.  3,)  *  Out  of  the  mouths  of  babes  and  sucklings 
hast  thou  ordained  strength;'  that  is,  matter  of  praise  and  ac- 
knowledgment of  God,  in  the  natural  appetite  they  have  to 
their  milk  and  their  relish  of  it.  All  creatures  have  a  natural 
affection  to  their  young  ones ;  all  young  ones  by  a  natural 
instinct,  move  to,  and  receive  the  nourishment  that  is  proper  for 
them;  some  are  their  own  physicians,  as  well  as  their  own 
caterers,  and  naturally  discern  what  preserves  them  in  life,  and 
what  restores  them  when  sick.  The  swallow  flies  to  its  celan- 
dine, and  the  toad  hastens  to  its  plantain.  Can  we  behold  the 
spider's  nets,  or  silkworm's  web,  the  bee's  closets,  or  the  ant'*s 
granaries,  without  acknowledging  a  higher  being  than  a  crea- 
ture who  hath  planted  that  genius  in  them  ?  The  consideration 
of  the  nature  of  several  creatures  God  commended  to  Job, 
(chap,  xxxix.,  where  he  discourseth  to  Job  of  the  natural  in- 
stincts of  the  goat,  the  ostrich,  horse,  and  eagle,  &c.)  to  per- 
suade him  to  the  acknowledgment  and  admiration  of  God, 
and  humiliation  of  himself.  The  spider,  as  if  it  understood  the 
art  of  weaving,  fits  its  web  both  for  its  own  habitation,  and  a 
net  to  catch  its  prey.  The  bee  builds  a  cell  which  serves  for 
chambers  to  reside  in,  and  a  repository  for  its  provision.  Birds 
are  observed  to  build  their  nests  with  a  clammy  matter  without, 
for  the  firmer  duration  of  it,  and  with  a  soft  moss  and  down 
within,  for  the  conveniency  and  warmth  of  their  young.  '  The 
stork  knows  his  appointed  time,'  (Jer.  viii.  7,)  and  the  swallows 
observe  the  time  of  their  coming ;  they  go  and  return  according 
to  the  seasons  of  the  year;  this  they  gain  not  by  consideration, 
it  descends  to  them  with  their  nature;  they  neither  gain  nor  in- 
crease it  by  rational  deductions.  It  is  not  in  vain  to  speak  of 
these.  How  little  do  we  improve  by  meditation  those  objects 
which  daily  offer  themselves  to  our  view,  full  of  instructions 
for  us !  And  our  Saviour  sends  his  disciples  to  spell  God  in  the 
lilies.1  It  is  observed  also,  that  the  creatures  offensive  to  man 
go  single;  if  they  went  by  troops,  they  would  bring  destruction 
upon  man  and  beast ;  this  is  the  nature  of  them,  for  the  preser- 
vation of  others. 

i  Matt.  vi.  28. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 


55 


2.  They  know  not  their  end.  They  have  a  law  in  their  na- 
tures, but  have  no  rational  understanding,  either  of  the  end  to 
which  they  are  appointed,  or  the  means  fit  to  attain  it;  they 
naturally  do  what  they  do,  and  move  by  no  counsel  of  their 
own,  but  by  a  law  impressed  by  some  higher  hand  upon  their 
natures.  What  plant  knows  why  it  strikes  its  root  into  the 
earth?  doth  it  understand  what  storms  it  is  to  contest  with? 
Or  why  it  shoots  up  its  branches  towards  heaven  ?  doth  it  know 
it  needs  the  droppings  of  the  clouds  to  preserve  itself  and  make 
it  fruitful?  These  are  acts  of  understanding;  the  root  is  down- 
ward to  preserve  its  own  standing,  the  branches  upward  to 
preserve  other  creatures  ;  this  understanding  is  not  in  the  crea- 
ture itself  but  originally  in  another.  Thunders  and  tempests 
know  not  why  they  are  sent;  yet  by  the  direction  of  a  mighty 
hand,  they  are  instruments  of  justice  upon  a  wicked  world. 
Rational  creatures  that  act  for  some  end,  and  know  the  end  they 
aim  at,  yet  know  not  the  manner  of  the  natural  motion  of  the 
members  to  it.1  When  we  intend  to  look  upon  a  thing,  we  take 
no  counsel  about  the  natural  motion  of  our  eyes,  we  know  not 
all  the  principles  of  their  operations,  or  how  that  dull  matter 
whereof  our  bodies  are  composed,  is  subject  to  the  order  of  our 
minds.  We  are  not  of  counsel  with  our  stomachs  about  the 
concoction  of  our  meat,  or  the  distribution  of  the  nourishing 
juice  to  the  several  parts  of  the  body.3  Neither  the  mother  nor 
the  foetus  sit  in  council  how  the  formation  should  be  made  in 
the  womb.  We  know  no  more  than  a  plant  knows  what  stature 
it  is  of,  and  what  medicinal  virtue  its  fruit  hath  for  the  good  of 
man;  yet  all  those  natural  operations  are  perfectly  directed  to 
their  proper  end,  by  an  higher  wisdom  than  any  human  under- 
standing is  able  to  conceive,  since  they  exceed  the  ability  of  an 
inanimate  or  fleshly  nature,  yea,  and  the  wisdom  of  a  man. 
Do  we  not  often  see  reasonable  creatures  acting  for  one  end, 
and  perfecting  a  higher  than  what  they  aimed  at  or  could  sus- 
pect ?  When  Joseph's  brethren  sold  him  for  a  slave,  their  end 
was  to  be  rid  of  an  informer;3  but  the  action  issued  in  prepar- 
ing him  to  be  the  preserver  of  them  and  their  families.  Cyrus's 
end  was  to  be  a  conqueror,  but  the  action  ended  in  being  the 
Jews'  deliverer.  (Prov.  xvi.  9.)  'A  man's  heart  deviseth  his 
way,  but  the  Lord  directs  his  steps.' 

3.  Therefore  there  is  some  superior  understanding  and  nature 
which  so  actuates  them.  That  which  acts  for  an  end  unknown 
to  itself,  depends  upon  some  overruling  wisdom  that  knows 
that  end.  Who  should  direct  them  in  all  those  ends,  but  he 
that  bestowed  a  being  upon  them  for  those  ends;  who  knows 
what  is  convenient  for  their  life,  security  and  propagation  of 

1  Coccci.  Sum.  Iheolog.  c.  8.  §  67,  &c.  2  Peirson  on  the  Creed,  p.  35. 

3  Gen.  xxxvii. 


56  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

their  natures?1  An  exact  knowledge  is  necessary  both  of  what 
is  agreeable  to  them,  and  the  means  whereby  they  must  attain 
it,  which  since  it  is  not  inherent  in  them,  is  in  that  wise  God, 
who  puts  those  instincts  into  them,  and  governs  them  in  the 
exercise  of  them  to  such  ends.  Any  man  that  sees  a  dart  flung, 
knows  it  cannot  hit  the  mark  without  the  skill  and  strength  of 
an  archer;  or  he  that  sees  the  hand  of  a  dial  pointing  to  the 
hours  successively,  knows  that  the  dial  is  ignorant  of  its  own 
end,  and  is  disposed  and  directed  in  that  motion  by  another. 
All  creatures  ignorant  of  their  own  natures,  could  not  univer- 
sally in  the  whole  kind,  and  in  every  climate  and  country, 
without  any  difference  in  the  whole  world,  tend  to  a  certain 
end,  if  some  over  ruling  wisdom  did  not  preside  over  the  world 
and  guide  them:  and  if  the  creatures  have  a  Conductor,  they 
have  a  Creator;  all  things,  are  'turned  round  about  by  his  coun- 
sel, that  they  may  do  whatsoever  he  commands  them,  upon  the 
face  of  the  world  and  the  earth.2  So  that  in  this  respect  the  folly 
of  atheism  appears.  Without  the  owning  a  God  no  account  can 
be  given  of  those  actions  of  creatures,  that  are  an  imitation  of  rea- 
son. To  say  the  bees,  &c.  are  rational,  is  to  equal  them  to  man: 
nay,  make  them  his  superiors,  since  they  do  more  by  nature 
than  the  wisest  man  can  do  by  art:  it  is  their  own  counsel 
whereby  they  act,  or  another's;  if  it  be  their  own,  they  are 
reasonable  creatures;  if  by  another's,  it  is  not  mere  nature  that 
is  necessary;  then  other  creatures  would  not  be  without  the 
same  skill,  there  would  be  no  difference  among  them.  If  na- 
ture be  restrained  by  another  it  hath  a  superior;  if  not  it  is  a 
free  agent;  it  is  an  understanding  Being  that  directs  them;  and 
then  it  is  something  superior  to  all  creatures  in  the  world;  and 
by  this,  therefore,  we  may  ascend  to  the  acknowledgment  of  the 
necesity  of  a  God. 

Fourthly,  Add  to  the  production  and  order  of  the  world  and 
the  creatures  acting  for  their  end,  the  preservation  of  them. 
Nothing  can  depend  upon  itself  in  its  preservation,  no  more 
than  it  could  in  its  being.  If  the  order  of  the  world  was  not 
fixed  by  itself,  the  preservation  of  that  order  cannot  be  con- 
tinued by  itself.  Though  the  matter  of  the  world  after  creation 
cannot  return  to  that  nothing  whence  it  was  fetched,  without 
the  power  of  God  that  made  it,  (because  the  same  power  is  as 
requisite  to  reduce  a  thing  to  nothing  as  to  raise  a  thing  from 
nothing,)  yet  without  the  actual  exerting  of  a  power  that  made 
the  creatures,  they  would  fall  into  confusion.  Those  contest- 
ing qualities  which  are  in  every  part  of  it,  could  not  have  pre- 
served but  would  have  consumed  and  extinguished  one  ano- 
ther, and  reduced  the  world  to  that  confused  chaos,  wherein  it 
was  before  the  Spirit  moved  upon  the  waters:  as  contrary  parts 

1  LesBius  de  Providen.  lib.  i.  p.  652.  2  Job  xxxvii.  12. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  57 

could  not  have  met  together  in  one  form,  unless  there  had  been 
one  that  had  conjoined  them;  so  they  could  not  have  kept  toge- 
ther after  their  conjunction  unless  the  same  hand  had  preserved 
them.  Natural  contrarieties  cannot  be  reconciled.  It  is  as 
great  power  to  keep  discords  knit,  as  at  first  to  link  them. 
Who  would  doubt  but  that  an  army  made  up  of  several  nations 
and  humours,  would  fall  into  a  civil  war  and  sheathe  their 
swords  in  one  another's  bowels,  if  they  were  not  under  the 
management  of  some  wise  general;  or  a  ship  dash  against  the 
rocks  without  the  skill  of  a  pilot?  As  the  body  hath  neiiher 
life  nor  motion  without  the  active  presence  of  the  soul,  which 
distributes  to  every  part  the  virtue  of  acting,  sets  every  one  in 
the  exercise  of  its  proper  function,  and  resides  in  every  part ; 
so  there  is  some  powerful  cause  which  doth  the  like  in  the 
world  that  rules  and  tempers  it.1  There  is  need  of  the  same 
power  and  action  to  preserve  a  thing,  as  there  was  at  first  to 
make  it.  When  we  consider  that  we  are  preserved,  and  know 
that  we  could  not  preserve  ourselves,  we  must  necessarily  run 
to  some  first  cause  which  doth  preserve  us.  All  works  of  art 
depend  upon  nature,  and  are  preserved  while  they  are  kept  by 
the  force  of  nature,  as  a  statue  depends  upon  the  matter  where- 
of it  is  made,  whether  stone  or  brass;  this  nature,  therefore, 
must  have  some  superior  by  whose  influx  it  is  preserved.  Since, 
therefore,  we  see  a  stable  order  in  the  things  of  the  world,  that 
they  conspire  together  for  the  good  and  beauty  of  the  universe  ; 
that  they  depend  upon  one  another;  there  must  be  some  prin- 
ciple upon  which  they  do  depend  ;  something  to  which  the  first 
link  of  the  chain  is  fastened,  which  himself  depends  upon  no 
superior,  but  wholly  rests  in  his  own  essence  and  being.  It  is 
the  title  of  God  to  be  the  '  Preserver  of  man  and  beast.'2  The 
Psalmist  elegantly  describeth  it,  (Psalm  civ.  24, &c.)  'The  earth 
is  full  of  his  riches  :  all  wait  upon  him,  that  he  may  give  them 
their  meat  in  due  season.  When  he  opens  his  hand,  he  fills 
them  with  good;  when  he  hides  his  face  they  are  troubled;  if 
he  take  away  their  breath,  they  die,  and  return  to  dust.  He 
sends  forth  his  Spirit,  and  they  are  created,  and  renews  the  face 
of  the  earth.  The  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  endure  for  ever; 
and  the  Lord  shall  rejoice  in  his  works.'  Upon  the  considera- 
tion of  all  which,  the  Psalmist  (ver.  34,)  takes  a  pleasure  in  the 
meditation  of  God  as  the  cause  and  manager  of  all  those  things; 
which  issues  into  a  joy  in  God,  and  a  praising  of  him.  And 
why  should  not  the  consideration  of  the  power  and  wisdom  of 
God  in  the  creatures  produce  the  same  effect  in  the  hearts  of  us, 
if  he  be  our  God  ?  Or,  as  some  render  it, '  My  meditation  shall 
be  sweet,'  or  acceptable  to  him,  whereby  I  find  matter  of  praise 
in  the  things  of  the  world,  and  offer  it  to  the  Creator  of  it. 
I  Gasscnd.  Phys.  §  6.  lib.  iv.  c.  2.  p.  101.  2  Psalm  xxxvi.  6. 

Vol.  I.— S 


58  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

Reason  III.  It  is  a  folly  to  deny  that  which  a  man's  own 
nature  witnesseth  to  him.  The  whole  frame  of  bodies  and 
souls  bears  the  impress  of  the  infinite  power  and  wisdom  of  the 
Creator:  a  body  framed  with  an  admirable  architecture,  a  soul 
endowed  with  understanding,  will,  judgment,  memory,  imagi- 
nation. Man  is  the  epitome  of  the  world,  contains  in  himself 
the  substance  of  all  natures,  and  the  fulness  of  the  whole  uni- 
verse; not  only  in  regard  of  the  universality  of  his  know- 
ledge, whereby  he  comprehends  the  reasons  of  many  things; 
but  as  all  the  perfections  of  the  several  natures  of  the  world  are 
gathered  and  united  in  man,  for  the  perfection  of  his  own,  in 
a  smaller  volume.  In  his  soul  he  partakes  of  heaven;  in  his 
body  of  the  earth.  There  is  the  life  of  plants,  the  sense  of 
beasts,  and  the  intellectual  nature  of  angels.  '  The  Lord 
breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and  man,'1  &c. : 
oim,  of  lives.  Not  one  sort  of  lives,  but  several ;  not  only  an 
animal,  but  a  rational  life;  a  soul  of  a  nobler  extract  and  na- 
ture, than  what  was  given  to  other  creatures.  So  that  we 
need  not  step  out  of  doors,  or  cast  our  eyes  any  further  than 
ourselves,  to  behold  a  God.  He  shines  in  the  capacity  of  our 
souls,  and  the  vigour  of  our  members.  We  must  fly  from  our- 
selves, and  be  stripped  of  our  own  humanity,  before  we  can 
put  off  the  notion  of  a  Deity.  He  that  is  ignorant  of  the  exist- 
ence of  God,  must  be  possessed  of  so  much  folly  as  to  be  igno- 
rant of  his  own  make  and  frame. 

1.   In  the  parts  whereof  he  doth  consist,  body  and  soul. 

First,  Take  a  prospect  of  the  body.  The  Psalmist  counts  it 
a  matter  of  praise  and  admiration  (Psalm  cxxxix.  15,  16:)  '  I 
will  praise  thee,  for  I  am  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made. 
When  I  was  made  in  secret,  and  curiously  wrought  in  the 
lowest  parts  of  the  earth,  in  thy  book  all  my  members  were 
written.'  The  scheme  of  man  and  every  member  was  drawn 
in  his  book.  All  the  sinews,  veins,  arteries,  bones,  like  a  piece 
of  embroidery  or  tapestry,  were  wrought  by  God,  as  it  were, 
with  deliberation;  like  an  artificer,  that  draws  out  the  model  of 
what  he  is  to  do  in  writing,  and  sets  it  before  him  when  he 
begins  his  work.  And,  indeed,  the  fabric  of  man's  body,  as 
well  as  his  soul,  is  an  argument  for  a  Divinity.  The  artifi- 
cial structure  of  it,  the  elegancy  of  every  part,  the  proper  situa- 
tion of  them,  their  proportion  one  to  another,  the  fitness  for 
their  several  functions,  drew  from  Galen2  (a  heathen,  and  one 
that  had  no  raised  sentiments  of  a  Deity)  a  confession  of  the 
admirable  wisdom  and  power  of  the  Creator,  and  that  none  but 
God  could  frame  it. 

1.  In  the  order,  fitness,  and  usefulness  of  every  part.     The 

i  Gen.  ii.  7. 

2  Lib.  iii.  de  Usu  Partium.  Petav.  Theol.  Dog.  Tom.  I.  lib.  i.  c.  1.  p.  6. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  59 

whole  model  of  the  body  is  grounded  upon  reason.  Every 
member  hath  its  exact  proportion,  distinct  office,  regular  mo- 
tion. Every  part  hath  a  particular  comeliness,  and  convenient 
temperament  bestowed  upon  it,  according  to  its  place  in  the 
body.  The  heart  is  hot,  to  enliven  the  whole;  the  eye  clear, 
to  take  in  objects  to  present  them  to  the  soul.  Every  member 
is  presented  for  its  peculiar  service  and  action.  Some  are  for 
sense,  some  for  motion,  some  for  preparing,  and  others  for  dis- 
pensing nourishment  to  the  several  parts:  they  mutually  de- 
pend upon  and  serve  one  another.  What  small  strings  fasten 
the  particular  members  together, '  as  the  earth,  that  hangs  upon 
nothing!'1  Take  but  one  part  away,  and  you  either  destroy 
the  whole,  or  stamp  upon  it  some  mark  of  deformity.  All  are 
knit  together  by  an  admirable  symmetry ;  all  orderly  perform 
their  functions,  as  acting  by  a  settled  law;  none  swerving  from 
their  rule,  but  in  case  of  some  predominant  humour.  And 
none  of  those,  in  so  great  a  multitude  of  parts,  stifled  in  so 
little  a  room,  or  justling  against  one  another,  to  hinder  their 
mutual  actions;  none  can  be  better  disposed.  And  the  greatest 
wisdom  of  man  could  not  imagine  it,  till  his  eyes  present  them 
with  the  sight  and  connexion  of  one  part  and  member  with 
another. 

(1.)  The  heart.2  How  strongly  it  is  guarded  with  ribs  like  a 
wall,  that  it  might  not  be  easily  hurt!  It  draws  blood  from 
the  liver,  through  a  channel  made  for  that  purpose ;  rarefies  it, 
and  makes  it  fit  to  pass  through  the  arteries  and  veins,  and  to 
carry  heat  and  life  to  every  part  of  the  body:  and  by  a  perpet- 
ual motion,  it  sucks  in  the  blood,  and  spouts  it  out  again  ; 
which  motion  depends  not  upon  the  command  of  the  soul,  but 
is  purely  natural. 

(2.)  The  mouth  takes  in  the  meat,  the  teeth  grind  it  for  the 
stomach,  the  stomach  prepares  it,  nature  strains  it  through  the 
milky  veins,  the  liver  refines  it,  and  mints  it  into  blood,  sepa- 
rates the  purer  from  the  drossy  parts,  which  go  to  the  heart, 
circuits  through  the  whole  body,  running  through  the  veins, 
like  rivers  through  so  many  channels  of  the  world,  for  the 
watering  of  the  several  parts;  which  are  framed  of  a  thin  skin 
for  the  straining  the  blood  through,  for  the  supply  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  body,  and  framed  with  several  valves  or  doors,  for 
the  thrusting  the  blood  forwards  to  peform  its  circular  motion. 

(3.)  The  brain,  fortified  by  a  strong  skull,  to  hinder  outward 
accidents,  a  tough  membrane  or  skin,  to  hinder  any  oppression 
by  the  skull;  the  seat  of  sense;  that  which  coins  the  animal 
spirits,  by  purifying  and  refining  those  which  are  sent  to  it, 
and  seems  like  a  curious  piece  of  needlework. 

'  Job  xxvi.  7.  2  Theod.  de  Providen.  Orat.  3. 


60  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

(4.)  The  ear,  framed  with  windings  and  turnings,  to  keep 
any  thing  from  entering  to  offend  the  brain ;  so  disposed  as  to 
admit  sounds  with  the  greatest  safety  and  delight;  filled  with 
an  air  within,  by  the  motion  whereof  the  sound  is  transmitted 
to  the  brain:1  as  sounds  are  made  in  the  air  by  diffusing  them- 
selves, as  you  see  circles  made  in  the  water  by  the  flinging  in 
a  stone.  This  is  the  gate  of  knowledge,  whereby  we  hear  the 
oracles  of  God,  and  the  instruction  of  men  for  arts.  It  is  by 
this  they  are  exposed  to  the  mind,  and  the  mind  of  another 
man  framed  in  our  understandings. 

(5.)  What  a  curious  workmanship  is  that  of  the  eye,  which 
is  in  the  body,  as  the  sun  in  the  world;  set  in  the  head  as  in  a 
watch-tower,  having  the  softest  nerves  for  the  receiving  the 
greater  multitude  of  spirits  necessary  for  the  act  of  vision! 
How  is  it  provided  with  defence,  by  the  variety  of  coats  to  se- 
cure and  accommodate  the  little  humour  and  part  whereby  the 
vision  is  made!  Made  of  a  round  figure,  and  convex,  as  most 
commodious  to  receive  the  species  of  objects;  shaded  by  the 
eyebrows  and  eyelids;  secured  by  the  eyelids,  which  are  its 
ornament  and  safety,  which  refresh  it  when  it  is  too  much  dried 
by  heat,  hinder  too  much  light  from  insinuating  itself  into  it  to 
offend  it,  cleanse  it  from  impurities  by  their  quick  motion  pre- 
serve it  from  any  invasion,  and  by  contraction  confer  to  the 
more  evident  discerning  of  things.  Both  the  eyes  seated  in  the 
hollow  of  the  bone  for  security,  yet  standing  out,  that  things 
may  be  perceived  more  easily  on  both  sides.  And  this  little 
member  can  behold  the  earth,  and  in  a  moment  view  things  as 
high  as  heaven. 

(6.)  The  tongue  for  speech  framed  like  a  musical  instrument; 
the  teeth  serving  for  variety  of  sounds;  the  lungs  serving  for 
bellows  to  blow  the  organs  as  it  were,  to  cool  the  heart,  by  a 
continual  motion  transmitting  a  pure  air  to  the  heart,  expelling 
that  which  was  smoky  and  superfluous.2  It  is  by  the  tongue 
that  communication  of  truth  hath  a  passage  among  men;  it 
opens  the  sense  of  the  mind;  there  would  be  no  converse  and 
commerce  without  it.  Speech  among  all  nations  hath  an  ele- 
gancy and  attractive  force,  mastering  the  affections  of  men.  Not 
to  speak  of  other  parts,  or  of  the  multitude  of  spirits  that  actu- 
ate every  part;  the  quick  flight  of  them  where  there  is  a  neces- 
sity of  their  presence.  Solomon  (Eccles.  xii.)  makes  an  elegant 
description  of  them,  in  his  speech  of  old  age;  and  Job  speaks 
of  this  formation  of  the  body  (Job  x.  9 — 11,)  &c.  Not  the  least 
part  of  the  body  is  made  in  vain.  The  hairs  of  the  head  have 
their  use,  as  well  as  are  an  ornament.  The  whole  symmetry 
of  the  body  is  a  ravishing  object.  Every  member  hath  a  sig- 
nature and  mark  of  God  and  his  wisdom.  He  is  visible  in  the 
i  Eccles.  xii.  4.  2  Coccei.  sum.  Theol.  c.  8.  §  49. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  (JJ 

formation  of  the  members,  the  beauty  of  the  parts,  and  the 
vigour  of  the  body.  This  structure  could  not  be  from  the  body; 
that  only  hath  a  passive  power,  and  cannot  act  in  the  absence 
of  the  soul.  Nor  can  it  be  from  the  soul.  How  comes  it  then 
to  be  so  ignorant  of  the  manner  of  its  formation?  The  soul 
knows  not  the  internal  parts  of  its  own  body,  but  by  informa- 
tion from  others,  or  inspection  into  other  bodies.  It  knows  less 
of  the  inward  frame  of  the  body  than  it  doth  of  itself;  but  he 
that  makes  the  clock  can  tell  the  number  and  motions  of  the 
wheels  within,  as  well  as  what  figures  are  without. 

This  short  discourse  is  useful  to  raise  our  admiration  of  the 
wisdom  of  God,  as  well  as  to  demonstrate  that  there  is  an  infi- 
nitely wise  Creator;  and  the  consideration  of  ourselves  every 
day,  and  the  wisdom  of  God  in  our  frame,  would  maintain 
religion  much  in  the  world;  since  all  are  so  framed  that  no 
man  can  tell  any  error  in  the  constitution  of  him.  If  thus  the 
body  of  man  is  fitted  for  the  service  of  his  soul  by  an  infinite 
God,  the  body  ought  to  be  ordered  for  the  service  of  this  God, 
and  in  obedience  to  him. 

2.  In  the  admirable  difference  of  the  features  of  men;  which 
is  a  great  argument  that  the  world  was  made  by  a  wise  Being. 
This  could  not  be  wrought  by  chance,  or  be  the  work  of  mere 
nature,  since  we  never  find,  or  very  rarely,  two  persons  exactly 
alike.  This  distinction  is  a  part  of  infinite  wisdom;  otherwise 
what  confusion  would  be  introduced  into  the  world?  Without 
this,  parents  could  not  know  their  children,  nor  children  their 
parents,  nor  a  brother  his  sister,  nor  a  subject  his  magistrate. 
Without  it  there  had  been  no  comfort  of  relations,  no  govern- 
ment, no  commerce.  Debtors  would  not  have  been  known  from 
strangers,  nor  good  men  from  bad.  Propriety  could  not  have 
been  preserved,  nor  justice  executed;  the  innocent  might  have 
been  apprehended  for  the  wicked;  wickedness  could  not  have 
been  stopped  by  any  law.  The  faces  of  men  are  the  same  for 
parts,  not  for  features,  a  dissimilitude  in  a  likeness.  Man,  like 
to  all  the  rest  in  the  world,  yet  unlike  to  any,  and  differenced 
by  some  mark  from  all,  which  is  not  to  be  observed  in  any 
other  species  of  creatures.  This  speaks  some  wise  agent  which 
framed  man;  since,  for  the  preservation  of  human  society  and 
order  in  the  world,  this  distinction  was  necessary. 

Secondly,  As  man's  own  nature  witnesseth  a  God  to  him  in 
the  structure  of  his  body,  so  also  'in  the  nature  of  his  soul.'1 
We  know  that  we  have  an  understanding  in  us;  a  substance 
we  cannot  see,  but  we  know  it  by  its  operations;  as  thinking, 
reasoning,  willing,  remembering,  and  as  operating  ahout  things 
that  are  invisible  and  remote  from  sense.     This  must  needs  be 

1  Coccei.  c.  8.  §50,  51. 


Q2  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

distinct  from  the  body;  for  that  being  but  dust  and  earth  in  its 
original,  hath  not  the  power  of  reasoning  and  thinking;  for 
then  it  would  have  that  power,  when  the  soul  were  absent,  as 
well  as  when  it  is  present.  Besides,  if  it  had  that  power  of 
thinking,  it  could  think  only  of  those  things  which  are  sensible, 
and  made  up  of  matter,  as  itself  is.  This  soul  hath  a  greater 
excellency;  it  can  know  itself,  rejoice  in  itself,  which  other 
creatures  in  this  world  are  not  capable  of.  The  soul  is  the 
greatest  glory  of  this  lower  world;  and,  as  one  saith,  'There 
seems  to  be  no  more  difference  between  the  soul  and  an  angel, 
than  between  a  sword  in  the  scabbard  and  when  it  is  out  of  the 
scabbard.'1 

1.  Consider  the  vastness  of  its  capacity.  The  understanding 
can  conceive  the  whole  world,  and  paint  in  itself  the  invisible 
pictures  of  all  things.  It  is  capable  of  apprehending  and  dis- 
coursing of  things  superior  to  its  own  nature.  '  It  is  suited  to 
all  objects,  as  the  eye  to  all  colours,  or  the  ear  to  all  sounds.'2 
How  great  is  the  memory,  to  retain  such  varieties,  such  diver- 
sities! The  will  also  can  accommodate  other  things  to  itself.  It 
invents  arts  for  the  use  of  man;  prescribes  rules  for  the  govern- 
ment of  states;  ransacks  the  bowels  of  nature;  makes  endless 
conclusions,  and  steps  in  reasoning  from  one  thing  to  another, 
for  the  knowledge  of  truth.  It  can  contemplate  and  form 
notions  of  things  higher  than  the  world. 

2.  The  quickness  of  its  motion.  '  Nothing  is  more  quick  in 
the  whole  course  of  nature.  The  sun  runs  through  the  world 
in  a  day;  this  can  do  it  in  a  moment.  It  can,  with  one  flight 
of  fancy,  ascend  to  the  battlements  of  heaven.'3  The  mists  of 
the  air,  that  hinder  the  sight  of  the  eye,  cannot  hinder  the 
flights  of  the  soul;  it  can  pass  in  a  moment  from  one  end  of 
the  world  to  the  other,  and  think  of  things  a  thousand  miles  dis- 
tant. It  can  think  of  some  mean  thing  in  the  world;  and 
presently,  by  one  cast,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  mount  up  as 
high  as  heaven.  As  its  desires  are  not  bounded  by  sensual 
objects,  so  neither  are  the  motions  of  it  restrained  by  them.  It 
will  break  forth  with  the  greatest  vigour,  and  conceive  things 
infinitely  above  it;  though  it  be  in  the  body,  it  acts  as  if  it  were 
ashamed  to  be  cloistered  in  it.  This  could  not  be  the  result  of 
any  material  cause.  Whoever  knew  mere  matter  understand, 
think,  will?  and  what  it  hath  not,  it  cannot  give.  That  which 
is  destitute  of  reason  and  will,  could  never  confer  reason  and 
will.  It  is  not  the  effect  of  the  body;  for  the  body  is  fitted  with 
members  to  be  subject  to  it.  It  is  in  part  ruled  by  the  activity 
of  the  soul,  and  in  part  by  the  counsel  of  the  soul:  it  is  used 
by  the  soul,  and  knows  not  how  it  is  used.4     Nor  could  it  be 

1  More.  2  Culverwel.  3  Theodoret. 

4  Coccei.  sum.  Theolog.  c.  8.  §  51,  52. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  53 

from  the  parents,  since  the  souls  of  the  children  often  transcend 
those  of  the  parents  in  vivacity,  acuteness,  and  comprehensive- 
ness. One  man  is  stupid,  and  begets  a  son  with  a  capacious 
understanding;  one  is  debauched  and  beastly  in  his  morals,  and 
begets  a  son  who,  from  his  infancy,  testifies  some  virtuous 
inclinations,  which  sprout  forth  in  delightful  fruit  with  the  ripe- 
ness of  his  age.  Whence  should  this  difference  arise — a  fool 
begat  the  wise  man,  and  a  debauched  the  virtuous  man?  The 
wisdom  of  the  one  could  not  descend  from  the  foolish  soul  of 
the  other;  nor  the  virtues  of  the  son,  from  the  deformed  and 
polluted  soul  of  the  parent.1  It  lies  not  in  the  organs  of  the 
body:  for  if  the  folly  of  the  parent  proceeded  not  from  their 
souls,  but  the  ill  disposition  of  the  organs  of  their  bodies,  how 
comes  it  to  pass  that  the  bodies  of  the  children  are  better  organ- 
ized beyond  the  goodness  of  their  immediate  cause?  We  must 
recur  to  some  invisible  hand,  that  makes  the  difference,  who 
bestows  upon  one  at  his  pleasure  richer  qualities  than  upon 
another.  You  can  see  nothing  in  the  world  endowed  with 
some  excellent  quality,  but  you  must  imagine  some  bountful 
hand  did  enrich  it  with  that  dowry.  None  can  be  so  foolish  as 
to  think  that  a  vessel  ever  enriched  itself  with  that  sprightly 
liquor  wherewith  it  is  filled;  or  that  any  thing  worse  than  the 
soul  should  endow  it  with  that  knowledge  and  activity  which 
sparkles  in  it.  Nature  could  not  produce  it.  That  nature  is 
intelligent,  or  not;  if  it  be  not,  then  it  produceth  an  effect  more 
excellent  than  itself,  inasmuch  as  an  understanding  being  sur- 
mounts a  being  that  hath  no  understanding.  If  the  supreme 
cause  of  the  soul  be  intelligent,  why  do  we  not  call  it  God  as 
well  as  nature?  We  must  arise  from  hence  to  the  notion  of  a 
God;  a  spiritual  nature  cannot  proceed  but  from  a  spirit  higher 
than  itself,  and  of  a  transcendent  perfection  above  itself.  If 
we  believe  we  have  souls,  and  understand  the  state  of  our  own 
faculties,  we  must  be  assured  that  there  was  some  invisible 
hand  which  bestowed  those  faculties,  and  the  riches  of  them 
upon  us.  A  man  must  be  ignorant  of  himself  before  he  can 
be  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  God.  By  considering  the  nature 
of  our  souls,  we  may  as  well  be  assured  that  there  is  a  God, 
as  that  there  is  a  sun,  by  the  shining  of  the  beams  in  at  our 
windows;  and,  indeed,  the  soul  is  a  statue  and  representation 
of  God,  as  the  landscape  of  a  country  or  a  map  represents  all 
the  parts  of  it,  but  in  a  far  less  proportion  than  the  country 
itself  is.  The  soul  fills  the  body,  and  God  the  world;  the  soul 
sustains  the  body,  and  God  the  world;  the  soul  sees,  but  is  not 
seen;  God  sees  all  things,  but  is  himself  invisible.     How  base 

1  I  do  not  dispute  whether  the  soul  were  generated  or  no.  Suppose  the  sub- 
stance of  it  was  generated  by  the  parents,  yet  those  more  excellent  qualities  were 
not  the  result  of  them. 


g4  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

are  they  then  that  prostitute  their  souls,  an  image  of  God,  to 
base  things  inexpressibly  below  their  own  nature! 

3.  I  might  add  the  union  of  soul  and  body.  Man  is  a  kind 
of  compound  of  angel  and  beast,  of  soul  and  body;  if  he  were 
only  a  soul,  he  were  a  kind  of  angel ;  if  only  a  body  he  were 
another  kind  of  brute.  Now  that  a  body  as  vile  and  dull  as 
earth,  and  a  soul  that  can  mount  up  to  heaven,  and  rove  about 
the  world,  with  so  quick  a  motion,  should  be  linked  in  so  strait 
an  acquaintance  ;  that  so  noble  a  being  as  the  soul  should  be  an 
inhabitant  in  such  a  tabernacle  of  clay;  must  be  owing  to  some 
infinite  power  that  hath  so  chained  it. 

Thirdly,  Man  witnesseth  to  a  God  in  the  operations  and 
reflections  of  conscience.  (Rom.  ii.  15,) 'Their  thoughts  are 
accusing  or  excusing. '  An  inward  comfort  attends  good  actions, 
and  an  inward  torment  follows  bad  ones ;  for  there  is  in  every 
man's  conscience  fear  of  punishment  and  hope  of  reward :  there 
is,  therefore  a  sense  of  some  superior  judge,  which  hath  the 
power  both  of  rewarding  and  punishing.  If  man  were  his 
supreme  rule,  what  need  he  fear  punishment,  since  no  man 
would  inflict  any  evil  or  torment  on  himself;  nor  can  any  man 
be  said  to  reward  himself,  for  all  rewards  refer  to  another,  to 
whom  the  action  is  pleasing,  and  is  a  conferring  some  good  a 
man  had  not  before ;  if  an  action  be  done  by  a  subject  or  ser- 
vant, with  hopes  of  reward,  it  cannot  be  imagined  that  he  ex- 
pects a  reward  from  himself,  but  from  the  prince  or  person 
whom  he  eyes  in  that  action,  and  for  whose  sake  he  doth  it. 

1.  There  is  a  law  in  the  minds  of  men  which  is  a  rule  of 
good  and  evil.  There  is  a  notion  of  good  and  evil  in  the  con- 
sciences of  men,  which  is  evident  by  those  laws  which  are  com- 
mon in  all  countries,  for  the  preserving  human  societies,  the 
encouragement  of  virtue,  and  discouragement  of  vice;  what 
standard  should  they  have  for  those  laws,  but  a  common  reason? 
the  design  of  those  laws  was  to  keep  men  within  the  bounds  of 
goodness  for  mutual  commerce,  whence  the  apostle  calls  the 
heathen  magistrate  a  'minister  of  God  for  good,'  (Rom.  xiii.  4:) 
and  '  the  gentiles  do  by  nature  the  things  contained  in  the  law.' 
(Rom.  ii.  14.) 

Man  in  the  first  instant  of  the  use  of  reason,  finds  natural 
principles  within  himself;  directing  and  choosing  them,  he  finds 
a  distinction  between  good  and  evil ;  how  could  this  be  if  there 
were  not  some  rule  in  him  to  try  and  distinguish  good  and  evil? 
If  there  were  not  such  a  law  and  rule  in  man,  he  could  not  sin; 
for  where  there  is  no  law  there  is  no  transgression.  If  man 
were  a  law  to  himself,  and  his  own  will  his  law,  there  could  be 
no  such  thing  as  evil ;  whatsoever  he  willed  would  be  good  and 
agreeable  to  the  law,  and  no  action  could  be  accounted  sinful; 
the  worst  act  would  be  as  commendable  as  the  best.     Every 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  (J5 

thing  at  man's  appointment  would  be  good  or  evil.  If  there 
were  no  such  law,  how  should  men  that  were  naturally  inclined 
to  evil  disapprove  of  that  which  is  unlovely,  and  approve  of 
that  good  which  they  practise  not?  No  man  but  inwardly 
thinks  well  of  that  which  is  good,  while  he  neglects  it;  and 
thinks  ill  of  that  which  is  evil,  while  he  commits  it.  Those  that 
are  vicious,  do  praise  those  that  practise  the  contrary  virtues. 
Those  that  are  evil  would  seem  to  be  good,  and  those  that  are 
blameworthy  yet  will  rebuke  evil  in  others.  This  is  really  to  dis- 
tinguish between  good  and  evil.  Whence  doth  this  arise,  by  what 
rule  do  we  measure  this,  but  by  some  innate  principle  ?  And 
this  is  universal,  the  same  in  one  man  as  in  another,  the  same 
in  one  nation  as  in  another;  they  were  born  with  every  man, 
and  inseparable  from  his  nature  (Prov.  xxvii.  19:)  as  in  water, 
face  answers  to  face,  so  the  heart  of  man  to  man.  Common 
reason  supposes  that  there  is  some  hand  which  hath  fixed 
this  distinction  in  man;  how  could  it  else  be  universally  im- 
pressed? No  law  can  be  without  a  lawgiver:  no  sparks  but 
must  be  kindled,  by  some  other.  Whence  should  this  law  then 
derive  its  original  ?  Not  from  man ;  he  would  fain  blot  it  out, 
and  cannot  alter  it  when  he  pleases.  Natural  generation  never 
intended  it;  it  is  settled  therefore  by  some  higher  hand,  which, 
as  it  imprinted  it,  so  it  maintains  it  against  the  violences  of  men, 
who,  were  it  not  for  this  law,  would  make  the  world  more  than 
it  is,  an  aceldema  and  field  of  blood ;  for  had  there  not  been 
some  supreme  good,  the  measure  of  all  other  goodness  in  the 
world,  we  could  not  have  had  such  a  thing  as  good.  The  Scrip- 
ture gives  us  an  account  that  this  good  was  distinguished  from 
evil  before  man  fell,  they  were  objecta  scibilia;  good  was  com- 
manded, and  evil  prohibited,  and  did  not  depend  upon  man. 
From  this  a  man  may  rationally  be  instructed  that  there  is  a 
God;  for  he  may  thus  argue:  I  find  myself  naturally  obliged  to 
do  this  thing,  and  avoid  that;  I  have,  therefore,  a  superior  that 
doth  oblige  me;  I  find  something  within  me  that  directs  me  to 
such  actions,  contrary  to  my  sensitive  appetite;  there  must  be 
something  above  me,  therefore,  that  puts  this  principle  into 
man's  nature ;  if  there  were  no  superior,  I  should  be  the  su- 
preme judge  of  good  and  evil;  were  I  the  lord  of  that  law 
which  doth  oblige  me,  I  should  find  no  contradiction  within 
myself,  between  reason  and  appetite. 

2.  From  the  transgression  of  this  law  of  nature,  fears  do 
arise  in  the  consciences  of  men.  Have  we  not  known  or  heard 
of  men  struck  by  so  deep  a  dart,  that  could  not  be  drawn  out 
by  the  strength  of  men,  or  appeased  by  the  pleasure  of  the 
world;  and  men  crying  out  with  horror,  upon  a  death-bed  of 
their  past  life,  when  •  their  fear  hath  come  as  a  desolation,  and 
destruction  as  a  whirlwind?'  (Prov.  i.  27:)  and  often  in  some 
Vol.  I.— 9 


66  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

sharp  affliction,  the  dust  hath  blown  off  men's  consciences, 
which  for  a  while  hath  obscured  the  writings  of  the  law.  If 
men  stand  in  awe  of  punishment  there  is  then  some  superior  to 
whom  they  are  accountable;  if  there  were  no  God,  there  were 
no  punishment  to  fear.  What  reason  of  any  fear,  upon  the 
dissolution  of  the  knot  between  the  soul  and  body,  if  there  were 
not  a  God  to  punish,  and  the  soul  remained  not  in  being  to  be 
punished?  How  suddenly  will  conscience  work  upon  the  ap- 
pearance of  an  affliction,  rouse  itself  from  its  sleep  like  an 
armed  man,  and  fly  in  a  man's  face  before  he  is  aware  of  it ! 
It  will  'surprise  the  hypocrites'  (Isa.  xxxviii.  14:)  it  will  bring 
to  mind  actions  committed  long  ago,  and  set  them  in  order  be- 
fore the  face,  as  God's  deputy,  acting  by  his  authority  and 
omniscience.  As  God  hath  not  left  himself  without  a  witness 
among  the  creatures,  (Acts  xiv.  17,)  so  he  hath  not  left  himself 
without  a  witness  in  a  man's  own  breast. 

(1.)  This  operation  of  conscience  hath  been  universal.  No 
nation  hath  been  any  more  exempt  from  it  than  from  reason ; 
not  a  man  but  hath  one  time  or  other  more  or  less  smarted 
under  the  sting  of  it.  All  over  the  world  conscience  hath  shot 
its  darts ;  it  hath  torn  the  hearts  of  princes  in  the  midst  of  their 
pleasures ;  it  hath  not  flattered  them  whom  most  men  flatter; 
nor  feared  to  disturb  their  rest,  whom  no  man  dares  to  provoke. 
Judges  have  trembled  on  a  tribunal,  when  innocents  have  re- 
joiced in  their  condemnation.  The  iron  bars  upon  Pharaoh's 
conscience,  were  at  last  broke  up,  and  he  acknowledged  the 
justice  of  God  in  all  that  he  did,  (Exod.  ix.  27:)  <  I  have  sinned, 
the  Lord  is  righteous,  and  I  and  my  people  are  wicked.'  Had 
they  been  like  childish  frights  at  the  apprehension  of  bugbears, 
why  hath  not  reason  shaken  them  off;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
the  stronger  reason  grows,  the  smarter  those  lashes  are;  ground- 
less fears  had  been  short-lived,  age  and  judgment  would  have 
worn  them  off,  but  they  grow  sharper  with  the  growth  of  per- 
sons. The  Scripture  informs  us  they  have  been  of  as  ancient  a 
date  as  the  revolt  of  the  first  man,  (Gen.  iii.  10:)  '  I  was  afraid,' 
saith  Adam, '  because  I  was  naked;'  which  was  an  expectation 
of  the  judgment  of  God.  All  his  posterity  inherit  his  fears, 
when  God  expresseth  himself  in  any  tokens  of  his  majesty  and 
providence  in  the  world.  Every  man's  conscience  testifies  that 
he  is  unlike  what  he  ought  to  be,  according  to  that  law  en- 
graven upon  his  heart.  In  some,  indeed,  conscience  may  be 
seared,  or  dimmer;  or  suppose  some  men  may  be  devoid  of 
conscience,  shall  it  be  denied  to  be  a  thing  belonging  to  the 
nature  of  man?  Some  men  have  not  their  eyes,  yet  the  power 
of  seeing  the  light  is  natural  to  man,  and  belongs  to  the  integrity 
of  the  body.  Who  would  argue  that,  because  some  men  are 
mad  and  have  lost  their  reason  by  a  distemper  of  the  brain,  that 
therefore  reason  hath  no  reality,  but  is  an  imaginary  thing? 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  Q7 

But  I  think  it  is  a  standing  truth  that  every  man  hath  been 
under  the  scourge  of  it,  one  time  or  other,  in  a  less  or  a  greater 
degree;  for,  since  every  man  is  an  offender,  it  cannot  be  imagined 
conscience,  which  is  natural  to  man  and  an  active  faculty,  should 
always  lie  idle,  without  doing  this  part  of  its  office.     The  apos- 
tle tells  us  of  the  thoughts  accusing  or  excusing  one  another, 
(or  by  turns,)  according  as  the  actions  were.     Nor  is  this  truth 
weakened  by  the  corruptions  in  the  world,  whereby  many  have 
thought  themselves  bound  in  conscience  to  adhere  to  a  false 
and  superstitious  worship  and  idolatry,  as  much  as  any  have 
thought  themselves  bound  to  adhere  to  a  worship  commanded 
by  God.     This  very  thing  infers  that  all  men  have  a  reflecting 
principle  in  them;  it  is  no  argument  against  the  being  of  con- 
science, but  only  infers  that  it  may  err  in  the  application  of  what 
it  naturally  owns.     We  can  no  more  say,  that  because  some 
men  walk  by  a  false  rule,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  conscience, 
than  we  can  say  that  because  men  have  errors  in  their  minds, 
therefore  they  have  no  such  faculty  as  an  understanding;  or 
because  men  will  that  which  is  evil,  they  have  no  such  faculty 
as  a  will  in  them. 

(2.)  These  operations  of  conscience  are  when  the  wicked- 
ness is  most  secret.  These  tormenting  fears  of  vengeance  have 
been  frequent  in  men,  who  have  had  no  reason  to  fear  man, 
since  their  wickedness  being  unknown  to  any  but  themselves, 
they  could  have  no  accuser  but  themselves.  They  have  been 
in  many  acts  which  their  companions  have  justified  them  in; 
persons  above  the  stroke  of  human  laws,  yea,  such  as  the  peo- 
ple have  honoured  as  gods,  have  been  haunted  by  them.  Con- 
science hath  not  been  frightened  by  the  power  of  princes,  or 
bribed  by  the  pleasures  of  courts.  David  was  pursued  by  his 
horrors,  when  he  was,  by  reason  of  his  dignity,  above  the 
punishment  of  the  law,  or,  at  least,  was  not  reached  by  the 
law;  since,  though  the  murder  of  Uriah  was  intended  by  him, 
it  was  not  acted  by  him.  Such  examples  are  frequent  in  hu- 
man records;  when  the  crime  hath  been  above  any  punish- 
ment by  man,  they  have  had  an  accuser,  judge,  and  execu- 
tioner in  their  own  breasts.  Can  this  be  originally  from  a 
man's  self?  He  who  loves  and  cherishes  himself,  would  fly 
from  any  thing  that  disturbs  him;  it  is  a  greater  power  and 
majesty  from  whom  man  cannot  hide  himself,  that  holds  him 
in  those  fetters.  What  should  affect  their  minds  for  that  which 
can  never  bring  them  shame  or  punishment  in  this  world,  if 
there  were  not  some  supreme  judge  to  whom  they  were  to 
give  an  account,  whose  instrument  conscience  is?  Doth  it  do 
this  of  itself?  hath  it  received  an  authority  from  the  man  him- 
self to  sting  him?  It  is  some  supreme  power  that  doth  direct 
and  commission  it  against  our  wills. 


68  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

(3.)  These  operations  of  conscience  cannot  be  totally  shaken 
off  by  man.  If  there  be  no  God,  why  do  not  men  siience  the 
clamours  of  their  consciences,  and  scatter  those  fears  that  dis- 
turb their  rest  and  pleasures?  How  inquisitive  are  men  after 
some  remedy  against  those  convulsions!  Sometimes  they 
would  render  the  charge  insignificant,  and  sing  a  rest  to  them- 
selves, though  they  'walk  in  the  wickedness  of  their  own 
hearts.'  '  How  often  do  men  attempt  to  drown  it  by  sensual 
pleasures,  and  perhaps  overpower  it  for  a  time;  but  it  revives, 
reinforceth  itself,  and  acts  a  revenge  for  its  former  stop.  It 
holds  sin  to  a  man's  view,  and  fixes  his  eyes  upon  it,  whether 
he  will  or  no.  '  The  wicked  are  like  a  troubled  sea,  and  cannot 
rest,'  (Isa.  lvii.  20:)  they  would  wallow  in  sin  without  control, 
but  this  inward  principle  will  not  suffer  it;  nothing  can  shelter 
men  from  these  blows.  What  is  the  reason  it  could  never  be 
cried  down?  Man  is  an  enemy  to  his  own  disquiet;  what 
man  would  continue  upon  the  rack,  if  it  were  in  his  power  to 
deliver  himself?  Why  have  all  human  remedies  been  without 
success,  and  not  able  to  extinguish  these  operations,  though  all 
the  wickedness  of  the  heart  hath  been  ready  to  assist  and 
second  the  attempt?  It  hath  pursued  men  notwithstanding  all 
the  violence  used  against  it;  and  renewed  its  scourges  with 
more  severity,  as  men  deal  with  their  resisting  slaves.  Man 
can  as  little  silence  those  thunders  in  his  soul,  as  he  can  the 
thunders  in  the  heavens;  he  must  strip  himself  of  his  humanity, 
before  he  can  be  stripped  of  an  accusing  and  affrighting  con- 
science; it  sticks  as  close  to  him  as  his  nature;  since  man  can- 
not throw  out  the  process  it  makes  against  him,  it  is  an  evi- 
dence that  some  higher  power  secures  its  throne  and  standing. 
Who  should  put  this  scourge  into  the  hand  of  conscience, 
which  no  man  in  the  world  is  able  to  wrest  out? 

(4.)  We  may  add,  the  comfortable  reflections  of  conscience. 
There  are  excusing,  as  well  as  accusing  reflections  of  con- 
science, when  things  are  done  as  works  as  the  'law  of  nature,' 
(Rom.  ii.  15:)  as  it  doth  not  forbear  to  accuse  and  torture, 
when  a  wickedness,  though  unknown  to  others,  is  committed; 
so  when  a  man  hath  done  well,  though  he  be  attacked  with  all 
the  calumnies  the  wit  of  man  can  forge,  yet  his  conscience  jus- 
tifies the  action,  and  fills  him  with  a  singular  contentment.  As 
there  is  torture  in  sinning,  so  there  is  peace  and  joy  in  well 
doing.  Neither  of  those  it  could  do,  if  it  did  not  understand  a 
Sovereign  Judge,  who  punishes  the  rebels,  and  rewards  the 
well-doer.  Conscience  is  the  foundation  of  all  religion;  and 
the  two  pillars  upon  which  it  is  built,  are  the  being  of  God,  and 
the  bounty  of  God  to  those  that  '  diligently  seek  him.' 2  This 
proves  the  existence  of  God.  If  there  were  no  God,  conscience 
'  Deut.  xxix.  19.  2  Heb.  xi.  6. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  59 

were  useless;  the  operations  of  it  would  have  no  foundation,  if 
there  were  not  an  eye  to  take  notice,  and  a  hand  to  punish  or 
reward  the  action.  The  accusations  of  conscience  evidence  the 
omniscience  and  the  holiness  of  God;  the  terrors  of  conscience, 
the  justice  of  God;  the  approbations  of  conscience,  the  good- 
ness of  God.  All  the  order  in  the  world  owes  itself,  next  to 
the  providence  of  God,  to  conscience;  without  it  the  world 
would  be  a  Golgotha.  As  the  creatures  witness,  there  was  a 
First  Cause  that  produced  them,  so  this  principle  in  man  evi- 
denceth  itself  to  be  set  by  the  same  hand,  for  the  good  of  that 
which  it  had  so  framed.  There  could  be  no  conscience  if  there 
were  no  God,  and  man  could  not  be  a  rational  creature,  if  there 
were  no  conscience.  As  there  is  a  rule  in  us,  there  must  be  a 
judge,  whether  our  actions  be  according  to  the  rule.  And  since 
conscience  in  our  corrupted  state  is  in  some  particular  misled, 
there  must  be  a  power  superior  to  conscience,  to  judge  how  it 
hath  behaved  itself  in  its  deputed  office;  we  must  come  to  some 
supreme  judge,  who  can  judge  conscience  itself.  As  a  man 
can  have  no  surer  evidence  that  he  is  a  being,  than  because  he 
thinks  he  is  a  thinking  being;  so  there  is  no  surer  evidence  in 
nature  that  there  is  a  God,  than  that  every  man  hath  a  natural 
principle  in  him,  which  continually  cites  him  before  God,  and 
puts  him  in  mind  of  him,  and  makes  him  one  way  or  other  fear 
him,  and  reflects  upon  him  whether  he  will  or  no.  A  man  hath 
less  power  over  his  conscience,  than  over  any  other  faculty;  he 
may  choose  whether  he  will  exercise  his  understanding  about, 
or  move  his  will  to  such  an  object;  but  he  hath  no  such  autho- 
rity over  his  conscience:  he  cannot  limit  it,  or  cause  it  to  cease 
from  acting  and  reflecting;  and  therefore,  both  that,  and  the 
law  about  which  it  acts,  are  settled  by  some  Supreme  Autho- 
rity in  the  mind  of  man,  and  this  is  God. 

Fourthly.  The  evidence  of  a  God  results  from  the  vastness 
of  desires  in  man,  and  the  real  dissatisfaction  he  hath  in  every 
thing  below  himself.  Man  hath  a  boundless  appetite  after 
some  sovereign  good;  as  his  understanding  is  more  capacious 
than  any  thing  below,  so  is  his  appetite  larger.  This  affection 
of  desire  exceeds  all  other  affections.  Love  is  determined  to 
something  known;  fear,  to  something  apprehended:  but  desires 
approach  nearer  to  infmiteness,  and  pursue,  not  only  what  we 
know,  or  what  we  have  a  glimpse  of,  but  what  we  find  want- 
ing in  what  we  already  enjoy.  That  which  the  desire  of  man 
is  most  naturally  carried  after  is  bonum;  some  fully  satisfying 
good.  We  desire  knowledge  by  the  sole  impulse  of  reason,  but 
we  desire  good  before  the  excitement  of  reason;  and  the  desire 
is  always  after  good,  but  not  always  after  knowledge.  Now 
the  soul  of  man  finds  an  imperfection  in  every  thing  here,  and 
cannot  scrape  up  a  perfect  satisfaction  and  felicity.     In  the 


70  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

highest  fruitions  of  worldly  things  it  is  still  pursuing  something 
else,  which  speaks  a  defect  in  what  it  already  hath.  The 
world  may  afford  a  felicity  for  onr  dust,  the  body,  but  not  for 
the  inhabitant  in  it;  it  is  too  mean  for  that.  Is  there  any  one 
soul  among  the  sons  of  men,  that  can  upon  a  due  inquiry  say 
it  was  at  rest  and  wanted  no  more,  that  hath  not  sometimes 
had  desires  after  an  immaterial  good?  The  soul  'follows  hard 
after'  such  a  thing,  and  hath  frequent  looks  after  it,  (Psal.  lxiii. 
8.)  Man  desires  a  stable  good,  but  no  sublunary  thing  is  so; 
and  he  that  doth  not  desire  such  a  good,  wants  the  rational 
nature  of  a  man.  This  is  as  natural  as  understanding,  will, 
and  conscience.  Whence  should  the  soul  of  man  have  those 
desires?  how  came  it  to  understand  that  something  is  still  want- 
ing to  make  its  nature  more  perfect,  if  there  were  not  in  it  some 
notion  of  a  more  perfect  being  which  can  give  it  rest  ?  Can 
such  a  capacity  be  supposed  to  be  in  it  without  something  in 
being  able  to  satisfy  it?  if  so,  the  noblest  creature  in  the  world 
is  miserablest,  and  in  a  worse  condition  than  any  other.  Other 
creatures  obtain  their  ultimate  desires,  '  they  are  filled  with 
good,'  (Psal.  civ.  28:)  and  shall  man  only  have  a  vast  desire 
without  any  possibility  of  enjoyment?  Nothing  in  man  is  in 
vain ;  he  hath  objects  for  his  affections,  as  well  as  affections  for 
objects;  every  member  of  his  body  hath  its  end,  and  doth  attain 
it;  every  affection  of  his  soul  hath  an  object,  and  that  in  this 
world;  and  shall  there  be  none  for  his  desire,  which  comes 
nearest  to  infinite  of  any  affection  planted  in  him  ?  This  bound- 
less desire  had  not  its  original  from  man  himself;  nothing 
would  render  itself  restless;  something  above  the  bounds  of 
this  world  implanted  those  desires  after  a  higher  good,  and 
made  him  restless  in  every  thing  else.  And  since  the  soul  can 
only  rest  in  that  which  is  infinite,  there  is  something  infinite  for 
it  to  rest  in;  since  nothing  in  the  world,  though  a  man  had  the 
whole,  can  give  it  a  satisfaction,  there  is  something  above  the 
world  only  capable  to  do  it,  otherwise  the  soul  would  be  always 
without  it,  and  be  more  in  vain  than  any  other  creature.  There 
is,  therefore,  some  infinite  being  that  can  only  give  a  content- 
ment to  the  soul,  and  this  is  God.  And  that  goodness  which 
implanted  such  desires  in  the  soul,  would  not  do  it  to  no  pur- 
pose, and  mock  it  in  giving  it  an  infinite  desire  of  satisfaction, 
without  intending  it  the  pleasure  of  enjoyment,  if  it  doth  not 
by  its  own  folly  deprive  itself  of  it.  The  felicity  of  human  na- 
ture must  needs  exceed  that  which  is  allotted  to  other  crea- 
tures. 

Reason  IV.  As  it  is  a  folly  to  deny  that  which  all  nations  in 
the  world  have  consented  to,  which  the  frame  of  the  world 
evidenceth,  which  man  in  his  body,  soul,  operations  of  con- 
science, witnesseth  to;  so  it  is  a  folly  to  deny  the  being  of  God, 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  71 

which  is  witnessed  unto  by  extraordinary  occurrences  in  the 
world. 

1.  In  extraordinary  judgments:  When  a  just  revenge  fol- 
lows abominable  crimes,  especially  when  the  judgment  is  suited 
to  the  sin,  by  a  strange  concatenation  and  succession  of  provi- 
dences, methodized  to   bring  such   a   particular  punishment; 
when  the  sin  of  a  nation  or  person  is  made  legible  in  the  in- 
flicted judgment,  which  testifies  that   it  cannot  be  a  casual 
thing.     The  Scripture  gives  us  an  account  of  the  necessity  of 
such  judgments,  to  keep  up  the  reverential  thoughts  of  God  in 
the  world  (Ps.  ix.  16:)  'The  Lord  is  known  by  the  judgment 
which  he  executes;  the  wicked  is  snared  in  the  work  of  his 
own  hand:'  and  jealousy  is  the  name  of  God,  (Exod.  xxxiv. 
14,)  '  Whose  name  is  jealous.'     He  is  distinguished  from  false 
gods  by  the  judgments  which  he  sends,  as  men  are  by  their 
names.     Extraordinary  prodigies  in  many  nations  have  been 
the  heralds  of  extraordinary  judgments,  and  presages  of  the 
particular  judgments  which  afterwards  they  have  felt,  of  which 
the  Roman  histories,  and  others,  are  full.     That  there  are  such 
things  is  undeniable,  and  that  the  events  have  been  answera- 
ble to  the  threatening,  unless  we  will  throw  away  all  human 
testimonies,  and  count  all  the  histories  of  the  world  forgeries. 
Such  things  are  evidences  of  some  invisible  power  which  orders 
those  affairs.     And  if  there  be  invisible  powers,  there  is  also 
an  efficacious  cause  which  moves  them;  a  government  cer- 
tainly there  is  among  them,  as  well  as  in  the  world,  and  then 
we  must  come  to  some  supreme  governor  which  presides  over 
them.     Judgments  upon  notorious  offenders  have  been  evident 
in  all  ages;  the  Scripture  gives  many  instances.     I  shall  only 
mention  that  of  Herod  Agrippa,  which  Josephus  mentions.' 
He  receives  the  flattering  applause  of  the  people,  and  thought 
himself  a  God;  but  by  the  sudden  stroke  upon  him,  was  forced 
by  his  torture  to  confess  another.     '  I  am  God,'  saith  he,  '  in 
your  account,  but  a  higher  calls  me  away;  the   will  of  the 
heavenly  Deity  is  to   be  endured.'     The  angel  of  the  Lord 
smote  him.     The  judgment  here  was  suited  to  the  sin;  he  that 
would  be  a  god,  is  eaten  up  of  worms,  the  vilest  creatures. 
Tully  Hostilius,  a  Roman  king,  who  counted  it  the  most  un- 
royal thing   to   be  religious,  or  own  any  other  God   but  his 
sword,  was  consumed  himself,  and  his  whole  house,  by  light- 
ning from  heaven.     Many  things  are  unaccountable  unless  we 
have  recourse  to  God.     The  strange  revelations  of  murderers, 
that  have  most  secretly  committed  their  crimes ;  the  making 
good  some  dreadful  imprecations,  which  some  wretches  have 
used  to  confirm  a  lie,  and  immediately  have  been  struck  with 
that  judgment  they  wished;  the  raising  often  unexpected  per- 

1  Lib.  xix.  Antiq.     Acts  xii.  21 — 23. 


72  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

sons  to  be  instruments  of  vengeance  on  a  sinful  and  perfidious 
nation  ;  the  overturning  the  deepest  and  surest  counsels  of  men, 
when  they  have  had  a  successful  progress,  and  came  to  the 
very  point  of  execution;  the  whole  design  of  men's  preserva- 
tion hath  been  beaten  in  pieces  by  some  unforeseen  circum- 
stance, so  that  judgments  have  broken  in  upon  them  without 
control,  and  all  their  subtleties  been  outwitted;  the  strange 
crossing  of  some  in  their  estates,  though  the  most  wise,  indus- 
trious, and  frugal  persons,  and  that  by  strange  and  unexpected 
ways;  and  it  is  observable  how  often  every  thing  contributes 
to  carry  on  a  judgment  intended,  as  if  they  rationally  designed 
it:  all  these  loudly  proclaim  a  God  in  the  world;  if  there  were 
no  God,  there  would  be  no  sin;  if  no  sin,  there  would  be  no 
punishment. 

2.  In  miracles.  The  course  of  nature  is  uniform;  and  when 
it  is  put  out  of  its  course,  it  must  be  by  some  superior  power 
invisible  to  the  world;  and  by  whatsoever  invisible  instru- 
ments they  are  wrought,  the  efficacy  of  them  must  depend  upon 
some  first  cause  above  nature.  (Psalm  lxxii.  IS:)  '  Blessed  be 
the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  who  only  doeth  wondrous  things,'  by 
himself  and  his  sole  power.  That  which  cannot  be  the  result 
of  a  natural  cause,  must  be  the  result  of  something  supernatural: 
what  is  beyond  the  reach  of  nature,  is  the  effect  of  a  power 
superior  to  nature;  for  it  is  quite  against  the  order  of  nature, 
and  is  the  elevation  of  something  to  such  a  pitch,  which  all 
nature  could  not  advance  it  to.  Nature  cannot  go  beyond  its 
own  limits;  if  it  be  determined  by  another,  as  hath  been  for- 
merly proved,  it  cannot  lift  itself  above  itself,  without  that 
power  that  so  determined  it.  Natural  agents  act  necessarily; 
the  sun  doth  necessarily  shine,  fire  doth  necessarily  burn:  that 
cannot  be  the  result  of  nature,  which  is  above  the  ability  of 
nature;  that  cannot  be  the  work  of  nature  which  is  against  the 
order  of  nature:  nature  cannot  do  any  thing  against  itself,  or 
invert  its  own  course.  We  must  own  that  such  things  have 
been,  or  we  must  accuse  all  the  records  of  former  ages  to  be  a 
pack  of  lies;  which  whosoever  doth,  destroys  the  greatest  and 
best  part  of  human  knowledge.  The  miracles  mentioned  in 
the  Scripture,  wrought  by  our  Saviour,  are  acknowledged  by 
the  heathen,  by  the  Jews  at  this  day,  though  his  greatest  ene- 
mies. There  is  no  dispute  whether  such  things  were  wrought, 
the  '  dead  raised,'  the  <  blind  restored  to  sight.'  The  heathen 
have  acknowledged  the  miraculous  eclipse  of  the  sun  at  the 
passion  of  Christ,  quite  against  the  rule  of  nature,  the  moon 
being  then  in  opposition  to  the  sun  :  the  propagation  of  Chris- 
tianity contrary  to  the  methods  whereby  other  religions  have 
been  propagated:  that  in  a  few  years  the  nations  of  the  world 
should  be  sprinkled  with  this  doctrine,  and  give  in  a  greater 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  73 

catalogue  of  martyrs  courting  the  devouring  flames,  than  all 
the  religions  of  the  world.  To  this  might  be  added,  the  strange 
hand  that  was  over  the  Jews,  the  only  people  in  the  world  pro- 
fessing the  true  God,  that  should  so  often  be  befriended  by 
their  conquerors,  so  as  to  rebuild  their  temple,  though  they 
were  looked  upon  as  a  people  apt  to  rebel.  Dion  and  Seneca 
observe,  that  wherever  they  were  transplanted,  they  prospered, 
and  gave  laws  to  the  victors;  so  that  this  proves  also  the  autho- 
rity of  the  Scripture,  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion,  as  well 
as  the  being  of  a  God,  and  a  superior  power  over  the  world. 
To  this  might  be  added,  the  bridling  the  tumultuous  passions 
of  men  for  the  preservation  of  human  societies,  which  else 
would  run  the  world  into  inconceivable  confusions,  (Psalm 
lxv.  7  :)  '  Which  stilleth  the  noise  of  the  sea,  and  the  tumults  of 
the  people;'  as  also  the  miraculous  deliverance  of,  a  person  or 
nation,  when  upon  the  very  brink  of  ruin;  the  sudden  answer 
of  prayer  when  God  hath  been  sought  to,  and  the  turning 
away  a  judgment,  which  in  reason  could  not  be  expected  to  be 
averted,  and  the  raising  a  sunk  people  from  a  ruin  which 
seemed  inevitable,  by  unexpected  ways. 

3.  Accomplishments  of  prophecies.  Those  things  which  are 
purely  contingent,  and  cannot  be  known  by  natural  signs  and 
in  their  causes,  as  eclipses  and  changes  in  nations,  which  may 
be  discerned  by  an  observation  of  the  signs  of  the  times;  such 
things  that  fall  not  within  this  compass,  if  they  be  foretold  and 
come  to  pass,  are  solely  from  some  higher  hand,  and  above  the 
cause  of  nature.  This  in  Scripture  is  asserted  to  be  a  notice  of 
the  true  God  (Isa.  xli.  23:)  '  Show  the  things  that  are  to  come 
hereafter,  that  we  may  know  that  you  are  God,'  and  (Isa.  xlvi. 
10), '  I  am  God  declaring  the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  from 
ancient  times  the  things  that  are  not  yet  done,  saying,  My 
counsel  shall  stand,  and  I  will  do  all  my  pleasure.'  And  pro- 
phecy was  consented  to  by  all  the  philosophers  to  be  from 
divine  illumination:  that  power  which  discovers  things  future, 
which  all  the  foresight  of  men  cannot  ken  and  conjecture,  is 
above  nature.  And  to  foretell  them  so  certainly  as  if  they  did 
already  exist,  or  had  existed  long  ago,  must  be  the  result  of  a 
mind  infinitely  intelligent;  because  it  is  the  highest  way  of 
knowing,  and  a  higher  cannot  be  imagined:  and  he  that  knows 
things  future  in  such  a  manner,  must  needs  know  things  pre- 
sent and  past.  Cyrus  was  prophesied  of  by  Isaiah  (xli v.  28, 
and  xlv.  1,)  long  before  he  was  born:  his  victories,  spoils,  all 
that  should  happen  in  Babylon,  his  bounty  to  the  Jews  came 
to  pass,  according  to  that  prophecy  ;  and  the  sight  of  that  pro- 
phecy which  the  Jews  showed  him,  as  other  historians  report, 
was  that  which  moved  him  to  be  favourable  to  the  Jews. 

Alexander's  sight  of  Daniel's  prophecy  concerning  his  victo- 

VOL.    I.— 10 


74  1'HE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

ries  moved  him  to  spare  Jerusalem.  And  are  not  the  four 
monarchies  plainly  decyphered  in  that  book,  before  the  fourth 
rose  up  in  the  world  ?  That  power  which  foretells  things  be- 
yond the  reach  of  the  wit  of  man,  and  orders  all  causes  to  bring 
about  those  predictions,  must  be  an  infinite  power,  the  same 
that  made  the  world,  sustains  it  and  governs  all  things  in  it 
according  to  his  pleasure,  and  to  bring  about  his  own  ends; 
and  this  being  is  God. 

Use  I.  If  atheism  be  a  folly,  it  is  then  pernicious  to  the 
world  and  to  the  atheist  himself.  Wisdom  is  the  band  of 
human  societies,  the  glory  of  man.  Folly  is  the  disturber  of 
families,  cities,  nations;  the  disgrace  of  human  nature. 

First,  It  is  pernicious  to  the  world. 

1.  It  would  root  out  the  foundations  of  government.  It  de- 
molisheth  all  order  in  nations.  The  being  of  a  God  is  the 
guard  of  the  world:  the  sense  of  a  God  is  the  foundation  of 
civil  order;  without  this  there  is  no  tie  upon  the  consciences 
of  men.  What  force  would  there  be  in  oaths  for  the  decisions 
of  controversies,  what  right  could  there  be  in  appeals  made  to 
one  that  had  no  being?  A  city  of  atheists  would  be  a  heap  of 
confusion;  there  could  be  no  ground  of  any  commerce,  when 
all  the  sacred  bands  of  it  in  the  consciences  of  men  were  snapt 
asunder,  which  are  torn  to  pieces  and  utterly  destroyed  by  de- 
nying the  existence  of  God.  What  magistrate  could  be  secure 
in  his  standing?  what  private  person  could  be  secure  in  his 
right?  Can  that  then  be  a  truth  that  is  destructive  of  all  pub- 
lic good?  If  the  atheist's  sentiment,  that  there  were  no  God, 
were  a  truth,  and  the  contrary  that  there  were  a  God,  were  a 
falsity,  it  would  then  follow,  that  falsity  made  men  good  and 
serviceable  to  one  another;  that  error  were  the  foundation  of 
all  the  beauty,  and  order,  and  outward  felicity  of  the  world, 
the  fountain  of  all  good  to  man.1  If  there  were  no  God,  to  be- 
lieve there  is  one,  would  be  an  error;  and  to  believe  there  is 
none,  would  be  the  greatest  wisdom,  because  it  would  be  the 
greatest  truth.  And  then  as  it  is  the  greatest  Avisdom  to  fear 
God,  upon  the  apprehension  of  his  existence,  so  it  would  be 
the  greatest  error  to  fear  him,  if  there  were  none.2  It  would 
unquestionably  follow,  that  error  is  the  support  of  the  world, 
the  spring  of  all  human  advantages;  and  that  every  part  of  the 
world  were  obliged  to  a  falsity  for  being  a  quiet  habitation, 
which  is  the  most  absurd  thing  to  imagine.  It  is  a  thing  im- 
possible to  be  tolerated  by  any  prince,  without  laying  an  axe 
to  the  root  of  the  government. 

2.  It  would  introduce  all  evil  into  the  world.  If  you  take 
away  God,  you  take  away  conscience,  and  thereby  all 
measures  and  rules  of  good  and  evil.     And  how  could  any 

1  Leusius  de  Provid.  p.  665.  2  Psalin  cxi.  10. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  75 

laws  be  made  when  the  measure  and  standard  of  them  were 
removed?     All  good  laws  are  founded  upon  the  dictates  of 
conscience  and  reason,  upon  common   sentiments  in  human 
nature,  which  spring  from  a  sense  of  God;  so  that  if  the  foun- 
dation be  demolished,  the  whole  superstructure  must  tumble 
down:  a  man  might  be  a  thief,  a  murderer,  an  adulterer,  and 
could  not  in  a  strict  sense  be  an  offender.     The  worst  of  ac- 
tions could  not  be  evil,  if  a  man  were  a  god  to  himself,  a  law 
to  himself.     Nothing  but  evil  deserves  a  censure,  and  nothing 
would  be  evil  if  there  were  no  God,  the  governor  of  the  world 
against  whom  evil  is  properly  committed.     No  man  can  make 
that  morally  evil  that  is  not  so  in  itself:  as  where  there  is  a 
faint  sense  of  God,  the  heart  is  more  strongly  inclined  to  wick- 
edness; so  where  there  is  no  sense  of  God,  the  bars  are  remov- 
ed, the  flood-gates  set  open  for  all  wickedness  to  rush  in  upon 
mankind.     Religion  pinions  men  from  abominable  practices, 
and  restrains  them  from  being  slaves  to  their  own  passions: 
an  atheist's  arms  would  be  loose  to  do  any  thing.1     Nothing 
so  villanous  and  unjust  but  would  be  acted  if  the  natural  fear 
of  a  Deity  were  extinguished.     The  first  consequence  issuing 
from  the  apprehension  of  the  existence  of  God,  is  his  govern- 
ment of  the  world.     If  there  be  no  God,  then  the  natural  con- 
sequence is  that  there  is  no  supreme  government  of  the  world: 
such  a  notion  would  cashier  all  sentiments  of  good,  and  be  like 
a  Trojan  horse,  whence  all  impurity,  tyranny,  and  all  sorts  of 
mischiefs  would    break  out  upon   mankind:   corruption   and 
abominable  works  in  the  text  are  the  fruit  of  the  fool's  persua- 
sion that  there  is  no  God.     The  perverting  the  ways  of  men, 
oppression  and  extortion,  owe  their  rise  to  a  forgetfulness  of 
God  (Jer.  iii.  21:)  'They  have  perfected  their  way,  and  they 
have  forgotten  the  Lord  their  God.'  (Ezek.  xxii.  12:)  'Thou 
hast  greedily  gained  by  extortion,  and  hast  forgotten  me,  saith 
the  Lord.     The  whole  earth  would  be  filled  with  violence,  all 
flesh  would  corrupt  their  way,  as  it  was  before  the  deluge, 
when  probably  atheism  did  abound  more  than  idolatry;  and  if 
not  a  disowning  the  being,  yet  denying  the  providence  of  God 
by  the  posterity  of  Cain:  those  of  the  family  of  Seth  only  '  cal- 
ling upon  the  name  of  the  Lord.'  (Gen.  vi.  11,  12,  compared 
with  Gen  iv.  26.) 

The  greatest  sense  of  a  Deity  in  any,  hath  been  attended 
with  the  greatest  innocence  of  life  and  usefulness  to  others; 
and  a  weaker  sense  hath  been  attended  with  a  baser  impurity. 
If  there  were  no  God,  blasphemy  would  be  praiseworthy;  as 
the  reproach  of  idols  is  praiseworthy,  because  we  testify  that 
there  is  no  divinity  in  them.2  What  can  be  more  contemptible 
than  that  which  hath  no  being?    Sin  would  be  only  a  false 

1  Lessiua  de  Provid.  p.  664.  J  Ibid.  p.  665. 


76  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

opinion  of  a  violated  law,  and  an  offended  deity.  If  such 
apprehensions  prevail,  what  a  wide  door  is  opened  to  the 
worst  of  villanies!  If  there  be  no  God,  no  respect  is  due  to 
him;  all  the  religion  in  the  world  is  a  trifle,  and  error;  and 
thus  the  pillars  of  all  human  society,  and  that  which  hath  made 
commonwealths  to  flourish,  are  blown  away. 

Secondly,  It  is  pernicious  to  the  atheist  himself.  If  he  fear 
no  future  punishment,  he  can  never  expect  any  future  reward : 
all  his  hopes  must  be  confined  to  a  swinish  and  despicable 
manner  of  life,  without  any  imaginations  of  so  much  as  a  dram 
of  reserved  happiness.  He  is  in  a  worse  condition  than  the 
silliest  animal,  which  hath  something  to  please  it  in  its  life; 
whereas  an  atheist  can  have  nothing  here  to  give  him  a  full 
content,  no  more  than  any  other  man  in  the  world,  and  can 
have  less  satisfaction  hereafter.  He  deposeth  the  noble  end  of 
his  own  being,  which  was  to  serve  a  God  and  have  a  satisfac- 
tion in  him,  to  seek  a  God  and  be  rewarded  by  him;  and  he 
that  departs  from  his  end,  recedes  from  his  own  nature.  All 
the  content  any  creature  finds,  is  in  performing  its  end,  moving 
according  to  its  natural  instinct;  as  it  is  a  joy  to  the  sun  to  run 
its  race.1  In  the  same  manner  it  is  a  satisfaction  to  every  other 
creature,  and  its  delight  to  observe  the  law  of  its  creation. 
What  content  can  any  man  have  that  runs  from  his  end,  oppo- 
seth  his  own  nature,  denies  a  God  by  whom  and  for  whom  he 
was  created,  whose  image  he  bears,  which  is  the  glory  of  his 
nature,  and  sinks  into  the  very  dregs  of  brutishness  ?  How 
elegantly  is  it  described  by  Bildad,2  i  His  own  counsel  shall 
cast  him  down,  terrors  shall  make  him  afraid  on  every  side, 
destruction  shall  be  ready  at  his  side,  the  first-born  of  death 
shall  devour  his  strength,  his  confidence  shall  be  rooted  out, 
and  it  shall  bring  him  to  the  king  of  terrors.  Brimstone  shall 
be  scattered  upon  his  habitation ;  he  shall  be  driven  from  light 
into  darkness,  and  chased  out  of  the  world.  They  that  come 
after  him  shall  be  astonished  at  his  day,  as  they  that  went  be- 
fore were  affrighted.  And  this  is  the  place  of  him  that  knows 
not  God.3  If  there  be  a  future  reckoning  (as  his  own  con- 
science cannot  but  sometimes  inform  him  of,)  his  condition  is 
desperate,  and  his  misery  dreadful  and  unavoidable.  It  is  not 
righteous  a  hell  should  entertain  any  else,  if  it  refuse  him. 

Use  II.  How  lamentable  is  it,  that  in  our  times  this  folly  of 
atheism  should  be  so  rife!  That  there  should  be  found  such 
monsters  in  human  nature,  in  the  midst  of  the  improvements  of 
reason,  and  shillings  of  the  gospel,  who  not  only  make  the 
Scripture  the  matter  of  their  jeers,  but  scoff  at  the  judgments 
and  providences  of  God  in  the  world,  and  envy  their  Creator  a 
being,  without  whose  goodness  they  had  none  themselves;  who 

1  Psalm  xix.  5.  2  Job  xviii.  7,  8,  &c.  to  the  end.  '  Ver.  24. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  77 

contradict  in  their  carriage  what  they  assert  to  be  their  senti- 
ment, when  they  dreadfully  imprecate  damnation  to  themselves! 
Whence  should  that  damnation  they  so  rashly  wish  be  poured 
forth  upon  them,  if  there  were  not  a  revenging  God?  For- 
merly atheism  was  as  rare  as  prodigious,  scarce  two  or  three 
known  in  an  age;  and  those  that  are  reported  to  be  so  in  for- 
mer ages,  are  rather  thought  to  be  counted  so  for  mocking  at 
the  senseless  deities  the  common  people  adored,  and  laying 
open  their  impurities.  A  mere  natural  strength  would  easily 
discover  that  those  they  adored  for  gods,  could  not  deserve  that 
title,  since  their  original  was  known,  their  uncleanness  manifest 
and  acknowledged  by  their  worshippers.  And  probably  it 
was  so;  since  the  Christians  were  termed  aOeot.,  because  they 
acknowledged  not  their  vain  idols.1 

I  question  whether  there  ever  was,  or  can  be  in  the  world, 
an  uninterrupted  and  internal  denial  of  the  being  of  God,  or 
that  men  (unless  we  can  suppose  conscience  utterly  dead)  can 
arrive  to  such  a  degree  of  impiety;  for  before  they  can  stifle 
such  sentiments  in  them  (whatsoever  they  may  assert,)  they 
must  be  utter  strangers  to  the  common  conceptions  of  reason, 
and  despoil  themselves  of  their  own  humanity.  He  that  dares 
to  deny  a  God  with  his  lips,  yet  sets  up  something  or  other  as 
a  God  in  his  heart.  Is  it  not  lamentable  that  this  sacred  truth, 
consented  to  by  all  nations,  which  is  the  band  of  civil  societies, 
the  source  of  all  order  in  the  world,  should  be  denied  with  a 
bare  face,  and  disputed  against  in  companies,  and  the  glory  of 
a  wise  Creator  ascribed  to  an  unintelligent  nature,  to  blind 
chance  ?  Are  not  such  worse  than  heathens  ?  They  worshipped 
many  gods,  these  none:  they  preserved  a  notion  of  God  in  the 
world  under  a  disguise  of  images,  these  would  banish  him  both 
from  earth  and  heaven,  and  demolish  the  statutes  of  him  in 
their  own  consciences;  they  degraded  him,  these  would  destroy 
him;  they  coupled  creatures  with  him — (Rom.  i.  25,)  'Who 
worshipped  the  creature  with  the  Creator,'  as  it  may  most  pro- 
perly be  rendered — and  these  would  make  him  worse  than  the 
creature,  a  mere  nothing.  Earth  is  hereby  become  worse  than 
hell.  Atheism  is  a  persuasion  winch  finds  no  footing  any 
where  else.  Hell,  that  receives  such  persons,  in  this  point  re- 
forms them:  they  can  never  deny  or  doubt  of  his  being,  while 
they  feel  his  strokes.  The  devil,  that  rejoices  at  their  wicked- 
ness, knows  them  to  be  in  an  error;  for  he  'believes,  and 
trembles  at  the  belief.'-  This  is  a  forerunner  of  judgment. 
Boldness  in  sin  is  a  presage  of  vengeance,  especially  when  the 
honour  of  God  is  more  particularly  concerned  therein;  it  tends 
to  the  overturning  human  society,  taking  off  the  bridle  from 
the  wicked  inclinations  of  men:  and  God  appears  not  in  such 

1  As  Justin  informs  us.  "  James  ii.  l!t. 


78  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

visible  judgments  against  sin  immediately  committed  against 
himself,  as  in  the  case  of  those  sins  that  are  destructive  to  hu- 
man society.  Besides,  God,  as  Governor  of  the  world,  will 
uphold  that,  without  which  all  his  ordinances  in  the  world 
would  be  useless.  Atheism  is  point  blank  against  all  the  glory 
of  God  in  creation,  and  against  all  the  glory  of  God  in  redemp- 
tion, and  pronounceth  at  one  breath,  both  the  Creator,  and  all 
acts  of  religion  and  divine  institutions,  useless  and  insignificant. 
Since  most  have  had,  one  time  or  other,  some  risings  of  doubt, 
whether  there  be  a  God,  though  few  do  in  expressions  deny  his 
being,  it  may  not  be  unnecessary  to  propose  some  things  for 
the  further  impressing  this  truth,  and  guarding  themselves 
against  such  temptations. 

1.  It  is  utterly  impossible  to  demonstrate  there  is  no  God. 
He  can  choose  no  medium,  but  will  fall  in  as  a  proof  for  his 
existence,  and  a  manifestation  of  his  excellency,  rather  than 
against  it.  The  pretences  of  the  atheist  are  so  ridiculous,  that 
they  are  not  worth  the  mentioning.  They  never  saw  God,  and 
therefore  know  not  how  to  believe  such  a  being;  they  cannot 
comprehend  him.  He  would  not  be  a  God,  if  he  could  fall 
within  the  narrow  model  of  a  human  understanding;  he  would 
not  be  infinite,  if  he  were  comprehensible,  or  to  be  terminated 
by  our  sight.  How  small  a  thing  must  that  be  which  is  seen 
by  a  bodily  eye,  or  grasped  by  a  weak  mind!  If  God  were 
visible  or  comprehensible,  he  would  be  limited.  Shall  it  be  a 
sufficient  demonstration  from  a  blind  man,  that  there  is  no  fire 
in  the  room  because  he  sees  it  not,  though  he  feel  the  warmth 
of  it?  The  knowledge  of  the  effect  is  sufficient  to  conclude  the 
existence  of  the  cause.  Who  ever  saw  his  own  life?  Is  it  suffi- 
cient to  deny  a  man  lives,  because  he  beholds  not  his  life,  and 
only  knows  it  by  his  motion?  He  never  saw  his  own  soul,  but 
knows  he  hath  one  by  his  thinking  power.  The  air  renders 
itself  sensible  to  men  in  its  operations,  yet  was  never  seen  by 
the  eye.  If  God  should  render  himself  visible,  they  might 
question  as  well  as  now,  whether  that,  which  was  so  visible 
were  God,  or  some  delusion.  If  he  should  appear  glorious,  we 
can  as  little  behold  him  in  his  majestic  glory,  as  an  owl  can 
behold  the  sun  in  its  brightness:  we  should  still  but  see  him 
in  his  effects,  as  we  do  the  sun  by  his  beams.  If  he  should 
show  a  new  miracle,  we  should  still  see  him  but  by  his  works; 
so  we  see  him  in  his  creatures,  every  one  of  which  would  be 
as  great  a  miracle  as  any  can  be  wrought,  to  one  that  had  the 
first  prospect  of  them.  To  require  to  see  God,  is  to  require 
that  which  is  impossible,  (1  Tim.  vi.  16:)  'He  dwells  in  the 
light  which  no  man  can  approach  unto,  whom  no  man  hath 
seen,  nor  can  see.'  It  is  visible  that  he  is,  'for  he  covers  him- 
self with  light  as  with  a  garment'  (Psalm  civ.  2:)  it  is  visible 


THE  EXISTENCE':  OF  GOD. 


79 


what  he  is,  'for  he  makes  darkness  his  secret  place'  (Psalrn 
xviii.  1 1.)  Nothing  more  clear  to  the  eye  than  light,  and  nothing 
more  difficult  to  the  understanding  than  the  nature  of  it:  as 
light  is  the  first  object  obvious  to  the  eye;  so  is  God  the  first 
object  obvious  to  the  understanding.  The  arguments  from 
nature  do,  with  greater  strength,  evince  his  existence,  than  any 
pretences  can  manifest  there  is  no  God.  No  man  can  assure 
himself  by  any  good  reason  there  is  none;  for  as  for  the  like- 
ness of  events  to  him  that  is  righteous,  and  him  that  is  wicked; 
to  him  that  sacrifice th,  and  to  him  that  sacriliceth  not  (Eccles. 
ix.  2:)  it  is  an  argument  for  a  reserve  of  judgment  in  another 
state,  which  every  man's  conscience  dictates  to  him,  when  the 
justice  of  God  shall  be  glorified  in  another  world,  as  much  as 
his  patience  is  in  this. 

2,  Whosoever  doubts  of  it,  makes  himself  a  mark,  against 
which  all  the  creatures  fight.  All  the  stars  fought  against 
Sisera  for  Israel:  all  the  stars  in  heaven,  and  the  dust  on  earth 
fight  for  God  against  the  atheist.  He  hath  as  many  arguments 
against  him  as  there  are  creatures  in  the  whole  compass  of 
heaven  and  earth.  He  is  most  unreasonable,  that  denies  or 
doubts  of  that  whose  image  and  shadow  he  sees  round  about 
him;  he  may  sooner  deny  the  sun  that  warms  him,  the  moon 
that  in  the  night  walks  in  her  brightness,  deny  the  fruits  he 
enjoys  from  the  earth,  yea,  and  deny  that  he  doth  exist.  He 
must  tear  his  own  conscience,  fly  from  his  own  thoughts,  be 
changed  into  the  nature  of  a  stone,  which  hath  neither  reason 
nor  sense,  before  he  can  disengage  himself  from  those  argu- 
ments which  evince  the  being  of  a  God.  He  that  would  make 
the  natural  religion  professed  in  the  world  a  mere  romance, 
must  give  the  lie  to  the  common  sense  of  mankind;  he  must 
be  at  an  irreconcilable  enmity  with  his  own  reason,  resolve  to 
hear  nothing  that  it  speaks,  if  he  will  not  hear  what  it  speaks 
in  this  case,  with  a  greater  evidence  than  it  can  ascertain  any 
thing  else.  God  hath  so  settled  himself  in  the  reason  of  man, 
that  he  must  villify  the  noblest  faculty  God  hath  given  him, 
and  put  off  nature  itself,  before  he  can  blot  out  the  notion  of  a 
God. 

3.  No  question  but  those  that  have  been  so  bold  as  to  deny 
that  there  was  a  God,  have  sometimes  been  much  afraid  they 
have  been  in  an  error,  and  have  at  least  suspected  there  was  a 
God,  when  some  sudden  prodigy  hath  presented  itself  to  them, 
and  roused  their  fears;  and  whatsoever  sentiments  they  might 
have  in  their  blinding  prosperity,  they  have  had  other  kind  of 
motions  in  them  in  their  stormy  afflictions,  and,  like  Jonah's 
mariners,  have  been  ready  to  cry  to  him  for  help,  whom  they 
disdained  to  own  so  much  as  in  being,  while  they  swam  in 
their  pleasures.     The  thoughts  of  a  Deity  cannot  be  so  extiu- 


gQ  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

guished,  but  they  will  revive  and  rush  upon  a  man,  at  least 
under  some  sharp  affliction.  Amazing  judgments  will  make 
them  question  their  own  apprehensions.  God  sends  some  mes- 
sengers to  keep  alive  the  apprehension  of  him  as  a  Judge,  while 
men  resolve  not  to  own  or  reverence  him  as  a  Governor.  A 
man  cannot  but  keep  a  scent  of  what  was  born  with  him;  as  a 
vessel  that  hath  been  seasoned  first  with  a  strong  juice  will  pre- 
serve the  scent  of  it,  whatsoever  liquors  are  afterwards  put 
into  it. 

4.  What  is  it  for  which  such  men  rack  their  wits,  to  form 
notions  that  there  is  no  God?  Is  it  not  that  they  would  indulge 
some  vicious  habit,  which  hath  gained  the  possession  of  their 
soul,  which  they  know  'cannot  be  favoured  by  that  holy  God,' 
whose  notion  they  would  raze  out  ? '  Is  it  not  for  some  brutish 
affection,  as  degenerative  of  human  nature,  as  derogatory  to 
the  glory  of  God;  a  lust  as  unmanly  as  sinful?  The  terrors  of 
God  are  the  effects  of  guilt;  and  therefore  men  would  wear  out 
the  apprehensions  of  a  Deity,  that  they  might  be  brutish  with- 
out control.  They  would  fain  believe  there  were  no  God,  that 
they  might  not  be  men,  but  beasts.  How  great  a  folly  is  it  to 
take  so  much  pains  in  vain,  for  a  slavery  and  torment;  to  cast 
off  that  which  they  call  a  yoke,  for  that  which  really  is  one! 
There  are  more  pains  and  toughness  of  soul  requisite  to  shake 
off  the  apprehensions  of  God,  than  to  believe  that  he  is,  and 
cleave  constantly  to  him.  What  a  madness  is  it  in  any  to  take 
so  much  pains  to  be  less  than  a  man,  by  razing  out  the  appre- 
hensions of  God,  when,  with  less  pains,  he  may  be  more  than 
an  earthly  man,  by  cherishing  the  notions  of  God,  and  walking 
answerably  thereunto! 

5.  How  unreasonable  is  it  for  any  man  to  hazard  himself  at 
this  rate  in  the  denial  of  a  God!  The  atheist  saith  he  knows 
not  that  there  is  a  God;  but  may  he  not  reasonably  think  there 
may  be  one  for  aught  he  knows?  and  if  there  be,  what  a  des- 
perate confusion  will  he  be  in,  when  all  his  bravadoes  shall 
prove  false!  What  can  they  gain  by  such  an  opinion?  A  free- 
dom, say  they,  from  the  burdensome  yoke  of  conscience,  a 
liberty  to  do  what  they  list,  that  doth  not  subject  them  to  divine 
laws.  It  is  a  hard  matter  to  persuade  any  that  they  can  gain 
this.  They  can  gain  but  a  sordid  pleasure,  unworthy  the  nature 
of  man.  But  it  were  well  that  such  would  argue  thus  with 
themselves:  if  there  be  a  God,  and  I  fear  and  obey  him,  I  gain 
a  happy  eternity;  but  if  there  be  no  God,  I  lose  nothing  but 
my  sordid  lusts,  by  firmly  believing  there  is  one.  If  1  be  de- 
ceived at  last,  and  find  a  God,  can  I  think  to  be  rewarded  by 
him,  for  disowning  him?  Do  not  I  run  a  desperate  hazard  to 
lose  his  favour,  his  kingdom,  and  endless  felicity,  for  an  end- 

1  Psalm  xciv.  6,  7. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  (;<>!>.  81 

less  torment?  By  confessing  a  God  I  venture  no  loss;  but  by 
denying  him,  I  run  the  most  desperate  hazard,  if  there  be  one. 
He  is  not  a  reasonable  creature,  that  will  not  put  himself  upon 
such  a  reasonable  arguing.  What  a  doleful  meeting  will  there 
be  between  the  God  who  is  denied,  and  the  atheist  that  denies 
him,  who  shall  meet  with  reproaches  on  God's  part,  and  terrors 
on  his  own!  All  that  he  gains  is  a  liberty  to  defile  himself  here, 
and  a  certainty  to  be  despised  hereafter,  if  he  be  in  an  error, 
as  undoubtedly  he  is. 

6.  Can  any  such  person  say  he  hath  done  all  that  he  can  to 
inform  himself  of  the  being  of  God,  or  of  other  things  which  he 
denies?  Or  rather,  they  would  fain  imagine  there  is  none,  that 
they  may  sleep  securely  in  their  lusts,  and  be  free  (if  they 
could)  from  the  thunder-claps  of  conscience.  Can  such  say 
they  have  used  their  utmost  endeavours  to  instruct  themselves 
in  this,  and  can  meet  with  no  satisfaction  ?  Were  it  an  abstruse 
truth  it  might  not  be  wondered  at;  but  not  to  meet  with  satis- 
faction in  this  which  every  thing  minds  us  of,  and  helpeth,  is 
the  fruit  of  an  extreme  negligence,  stupidity,  and  a  willingness 
to  be  unsatisfied,  and  a  judicial  process  of  God  against  them. 
It  is  strange  any  man  should  be  so  dark  in  that  upon  which  de- 
pends the  conduct  of  his  life,  and  the  expectation  of  happiness 
hereafter.  I  do  not  know  what  some  of  you  may  think,  but  I  be- 
lieve these  things  are  not  useless  to  be  proposed  for  ourselves  to 
answer  temptations;  we  know  not  what  wicked  temptation  in  a 
debauched  and  sceptic  age,  meeting  with  a  corrupt  heart,  may 
prompt  men  to;  and  though  there  may  not  be  any  atheist  here 
present,  yet  I  know  there  is  more  than  one,  who  have  acciden- 
tally met  with  such,  who  openly  denied  a  Deity;  and  if  the 
like  occasion  happen,  these  considerations  may  not  be  unuscful 
to  apply  to  their  consciences.  But  1  must  confess,  that  since 
those  that  live  in  this  sentiment,  do  not  judge  themselves  wor- 
thy of  their  own  care,  they  are  not  worthy  of  the  care  of  others; 
and  a  man  must  have  all  the  charity  of  the  Christian  religion, 
which  they  despise,  not  to  contemn  them,  and  leave  them  to 
their  own  folly.  As  we  are  to  pity  mad  men,  who  sink  under 
an  unavoidable  distemper,  we  are  as  much  to  abominate  them, 
who  wilfully  hug  this  prodigious  frenzy. 

Use  III.  If  it  be  the  atheist's  folly  to  deny  or  doubt  of  the 
being  of  God,  it  is  our  wisdom  to  be  firmly  settled  in  this  truth, 
that  God  is.  We  should  never  be  without  our  arms  in  an  age 
wherein  atheism  appears  barefaced  without  a  disguise.  You 
may  meet  with  suggestions  to  it,  though  the  devil  formerly 
never  attempted  to  demolish  this  notion  in  the  world,  but  was 
willing  to  keep  it  up,  so  the  worship  due  to  God  might  run  in 
his  own  channel,  and  was  necessitated  to  preserve  it,  without 
which  he  could  not  have  erected  that  idolatry,  which  was  his 
Vol.  I.— 11 


g2  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

great  design  in  opposition  to  God ;  yet  since  the  foundations 
of  that  are  torn  up,  and  never  like  to  be  rebuilt,  he  may  endea- 
vour as  his  last  refuge,  to  banish  the  notion  of  God  out  of  the 
world,  that  he  may  reign  as  absolutely  without  it,  as  he  did 
before  by  the  mistakes  about  the  divine  nature.  But  we  must 
not  lay  all  upon  Satan  ;  the  corruption  of  our  own  hearts  min- 
isters matter  to  such  sparks.  It  is  not  said  Satan  hath  suggested 
to  the  fool, but  'the  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart'  there  is  no  God. 
But  let  them  come  from  what  principle  soever,  silence  them 
quickly,  give  them  their  dismissal;  oppose  the  whole  scheme  of 
nature  to  fight  against  them,  as  the  stars  did  against  Sisera. 
Stir  up  sentiments  of  conscience  to  oppose  sentiments  of  corrup- 
tion. Resolve  sooner  to  believe  that  yourselves  are  not,  than 
that  God  is  not;  and  if  you  suppose  they  at  any  time  come 
from  Satan,  object  to  him  that  you  know  he  believes  the  con- 
trary to  what  he  suggests.  Settle  this  principle  firmly  in  you, 
Met  us  behold  him  that  is  invisible,'  as  Moses  did;1  let  us  have 
the  sentiments  following  upon  the  notion  of  a  God,  to  be  re- 
strained by  a  fear  of  him,  excited  by  a  love  to  him,  not  to  vio- 
late his  laws  and  offend  his  goodness.  He  is  not  a  God  care- 
less of  our  actions,  negligent  to  inflict  punishment,  and  bestow 
rewards,  'he  forgets  not  the  labour  of  our  love,'2  nor  the 
integrity  of  our  ways;  he  were  not  a  God,  if  he  were  not  a 
governor;  and  punishments  and  rewards  are  as  essential  to 
government,  as  a  foundation  to  a  building.  His  being  and  his 
government  in  rewarding,  which  implies  punishment,  (for  the 
neglects  of  him  are  linked  together)3  are  not  to  be  separated  in 
our  thoughts  of  him. 

1.  Without  this  truth  fixed  in  us,  we  can  never  give  him  the 
worship  due  to  his  name.  When  the  knowledge  of  any  thing 
is  fluctuating  and  uncertain,  our  actions  about  it  are  careless. 
We  regard  not  that  which  we  think  doth  not  much  concern  us. 
If  we  do  not  firmly  believe  there  is  a  God,  we  shall  pay  him 
no  steady  worship;  and  if  we  believe  not  the  excellency  of  his 
nature,  we  shall  offer  him  but  a  slight  service.4  The  Jews  call 
the  knowledge  of  the  being  of  God  the  foundation  and  pillar  of 
wisdom.5  The  whole  frame  of  religion  is  dissolved  without 
this  apprehension,  and  totters  if  this  apprehension  be  wavering. 
Religion  in  the  heart  is  as  water  in  a  weather-glass,  which 
riseth  or  falls  according  to  the  strength  or  weakness  of  this  be- 
lief. How  can  any  man  worship  that  which  he  believes  not 
to  be,  or  doubts  of?  Could  any  man  omit  the  paying  a  homage 
to  one,  whom  he  did  believe  to  be  an  omnipotent,  wise  being, 
possessing  (infinitely  above  our  conceptions)  the  perfections  of 
all  creatures  ?     He  must  either  think  there  is  no  such  being,  or 

i  Heb.  xi.  27.  2  Heb.  vi.  10.  3  Heb.  xi.  6. 

*  Mai.  i.  13,  14.  6  Maimon.  Funda.  Legis  cap.  1. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD 


83 


that  he  is  an  easy,  drowsy,  inobservant  God,  and  not  such  an 
one  as  our  natural  notions  of  him,  it'  listened  to  as  well  as  the 
Scripture  represents  him  to  be. 

2.  Without  being  rooted  in  this,  we  cannot  order  our  lives. 
All  our  baseness,  stupidity,  dulness,  wanderings,  vanity,  spring 
from  a  wavering  and  unsettledness  in  this  principle.  This 
gives  ground  to  brinish  pleasure,  not  only  to  solicit,  but  con- 
quer us.  Abraham  expected  violence  in  any  place  where  God 
was  not  owned  (Gen.  xx.  11,)  'Surely  the  fear  of  God  is  not  in 
this  place,  and  they  will  slay  me  for  my  wife's  sake.'  The 
natural  knowledge  of  God  firmly  impressed,  would  choke  that 
which  would  stifle  our  reason  and  deface  our  souls.  The  belief 
that  God  is,  and  what  he  is,  would  have  a  mighty  influence  to 
persuade  us  to  a  real  religion,  and  serious  consideration,  and 
cast  about  how  to  be  like  to  him  and  united  with  him. 

3.  Without  it  we  cannot  have  any  comfort  of  our  lives.  Who 
would  willingly  live  in  a  stormy  world,  void  of  a  God  ?  If  we 
waver  in  this  principle,  to  whom  should  we  make  our  com- 
plaints in  our  afflictions  ?  Where  should  we  meet  with  sup- 
ports? How  could  we  satisfy  ourselves  with  the  hopes  of  a 
future  happiness?  There  is  a  sweetness  in  the  meditation  of 
his  existence,  and  that  he  is  a  Creator.'  Thoughts  of  other 
things  have  a  bitterness  mixed  with  them:  houses,  lands,  chil- 
dren, now  are,  shortly  they  will  not  be  ;  but  God  is,  that  made 
the  world:  his  faithfulness,  as  he  is  a  Creator,  is  a  ground  to 
deposit  our  souls  and  concerns  in  our  innocent  sufferings.2  So 
far  as  we  are  weak  in  the  acknowledgment  of  God,  we  de- 
prive ourselves  of  our  content  in  the  view  of  his  infinite  per- 
fections. 

4.  Without  the  rooting  of  this  principle,  we  cannot  have  a 
firm  belief  of  Scripture.  The  Scripture  will  be  a  slight  thing 
to  one  that  hath  weak  sentiments  of  God.  The  belief  of  a  God 
must  necessarily  precede  the  belief  of  any  revelation  ;  the  lat- 
ter cannot  take  place  without  the  former  as  the  foundation. 
We  must  firmly  believe  the  being  of  a  God,  wherein  our  hap- 
piness doth  consist,  before  we  can  believe  any  means  which 
conduct  us  to  him.  Moses  begins  with  the  Author  of  creation, 
before  he  treats  of  the  promise  of  redemption.  Paul  preached 
God  as  a  Creator  to  a  university,  before  he  preached  Christ  as 
Mediator.3  What  influence  can  the  testimony  of  God  have  in 
his  revelation  upon  one  that  doth  not  firmly  assent  to  the  truth 
of  his  being?  All  would  be  in  vain  that  is  so  often  repeated, 
'Thus  saith  the  Lord,'  if  we  do  not  believe  there  is  a  Lord  that 
speaks  it.  There  could  be  no  awe  from  his  sovereignty  in  his 
commands,  nor  any  comfortable  taste  of  his  goodness  in  his 
promises.     The  more  we  are  strengthened  in  this  principle,  the 

■  Psalm  civ.  24.  :  1  Vet  iv.  19.  3  Acts  xvii.  24. 


84  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 

more  credit  we  shall  be  able  to  give  to  divine  revelation,  to  rest 
in  his  promise,  and  to  reverence  his  precept;  the  authority  of  all 
depends  upon  the  being  of  the  Revealer. 

To  this  purpose,  since  we  have  handled  this  subject  by  na- 
tural arguments, 

1.  Study  God  in  the  creatures  as  well  as  in  the  Scriptures. 
The  primary  use  of  the  creatures,  is  to  acknowledge  God  in 
them  ;  they  were  made  to  be  witnesses  of  himself  and  his  good- 
ness, and  heralds  of  his  glory,  which  glory  of  God  as  Creator 
'shall  endure  forever:'  (Psalm  civ.  31:)  that  whole  Psalm  is  a 
lecture  of  creation  and  providence.  The  world  is  a  sacred  tem- 
ple; man  is  introduced  to  contemplate  it,  and  behold  with  praise 
the  glory  of  God  in  the  pieces  of  his  art.  As  grace  doth  not 
destroy  nature,  so  the  book  of  redemption  blots  not  out  that  of 
creation.  Had  he  not  shown  himself  in  his  creatures,  he  could 
never  have  shown  himself  in  his  Christ;  the  order  of  things  re- 
quired it.  God  must  be  read  wherever  he  is  legible ;  the  crea- 
tures are  one  book,  wherein  he  hath  written  apart  of  the  excel- 
lency of  his  name,1  as  many  artists  do  in  their  works  and 
watches.  God's  glory  like  the  filings  of  gold,  is  too  precious 
to  be  lost  wherever  it  drops:  nothing  so  vile  and  base  in  the 
world,  but  carries  in  it  an  instruction  for  man,  and  drives 
in  further  the  notion  of  a  God.  As  he  said  of  his  cottage,  Enter 
here,  Sunt  hie  etiam  Dii,  God  disdains  not  this  place:  so  the 
least  creature  speaks  to  man,  every  shrub  in  the  field,  every  fly 
in  the  air,  every  limb  in  a  body;  Consider  me,  God  disdains  not 
to  appear  in  me;  he  hath  discovered  in  me  his  being  and  a  part 
of  his  skill,  as  well  as  in  the  highest.  The  creatures  manifest 
the  being  of  God  and  part  of  his  perfections.  We  have  indeed 
a  more  excellent  way,  a  revelation  setting  him  forth  in  a  more 
excellent  manner,  a  firmer  object  of  dependence,  a  brighter  ob- 
ject of  love,  raising  our  hearts  from  self  confidence  to  a  confi- 
dence in  him.  Though  the  appearance  of  God  in  the  one  be 
clearer  than  in  the  other,  yet  neither  is  to  be  neglected.  The 
Scripture  directs  us  to  nature  to  view  God ;  it  had  been  in 
vain  else  for  the  apostle  to  make  use  of  natural  arguments.  Na- 
ture is  not  contrary  to  Scripture,  nor  Scripture  to  nature ;  un- 
less we  should  think  God  contrary  to  himself,  who  is  the  author 
of  both. 

2.  View  God  in  your  own  experiences  of  him.  There  is  a 
taste  and  sight  of  his  goodness,  though  no  sight  of  his  essence.2 
By  the  taste  of  his  goodness  you  may  know  the  reality  of  the 
fountain,  whence  it  springs  and  from  whence  it  flows;  this  sur- 
passeth  the  greatest  capacity  of  a  mere  natural  understanding. 
Experience  of  the  sweetness  of  the  ways  of  Christianity  is  a 
mighty  preservative  against  atheism.    Many  a  man  knows  not 

1  Psalm  viii.  9.  2  Psalm  xxxiv.  98. 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  §5 

how  to  prove  honey  to  be  sweet  by  his  reason,  but  by  his 
sense;  and  if  all  the  reason  in  the  world  be  brought  against  it, 
he  will  not  be  reasoned  out  of  what  he  tastes.  Have  not  many 
found  the  delightful  illapses  of  God  into  their  souls,  often 
sprinkled  with  his  inward  blessings  upon  their  seeking  of  him; 
had  secret  warnings  in  their  approaches  to  him;  and  gentle 
rebukes  in  their  consciences  upon  their  swervings  from  him? 
Have  not  many  found  sometimes  an  invisible  hand  raising 
them  up  when  they  were  dejected;  some  unexpected  provi- 
dence stepping  in  for  their  relief;  and  easily  perceived  that  it 
could  not  be  a  work  of  chance,  nor  many  times  the  intention  of 
the  instruments  he  hath  used  in  it?  You  have  often  found  that 
he  is,  by  finding  that  he  is  a  rewarder,  and  can  set  to  your 
seals  that  he  is  what  he  hath  declared  himself  to  be  in  his  word, 
(Isa.  xliii.  12:)  'I  have  declared,  and  have  saved;  therefore 
you  are  my  witnesses,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  am  God.'  The 
secret  touches  of  God  upon  the  heart,  and  inward  converses 
with  him,  are  a  greater  evidence  of  the  existence  of  a  supreme 
and  infinitely  good  Being,  than  all  nature. 

Use  IV.  Is  it  a  folly  to  deny  or  doubt  of  the  being  of  God? 
It  is  a  folly  also  not  to  worship  God,  when  we  acknowledge 
his  existence;  it  is  our  wisdom  then  to  worship  him.  As  it  is 
not  indifferent  whether  we  believe  there  is  a  God  or  no;  so  it 
is  not  indifferent  whether  we  will  give  honour  to  that  God  or 
no.  A  worship  is  his  right  as  he  is  the  Author  of  our  being, 
and  fountain  of  our  happiness.  By  this  only  we  acknowledge 
his  Deity;  though  we  may  profess  his  being,  yet  we  deny  that 
profession  in  neglects  of  worship.  To  deny  him  a  worship  is 
as  great  a  folly,  as  to  deny  his  being.  He  that  renounceth  all 
homage  to  his  Creator,  envies  him  the  being  which  he  cannot 
deprive  him  of.  The  natural  inclination  to  worship  is  as  uni- 
versal as  the  notion  of  a  God;  idolatry  else  had  never  gained 
footing  in  the  world.  The  existence  of  God  was  never  owned 
in  any  nation,  but  a  worship  of  him  was  appointed.  And  many 
people  who  have  turned  their  backs  upon  some  other  parts  of 
the  law  of  nature,  have  paid  a  continual  homage  to  some  supe- 
rior and  invisible  being.  The  Jews  give  a  reason  why  man 
was  created  in  the  evening  of  the  Sabbath,  because  he  should 
begin  his  being  with  the  worship  of  his  Maker.  As  soon  as 
ever  he  found  himself  to  be  a  creature,  his  first  solemn  act 
should  be  a  particular  respect  to  his  Creator.  '  To  fear  God 
and  keep  his  commandment,  is  the  whole  of  man,1  or  is  whole 
man;2  he  is  not  a  man  but  a  beast,  without  observance  of  God. 
Religion  is  as  recmisite  as  reason  to  complete  a  man:  he  were 
not  reasonable  if  he  were  not  religious;  because  by  neglecting 
religion,  he  neglects  the  chiefest  dictate  of  reason.     Either  God 

1  Bed.  xii.  13.  '  Ileb. 


86  °N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

framed  the  world  with  so  much  order,  elegancy,  and  variety  to 
no  purpose,  or  this  was  his  end  at  least,  that  reasonable  crea- 
tures should  admire  him  in  it,  and  honour  him  for  it.  The 
notion  of  God  was  not  stamped  upon  men,  the  shadows  of  God 
did  not  appear  in  the  creatures,  to  be  the  subject  of  an  idle 
contemplation,  but  the  motive  of  a  due  homage  to  God.  lie 
created  the  world  for  his  glory,  a  people  for  himself,  that  he 
might  have  the  honour  of  his  works;  that  since  we  live  and 
move  in  him,  and  by  him,  we  should  live  and  move  to  him  and 
for  him.  It  was  the  condemnation  of  the  heathen  world,  that 
when  they  knew  there  was  a  God,  they  did  not  give  him  the 
glory  due  to  him. '  He  that  denies  his  being,  is  an  atheist  to 
his  essence:  he  that  denies  his  worship,  is  an  atheist  to  his 
honour. 

If  it  be  a  folly  to  deny  the  being  of  God,  it  will  be  our  wis- 
dom, then,  since  we  acknowledge  his  being,  often  to  think  of 
him.  Thoughts  are  the  first  issue  of  a  creature  as  reasonable:2 
He  that  hath  giveti  us  the  faculty  whereby  we  are  able  to 
think,  should  be  the  principal  object  about  which  the  power  of 
it  should  be  exercised.  It  is  a  justice  to  God,  the  author  of 
our  understandings,  a  justice  to  the  nature  of  our  understand- 
ings, that  the  noblest  faculty  should  be  employed  about  the 
most  excellent  object.  Our  minds  are  a  beam  from  God;  and, 
therefore,  as  the  beams  of  the  sun,  when  they  touch  the  earth, 
should  reflect  back  upon  God.  As  we  seem  to  deny  the  being 
of  God  not  to  think  of  him ;  we  seem  also  to  unsoul  our  souls  in 
misemploying  the  activity  of  them  any  other  way,  like  flies,  to 
be  oftener  on  dunghills  than  flowers.  It  is  made  the  black 
mark  of  an  ungodly  man,  or  an  atheist,  that  '  God  is  not  in  all 
his  thoughts,  (Psal.  x.  4.)  What  comfort  can  be  had  in  the 
being  of  God  without  thinking  of  him  with  reverence  and  de- 
light?   A  God  forgotten  is  as  good  as  no  God  to  us. 


DISCOURSE  II. 

ON     PRACTICAL    ATHEISM. 

Psalm  xiv.  1. — The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God.     They  arc  cor- 
rupt, they  have  done  abominable  works,  there  is  none  that  doeth  good. 

Practical  atheism  is  natural  to  man  in  his  depraved  state, 
and  very  frequent  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of  men. 

The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,    There  is  no   God.     He 
regards  him  as  little  as  if  he  had  no  being.     He  said  in  his 

'  Rom.  i.  21.  2  Prov.  iv.  23. 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  $7 

heart,  not  with  his  tongue,  nor  in  his  head:  he  never  firmly- 
thought  it,  nor  openly  asserted  it.  Shame  put  a  bar  to  the  first, 
and  natural  reason  to  the  second;  yet,  perhaps,  he  had  some- 
times some  doubts  whether  there  were  a  God  or  no.  He  wish- 
ed there  were  not  any,  and  sometimes  hoped  there  were  none 
at  all.  He  could  not  raze  out  the  notion  of  a  Deity  in  his  mind, 
but  he  neglected  the  fixing  the  sense  of  God  in  his  heart,  and 
made  it  too  much  his  business  to  deface  and  blot  out  those  cha- 
racters of  God  in  his  soul,  which  had  been  left  under  the  ruins 
of  original  nature.  Men  may  have  atheistical  hearts  without 
atheistical  heads.  Their  reasons  may  defend  the  notion  of  a 
Deity,  while  their  hearts  are  empty  of  affections  to  the  Deity.. 
Job's  children  may  curse  God  in  their  hearts,  though  not  with 
their  lips.1 

There  is  no  God.  Most  understand  it  of  a  denial  of  the  pro- 
vidence of  God,  as  I  have  said  in  opening  the  former  doctrine. 
He  denies  some  essential  attribute  of  God,  or  the  exercise  of 
that  attribute  in  the  world. 2  He  that  denies  any  essential  attri- 
bute, may  be  said  to  deny  the  being  of  God.  Whosoever  denies 
angels  or  men  to  have  reason  and  will,  denies  the  human  and 
angelical  nature,  because  understanding  and  will  are  essential 
to  both  those  natures;  there  could  neither  be  angel  nor  man 
without  them.  No  nature  can  subsist  without  the  perfections 
essential  to  that  nature,  nor  God  be  conceived  of  without  his. 
The  apostle  tells  us,  (Eph.  ii.  12,)  that  the  gentiles  were  '  with- 
out God  in  the  world.'  So,  in  some  sense,  all  unbelievers  may 
be  termed  atheists;  for  rejecting  the  Mediator  appointed  by 
God,  they  reject  that  God  who  appointed  him.  But  this  is  be- 
yond the  intended  scope,  natural  atheism  being  the  only  sub- 
ject; yet  this  is  deducible  from  it.  That  the  title  of  xOiov  doth 
not  only  belong  to  those  who  deny  the  existence  of  God,  or  to 
those  who  contemn  all  sense  of  a  Deity,  and  would  root  the 
conscience  and  reverence  of  God  out  of  their  souls;  but  it  be- 
longs also  to  those  who  give  not  that  worship  to  God  which  is 
due  to  him,  who  worship  many  gods,  or  who  worship  one  God 
in  a  false  and  superstitious  manner,  when  they  have  not  right 
conceptions  of  God,  nor  intend  an  adoration  of  him  according 
to  the  excellency  of  his  nature.  All  those  that  are  unconcern- 
ed for  any  particular  religion  fall  under  this  character:  though 
they  own  a  God  in  general,  yet  are  willing  to  acknowledge 
any  God  that  shall  be  coined  by  the  powers  under  whom  they 
live.  The  gentiles  were  without  God  in  the  world;  without 
the  true  notion  of  God,  not  without  a  God  of  their  own  fram- 
ing.    This  general  or  practical  atheism  is  natural  to  men. 

1  Job  i.  5. 

'  So  the  Chaldec  read?,  xxiSitr  rv1?,   Non  poteslns,   denying  the  authority  of 
Cod  in  the  world. 


gg  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

1.  Not  natural  by  created,  but  by  corrupted  nature.  It  is 
against  nature,  as  nature  came  out  of  the  hand  of  God;  but 
universally  natural,  as  nature  hath  been  sophisticated  and  in- 
fected by  the  serpent's  breath.  Inconsideration  of  God,  or 
misrepresentations  of  his  nature,  are  as  agreeable  to  corrupt 
nature,  as  the  disowning  the  being  of  a  God  is  contrary  to  com- 
mon reason.     God  is  not  denied,  naturd  sed  vitiis.1 

2.  It  is  universally  natural:  'The  wicked  are  estranged  from 
the  womb.  (Psalm  lviii.  3.)  They  go  astray  as  soon  as  they  be 
born:  their  poison  is  like  the  poison  of  a  serpent.'  The  wicked, 
(and  who  by  his  birth  hath  a  better  title?)  they  go  astray  from 
the  dictates  of  God  and  the  rule  of  their  creation  as  soon  as  ever 
they  be  born.  Their  poison  is  like  the  poison  of  a  serpent,  which 
is  radically  the  same  in  all  of  the  same  species.  It  is  seminally 
and  fundamentally  in  all  men,  though  there  may  be  a  stronger 
restraint  by  a  divine  hand  upon  some  men  than  upon  others. 
This  principle  runs  through  the  whole  stream  of  nature.  The 
natural  bent  of  every  man's  heart  is  distant  from  God.  When 
we  attempt  any  thing  pleasing  to  God,  it  is  like  the  climbing  up 
a  hill,  against  nature;  when  any  thing  is  displeasing  to  him,  it 
is  like  a  current  running  down  the  channel  in  its  natural  course; 
when  we  attempt  any  thing  that  is  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
holiness  of  God,  we  are  fain  to  rush,  with  arms  in  our  hands, 
through  a  multitude  of  natural  passions,  and  fight  the  way 
through  the  oppositions  of  our  own  sensitive  appetite.  How 
softly  do  we  naturally  sink  down  into  that  which  sets  us  at  a 
greater  distance  from  God!  There  is  no  active,  potent,  effica- 
cious sense  of  a  God  by  nature.  '  The  heart  of  the  sons  of  men 
is  fully  set  in  them  to  do  evil.'  (Eccl.  viii.  11.)  The  heart,  in 
the  singular  number,  as  if  there  were  but  one  common  heart 
beat  in  all  mankind,  and  bent,  as  with  one  pulse,  with  a  joint  con- 
sent and  force  to  wickedness,  without  a  sense  of  the  authority  of 
God  in  the  earth,  as  if  one  heart  actuated  every  man  in  the  world. 
The  great  apostle  cites  the  text  to  verify  the  charge  he  brought 
against  all  mankind.2  In  his  interpretation,  the  Jews,  who 
owned  one  God,  and  were  dignified  with  special  privileges,  as 
well  as  the  gentiles  that  maintained  many  gods  are  within  the 
compass  of  this  character.  The  apostle  leaves  out  the  first  part 
of  the  text,  '  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,'  but  takes  in  the 
latter  part,  and  the  verses  following.  He  charges  all,  because 
all,  every  man  of  them,  was  under  sin, — '  There  is  none  that 
seeks  God;'  and  ver.  19,  he  adds,  '  What  the  law  saith,  it  speaks 
to  them  that  are  under  the  law,'  that  none  should  imagine  he 
included  only  the  gentiles,  and  exempted  the  Jews  from  this 
description.  The  leprosy  of  atheism  had  infected  the  whole 
mass  of  human  nature.     No  man,  among  Jews  or  gentiles,  did 

'  Augustin  tic  Civit.  Dei.  -  Rom.  iii.  9 — 12. 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  §9 

naturally  seek  God;  and,  therefore,  all  were  void  of  any  spark 
of  the  practical  sense  of  the  Deity.  The  elfects  of  this  atheism 
are  not  in  all  externally  of  an  equal  size;  yet  in  the  funda- 
mentals and  radicals  of  it,  there  is  not  a  hair's  difference  between 
the  best  and  the  worst  men  that  ever  traversed  the  world.  The 
distinction  is  laid  either  in  common  grace,  bounding  and  sup- 
pressing it;  or  in  special  grace,  killing  and  crucifying  it.  It  is 
in  every  one  either  triumphant  or  militant,  reigning  or  deposed. 
No  man  is  any  more  born  with  sensible  acknowledgments  of 
God,  than  he  is  born  with  a  clear  knowledge  of  the  nature  of 
all  the  stars  in  the  heavens,  or  plants  upon  the  earth.  None 
seek  after  God.1  None  seek  God  as  his  rule,  as  his  end,  as  his 
happiness,  which  is  a  debt  the  creature  naturally  owes  to  God. 
He  desires  no  communion  with  God;  he  places  his  happiness 
in  any  thing  inferior  to  God;  he  prefers  every  thing  before  him, 
glorifies  every  thing  above  him;  he  hath  no  delight  to  know 
him;  he  regards  not  those  paths  which  lead  to  him;  he  loves 
his  own  filth  better  than  God's  holiness;  his  actions  are  tinc- 
tured and  dyed  with  self,  and  are  void  of  that  respect  which  is 
due  from  him  to  God. 

The  noblest  faculty  of  man,  his  understanding,  wherein  the 
remaining  lineaments  of  the  image  of  God  are  visible;  the 
highest  operation  of  that  faculty,  which  is  wisdom,  is,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  devilish,  whilst  it  is  earthly  and 
sensual;2  and  the  wisdom  of  the  best  man  is  no  better  by  na- 
ture ;  a  legion  of  impure  spirits  possess  it;  devilish,  as  the  devil, 
who,  though  he  believe  there  is  a  God,  yet  acts  as  if  there  were 
none,  and  wishes  he  had  no  superior  to  prescribe  him  a  law, 
and  inflict  that  punishment  upon  him  which  his  crimes  have 
merited.  Hence  the  poison  of  man  by  nature  is  said  to  be  like 
the  poison  of  a  serpent,3  alluding  to  that  serpentine  temptation 
which  first  infected  mankind,  and  changed  the  nature  of  man 
into  the  likeness  of  that  of  the  devil;  so  that,  notwithstanding 
the  harmony  of  the  world,  that  presents  men  not  only  with  the 
notice  of  the  being  of  a  God,  but  darts  into  their  minds  some 
remarks  of  his  power  and  eternity;  yet  the  thoughts  and  rea- 
sonings of  man  are  so  corrupt,  as  may  well  be  called  diabolical, 
and  as  contrary  to  the  perfection  of  God,  and  the  original  law 
of  their  nature,  as  the  actings  of  the  devil  are;  for  since  every 
natural  man  is  a  child  of  the  devil,  and  is  actuated  by  the  diabo- 
lical spirit,  he  must  needs  have  that  nature  which  his  father  hath, 
and  the  infusion  of  that  venom  which  the  spirit  that  actuates  him 
is  possessed  with,  though  the  full  discovery  of  it  may  be  restrained 
by  various  circumstances.  (Eph.  ii.  2.)  To  conclude  :  though  no 
man,  or  at  least  very  few,  arrive  to  a  round  and  positive  con- 
clusion in  their  hearts  that  there  is  no  God,  yet  there  is  no  man 

1  Coccei.  *  James  iii.  15.  3  Psalm  Iviii.  4. 

Vol.  I.— 12 


9()  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

that  naturally  hath  in  his  heart  any  reverence  of  God.  In 
general,  before  I  come  to  a  particular  proof,  take  some  proposi- 
tions. 

Prop.  I.  Actions  are  a  greater  discovery  of  a  principle  than 
words.  The  testimony  of  works  is  louder  and  clearer  than  that 
of  words;  and  the  frame  of  men's  hearts  must  be  measured 
rather  by  what  they  do  than  by  what  they  say.  There  may 
be  a  mighty  distance  between  the  tongue  and  the  heart,  but  a 
course  of  actions  is  as  little  guilty  of  lying  as  interest  is,  accord- 
ing to  our  common  saying.  All  outward  impieties  are  the 
branches  of  an  atheism  at  the  root  of  our  nature,  as  all  pesti- 
lential sores  are  expressions  of  the  contagion  in  the  blood;  sin 
is  therefore  frequently  called  ungodliness  in  our  English  dialect. 
Men's  practices  are  the  best  indexes  of  their  principles:  the 
current  of  a  man's  life  is  the  counterpart  of  the  frame  of  his 
heart.  Who  can  deny  an  error  in  the  spring  or  wheels,  when 
he  perceives  an  error  in  the  hand  of  the  dial?  Who  can  deny 
an  atheism  in  the  heart,  when  so  much  is  visible  in  the  life? 
The  taste  of  the  water  discovers  what  mineral  it  is  strained 
through.  A  practical  denial  of  God  is  worse  than  a  verbal, 
because  deeds  have  usually  more  of  deliberation  than  words; 
words  may  be  the  fruit  of  a  passion,  but  a  set  of  evil  actions 
are  the  fruit  and  evidence  of  a  predominant  evil  principle  in 
the  heart.  All  slighting  words  of  a  prince  do  not  argue  an 
habitual  treason;  but  a  succession  of  overt  treasonable  attempts 
signify  a  settled  treasonable  disposition  in  the  mind.  Those, 
therefore,  are  more  deservedly  termed  atheists,  who  acknow- 
ledge a  God,  and  walk  as  if  there  were  none,  than  those  (if 
there  can  be  any  such)  that  deny  a  God,  and  walk  as  if  there 
were  one.  A  sense  of  God  in  the  heart  would  burst  out  in  the 
life;  where  there  is  no  reverence  of  God  in  the  life,  it  is  easily 
concluded  there  is  less  in  the  heart.  What  doth  not  influence 
a  man  when  it  hath  the  addition  of  the  eyes,  and  censures  of 
outward  spectators,  and  the  care  of  a  reputation  (so  much  the 
god  of  the  world)  to  strengthen  it  and  restrain  the  action,  must 
certainly  have  less  power  over  the  heart  when  it  is  single, 
without  any  other  concurrence.  The  flames  breaking  out  of  a 
house  discover  the  fire  to  be  much  stronger  and  fiercer  within. 
The  apostle  judgeth  those  of  the  circumcision,  who  gave  heed 
to  Jewish  fables,  to  be  deniers  of  God,  though  he  doth  not  tax 
them  with  any  notorious  profaneness:  (Tit.  i.  16,)  'They  pro- 
fess that  they  know  God,  but  in  works  they  deny  him.'  He 
gives  them  epithets  contrary  to  what  they  arrogated  to  them- 
selves.1 They  boasted  themselves  to  be  holy;  the  apostle  calls 
them  abominable:  they  bragged  that  they  fulfilled  the  law,  and 
observed  the  traditions  of  their  fathers;  the  apostle  calls  them 

1  Illyric. 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  91 

disobedient,  or  unpersuadable:  they  boasted  that  they  only  had 
the  rule  of  righteousness,  and  a  sound  judgment  concerning  it; 
the  apostle  said  they  had  a  reprobate  sense,  and  unfit  for  any 
good  work;  and  judges  against  all  their  vainglorious  brags, 
that  they  had  not  a  reverence  of  God  in  their  hearts;  there  was 
more  of  the  denial  of  God  in  their  works  than  there  was  ac- 
knowledgment of  God  in  their  words.  Those  that  have  neither 
God  in  their  thoughts,  nor  in  their  tongues,  nor  in  their  works, 
cannot  properly  be  said  to  acknowledge  him.  Where  the  honour 
of  God  is  not  practically  owned  in  the  lives  of  men,  the  being 
of  God  is  not  sensibly  acknowledged  in  the  hearts  of  men.  The 
principle  must  be  of  the  same  kind  with  the  actions;  if  the 
actions  be  atheistical,  the  principle  of  them  can  be  no  better. 

Prop.  II.  All  sin  is  founded  in  a  secret  atheism.  Atheism 
is  the  spirit  of  every  sin  ;  all  the  floods  of  impieties  in  the  world 
break  in  at  the  gate  of  a  secret  atheism,  and  though  several 
sins  may  disagree  with  one  another,  yet,  like  Herod  and  Pilate 
against  Christ,  they  join  hand  in  hand  against  the  interest  of 
God.  Though  lusts  and  pleasures  be  diverse,  yet  they  are  all 
united  in  disobedience  to  him.1  All  the  wicked  inclinations  in 
the  heart,  and  struggling  motions,  secret  repinings,  self-applaud- 
ing confidences  in  our  own  wisdom,  strength,  &.c.  envy,  ambi- 
tion, revenge,  are  sparks  from  this  latent  fire;  the  language  of 
every  one  of  these  is,  I  would  be  a  Lord  to  myself,  and  would 
not  have  a  God  superior  to  me.  The  variety  of  sins  against 
the  first  and  second  table,  the  neglects  of  God,  and  violences 
against  man,  are  derived  from  this  in  the  text;  first,  'The  fool 
hath  said  in  his  heart,'  and  then  follows  a  legion  of  devils.  As 
all  virtuous  actions  spring  from  an  acknowledgment  of  God; 
so  all  vicious  actions  rise  from  a  lurking  denial  of  him:  all 
licentiousness  goes  glib  down  where  there  is  no  sense  of  God. 
Abraham  judged  himself  not  secure  from  murder,  nor  his  wife 
from  defilement  in  Gerar,  if  there  were  no  fear  of  God  there.2 
He  that  makes  no  conscience  of  sin  has  no  regard  to  the  honour, 
and,  consequently,  none  to  the  being  of  God.  '  By  the  fear  of 
God  men  depart  from  evil:'  (Prov.  xvi.  6;)  by  the  non-regarding 
of  God  men  rush  into  evil.  Pharaoh  oppressed  Israel  because 
he  'knew  not  the  Lord.'  If  he  did  not  deny  the  being  of  a 
Deity,  yet  he  had  such  an  unworthy  notion  of  God  as  was 
inconsistent  with  the  nature  of  a  Deity;  he,  a  poor  creature, 
thought  himself  a  mate  for  the  Creator.  In  sins  of  omission 
we  own  not  God,  in  neglecting  to  perform  what  he  enjoins;  in 
sins  of  commission  we  set  up  some  lust  in  the  place  of  God, 
and  pay  to  that  the  homage  which  is  due  to  our  Maker.  In 
both  we  disown  him;  in  the  one  by  not  doing  what  he  com- 
mands, in  the  other  by  doing  what  he  forbids.  We  deny  his 
'Tit.  hi.  3.  J  Gen.  xx.  11. 


92  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

sovereignty  when  we  violate  his  laws;  we  disgrace  his  holi- 
ness when  we  cast  our  filth  before  his  face;  we  disparage  his 
wisdom  when  we  set  up  another  rule  as  the  guide  of  our  actions 
than  that  law  he  hath  fixed;  we  slight  his  sufficiency  when  we 
prefer  a  satisfaction  in  sin  before  a  happiness  in  him  alone;  and 
his  goodness,  when  we  judge  it  not  strong  enough  to  attract  us 
to  him.  Every  sin  invades  the  rights  of  God,  and  strips  him 
of  one  or  other  of  his  perfections.  It  is  such  a  vilifying  of  God 
as  if  he  were  not  God;  as  if  he  were  not  the  Supreme  Creator 
and  Benefactor  of  the  world;  as  if  we  had  not  our  being  from 
him;  as  if  the  air  we  breathed  in,  the  food  we  lived  by,  were 
our  own  by  right  of  supremacy,  not  of  donation.  For  a  sub- 
ject to  slight  his  sovereign,  is  to  slight  his  royalty;  or  a  servant 
his  master,  is  to  deny  his  superiority. 

Prop.  III.  Sin  implies  that  God  is  unworthy  of  a  being. 
Every  sin  is  a  kind  of  cursing  God  in  the  heart;1  an  aim  a!  the 
destruction  of  the  being  of  God;  not  actually,  but  virtually; 
not  in  the  intention  of  every  sinner,  but  in  the  nature  of  every 
sin.  That  affection  which  excites  a  man  to  break  his  law, 
would  excite  him  to  annihilate  his  being  if  it  were  in  his  power. 
A  man  in  every  sin  aims  to  set  up  his  own  will  as  his  rule,  and 
his  own  glory  as  the  end  of  his  actions  against  the  will  and 
glory  of  God;  and  could  a  sinner  attain  his  end,  God  would  be 
destroyed.  God  cannot  outlive  his  will  and  his  glory;  God 
cannot  have  another  rule  but  his  own  will,  nor  another  end  but 
his  own  honour.  Sin  is  called  a  turning  the  back  upon  God,2 
a  kicking  against  him,3  as  if  he  were  a  slighter  person  than  the 
meanest  beggar.  What  greater  contempt  can  be  shown  to  the 
meanest,  vilest  person,  than  to  turn  the  back,  lift  up  the  heel, 
and  thrust  away  with  indignation?  all  which  actions,  though 
they  signify  that  such  a  one  hath  a  being;  yet  they  testify  also 
that  he  is  unworthy  of  a  being,  that  he  is  an  unuseful  being 
in  the  world,  and  that  it  were  well  the  world  were  rid  of  him. 
All  sin  against  knowledge  is  called  a  reproach  of  God.4  Re- 
proach is  a  vilifying  a  man  as  unworthy  to  be  admitted  into 
company.  We  naturally  judge  God  unfit  to  be  conversed  with. 
God  is  the  term  turned  from  by  a  sinner;  sin  is  the  term  turned 
to,  which  implies  a  greater  excellency  in  the  nature  of  sin  than 
in  the  nature  of  God ;  and  as  we  naturally  judge  it  more  worthy 
to  have  a  being  in  our  affeciions,  so  consequently  more  worthy 
to  have  a  being  in  the  world,  than  that  infinite  nature  from 
whom  we  derive  our  beings  and  our  all,  and  upon  whom,  with 
a  kind  of  disdain,  we  turn  our  backs.  Whosoever  thinks  the 
notion  of  a  Deity  unfit  to  be  cherished  in  his  mind  by  warm 
meditation,  implies  that  he  cares  not  whether  he  hath  a  being 

1  Job  i.  5.  2  Jer.  xxxii.  33. 

s  Deut.  xxxii.  15,  «  Numb.  xv.  38.     Ezek  xx.  27, 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  93 

in  the  world  or  no.  Now  though  the  light  of  a  Deity  shines 
so  clearly  in  man,  and  the  stings  of  conscience  are  so  smart, 
that  he  cannot  absolutely  deny  the  being  of  a  God,  yet  most 
men  endeavour  to  smother  this  knowledge,  and  make  the  notion 
of  a  God  a  sapless  and  useless  thing:  (Rom.  i.  28  :)  '  They  like 
not  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge.'  It  is  said  '  Cain  went 
out  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord:'  (Gen.  iv.  16:)  that  is,  from 
the  worship  of  God.  Our  refusing  or  abhorring  the  presence 
of  a  man  implies  a  carelessness  whether  he  continue  in  the 
world  or  no;  it  is  a  using  him  as  if  he  had  no  being,  or  as  if 
we  were  not  concerned  in  it.  Hence  all  men  in  Adam,  under 
the  emblem  of  the  prodigal,  are  said  to  go  into  a  fur  country; 
not  in  respect  of  place,  because  of  God's  omnipresence,  but  in 
respect  of  acknowledgment  and  affection:  they  mind  and  love 
any  thing  but  God.  And  the  descriptions  of  the  nations  of  the 
world,  lying  in  the  ruins  of  Adam's  fall,  and  the  dregs  of  that 
revolt,  is  that  they  know  not  God.  They  forget  God,  as  if  there 
were  no  such  being  above  them;  and,  indeed,  he  that  doth  the 
works  of  the  devil,  owns  the  devil  to  be  more  worthy  of  ob- 
servance, and,  consequently,  of  a  being,  than  God,  whose  nature 
he  forgets,  and  whose  presence  he  abhors. 

Prop.  IV.  Every  sin  in  its  own  nature  would  render  God  a 
foolish  and  impure  being.  Many  transgressors  esteem  their 
acts,  which  are  contrary  to  the  law  of  God,  both  wise  and  good : 
if  so,  the  law  against  which  they  are  committed,  must  be  both 
foolish  and  impure.  What  a  reflection  is  there  then  upon  the 
Lawgiver!  The  moral  law  is  not  properly  a  mere  act  of  God's 
will  considered  in  itself,  or  a  tyrannical  edict,  like  those  of 
whom  it  may  well  be  said,  stat  pro  ratione  voluntas ;  but  it 
commands  those  things  which  are  good  in  their  own  nature, 
and  prohibits  those  things  which  are  in  their  own  nature  evil; 
and  therefore  is  an  act  of  his  wisdom  and  righteousness;  the 
result  of  his  wise  counsel,  and  an  extract  of  his  pure  nature ; 
as  all  the  laws  of  just  lawgivers  are  not  only  the  acts  of  their 
will,  but  of  a  will  governed  by  reason  and  justice,  and  for  the 
good  of  the  public,  whereof  they  are  conservators.  If  the 
moral  commands  of  God  were  only  acts  of  his  will,  and  had 
not  an  intrinsic  necessity,  reason  and  goodness,  God  might  have 
commanded  the  quite  contrary,  and  made  a  contrary  law, 
whereby  that  which  we  now  call  vice,  might  have  been  canon- 
ized for  virtue:  he  might  then  have  forbid  any  worship  of  him, 
love  to  him,  and  fear  of  his  name :  he  might  then  have  com- 
manded murders,  thefts,  adulteries.  In  the  first  he  would  have 
untied  the  link  of  duty  from  the  creature,  and  dissolved  the 
obligations  of  creatures  to  him,  which  is  impossible  to  be  con 
ceived ;  for  from  the  relation  of  a  creature  to  God,  obligations 
to  God,  and  duties  upon  those  obligations,  do  necessarily  result. 


94  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

It  had  been  against  the  rule  of  goodness  and  justice  to  have 
commanded  the  creature  not  to  love  him,  and  fear  and  obey 
him:  this  had  been  a  command  against  righteousness,  goodness, 
and  intrinsic  obligations  to  gratitude.  And  should  murder, 
adulteries,  rapines,  have  been  commanded  instead  of  the  con- 
trary, God  would  have  destroyed  his  own  creation  ;  he  would 
have  acted  against  the  rule  of  goodness  and  order;  he  had  been 
an  unjust  tyrannical  governor  of  the  world:  public  society 
would  have  been  cracked  in  pieces,  and  the  world  become  a 
shambles,  a  brothel-house,  a  place  below  the  common  senti- 
ments of  a  mere  man.  All  sin,  therefore,  being  against  the 
law  of  God,  the  wisdom  and  holy  rectitude  of  God's  nature  is 
denied  in  every  act  of  disobedience.  And  what  is  the  conse- 
quence of  this,  but  that  God  is  both  foolish  and  unrighteous  in 
commanding  that,  which  was  neither  an  act  of  wisdom,  as  a 
governor,  nor  an  act  of  goodness,  as  a  benefactor  to  his  crea- 
ture? As  was  said  before,  presumptuous  sins  are  called  re- 
proaches of  God  (Numb.  xv.  30:)  'The  soul  that  doth  aught 
presumptuously  reproacheth  the  Lord.'  Reproaches  of  men 
are  either  for  natural,  moral,  or  intellectual  defects.  All  re- 
proaches of  God  must  imply  a  charge  either  of  unrighteousness 
or  ignorance:  if  of  unrighteousness,  it  is  a  denial  of  his  holi- 
ness; if  of  ignorance,  it  is  a  blemishing  his  wisdom.  If  God's 
laws  were  not  wise  and  holy,  God  would  not  enjoin  them :  and 
if  they  are  so,  we  deny  infinite  wisdom  and  holiness  in  God  by 
not  complying  with  them.  As  when  a  man  believes  not  God 
when  he  promises,  he  makes  him  a  liar;  (1  John  v.  10;)  so  he 
that  obeys  not  a  wise  and  holy  God  commanding,  makes  him 
guilty  either  of  folly  or  unrighteousness. 

Now,  suppose  you  knew  an  absolute  atheist  who  denied  the 
being  of  a  God,  yet  had  a  life  free  from  any  notorious  spot  or 
defilement;  would  you  in  reason  count  him  so  bad  as  the  other 
that  owns  a  God  in  being,  yet  lays,  by  his  course  of  action, 
such  a  black  imputation  of  folly  and  impurity  upon  the  God 
he  professeth  to  own;  an  imputation  which  renders  any  man  a 
most  despicable  creature. 

Prop.  V.  Sin  in  its  own  nature  endeavours  to  render  God 
the  most  miserable  being.  It  is  nothing  but  an  opposition  to 
the  will  of  God:  the  will  of  no  creature  is  so  much  contradict- 
ed as  the  will  of  God  is  by  devils  and  men :  and  there  is  nothing 
under  the  heavens  that  the  affections  of  human  nature  stand 
more  point  blank  against,  than  against  God.  There  is  a  slight 
of  him  in  all  the  faculties  of  man;  our  souls  are  as  unwilling 
to  know  him,  as  our  wills  are  averse  to  follow  him;  "The 
carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God,  for  it  is  not  subject  to  the 
law  of  God,  nor  can  be  subject."  Rom.  viii.  7.  It  is  true,  God's 
will  cannot  be  hindered  of  its  effect,  for  then  God  would  not 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  95 

be  supremely  blessed,  but  unhappy  and  miserable.  All  misery 
arise th  from  a  want  of  that,  which  a  nature  would  have,  and 
ought  to  have.  Besides,  it'  any  thing  could  frustrate  God's  will 
it  would  be  superior  to  him;  God  would  not  be  omnipotent, 
and  so  would  lose  the  perfection  of  the  Deity,  and  consequently 
the  Deity  itself;  for  that  which  did  wholly  defeat  God's  will 
would  be  more  powerful  than  he.  But  sin  is  a  contradiction 
to  the  will  of  God's  revelation,  to  the  will  of  his  precept;  and 
therein  doth  naturally  tend  to  a  superiority  over  God,  and 
would  usurp  his  omnipotence,  and  deprive  him  of  his  blessed- 
ness. For  if  God  had  not  an  infinite  power  to  turn  the  designs 
of  it  to  his  own  glory,  but  the  will  of  sin  could  prevail,  God 
would  be  totally  deprived  of  his  blessedness.  Doth  not  sin 
endeavour  to  subject  God  to  the  extravagant  and  contrary  wills 
of  men,  and  make  him  more  a  slave  than  any  creature  can  be? 
For  the  will  of  no  creature,  not  the  meanest  and  most  despica- 
ble creature,  is  so  much  crossed  as  the  will  of  God  is  by  sin. 
"Thou  hast  made  me  to  serve  with  thy  sins."  Isa.  xliii.  24. 
Thou  hast  endeavoured  to  make  a  mere  slave  of  me  by  sin. 
Sin  endeavours  to  subject  the  blessed  God  to  the  humour  and 
lust  of  every  person  in  the  world. 

Prop.  VI.  Men  sometimes  in  some  circumstances  do  wish 
the  not  being  of  God.  This  some  think  to  be  the  meaning  of 
the  text,  "The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God:" 
that  is,  he  wishes  there  were  no  God.  Many  tamper  with  their 
own  hearts,  to  bring  them  to  a  persuasion  that  there  is  no  God; 
and  when  they  cannot  do  that,  they  conjure  up  wishes  that 
there  were  none.  Men  naturally  have  some  conscience  of  sin, 
and  some  notices  of  justice.  They  know  the  judgment  of  God, 
Rom.  i.  32;  and  they  know  the  demerit  of  sin.  They  know 
the  judgment  of  God,  and  that  they  which  do  such  things  are 
worthy  of  death.  What  is  the  consequent  of  this  but  fear  of 
punishment?  and  what  is  the  issue  of  that  fear,  but  a  wishing 
the  Judge  either  unwilling  or  unable  to  vindicate  the  honour 
of  his  violated  law?  When  God  is  the  object  of  such  a  wish, 
it  is  a  virtual  undeifying  of  him:  not  to  be  able  to  punish,  is  to 
be  impotent;  not  to  be  willing  to  punish,  is  to  be  unjust; 
imperfections  inconsistent  with  the  Deity.  God  cannot  be  sup- 
posed without  an  infinite  power  to  act,  and  an  infinite  right- 
eousness as  the  rule  of  acting.  Fear  of  God  is  natural  to  all 
men;  not  a  fear  of  offending  him,  but  a  fear  of  being  punished 
by  him:  the  wishing  the  extinction  of  God  has  its  degree  in 
men,  according  to  the  degree  of  their  fears  of  his  just  ven- 
geance; and  though  such  a  wish  be  not  in  its  meridian  but  in 
the  damned  in  hell,  yet  it  hath  its  starts  and  motions  in  affright- 
ed and  awakened  consciences  on  the  earth.     Under  this  rank 


96  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

of  wishers  that  there  were  no  God,  or  that  God  were  destroyed, 
do  fall, 

(1.)  Terrified  consciences,  that  are  Magor-missabib,  see  no- 
thing but  matter  of  fear  round  about.  As  they  have  lived 
without  the  bounds  of  the  law,  they  are  afraid  to  fall  under 
the  stroke  of  his  justice.  Fear  wishes  the  destruction  of  that 
which  it  apprehends  hurtful :  it  considers  him  as  a  God  to  whom 
vengeance  belongs,  as  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth.  Psal.  xciv. 
1,  2.  The  less  hopes  such  a  one  hath  of  his  pardon,  the  more 
joy  he  would  have  to  hear  that  his  Judge  should  be  stripped  of 
his  life.  He  would  entertain  with  delight  any  reasons  that 
might  support  him  in  the  conceit  that  there  were  no  God.  In 
his  present  state  such  a  doctrine  would  be  his  security  from  an 
account.  He  would  as  much  rejoice,  if  there  were  no  God  to 
inflame  a  hell  for  him,  as  any  guilty  malefactor  would  if  there 
were  no  judge  to  order  a  gibbet  for  him.  Shame  may  bridle 
men's  words,  but  the  heart  will  be  casting  about  for  some  argu- 
ments this  way  to  secure  itself.  Such  as  are  at  any  time  in 
Spira's  case,  would  be  willing  to  cease  to  be  creatures,  that  God 
might  cease  to  be  judge.  "  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart, 
There  is  no  Elohim,  no  judge,"  fancying  God  without  any  ex- 
ercise of  his  judicial  authority.  And  there  is  not  any  wicked 
man  under  anguish  of  spirit,  but,  were  it  within  the  reach  of 
his  power,  would  take  away  the  life  of  God,  and  rid  himself 
of  his  fears,  by  destroying  his  avenger. 

(2.)  Debauched  persons  are  not  without  such  wishes  some- 
times. An  obstinate  servant  wishes  his  master's  death,  from 
whom  he  expects  correction  for  his  debaucheries.  As  man 
stands  in  his  corrupt  nature,  it  is  impossible  but  one  time  or 
other  most  debauched  persons,  at  least,  have  some  kind  of  im- 
perfect wishes.  It  is  as  natural  to  men  to  abhor  those  things 
which  are  unsuitable  and  troublesome,  as  it  is  to  please  them- 
selves in  things  agreeable  to  their  minds  and  humours:  and 
since  man  is  so  deeply  in  love  with  sin  as  to  count  it  the  most 
estimable  good,  he  cannot  but  wish  the  abolition  of  that  law 
which  checks  it,  and  consequently  the  change  of  the  Lawgiver 
which  enacted  it;  and  in  wishing  a  change  in  the  holy  nature 
of  God,  he  wishes  a  destruction  of  God,  who  could  not  be  God 
if  he  ceased  to  be  immutably  holy.  They  do  as  certainly  wish 
that  God  had  not  a  holy  will  to  command  them,  as  despairing 
souls  wish  that  God  had  not  a  righteous  will  to  punish  them; 
and  to  wish  conscience  extinct  for  the  molestations  they  receive 
from  it,  is  to  wish  the  power  conscience  represents  out  of  the 
world  also. 

Since  the  state  of  sinners  is  a  state  of  distance  from  God,  and 
the  language  of  sinners  to  God  is,  "  Depart  from  us,"  Job  xxi. 
14;  they  desire  as  little  the  continuance  of  his  being  as  they 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  97 

desire  the  knowledge  of  his  ways.  The  same  reason  which 
moves  them  to  desire  God's  distance  from  them,  would  move 
them  to  desire  God's  not  being.  Since  the  greatest  distance 
would  be  most  agreeable  to  them,  the  destruction  of  God  must 
be  so  too;  because  there  is  no  greater  distance  from  us  than  in 
not  being.  Men  would  rather  have  God  not  to  be,  than  them- 
selves under  control,  that  sensuality  might  range  at  pleasure. 
He  is  like  a  heifer  sliding  from  the  yoke,  Hos.  iv.  16.  The 
cursing  of  God  in  the  heart  feared  by  Job  of  his  children,  inti- 
mates a  wishing  God  despoiled  of  his  authority,  that  their 
pleasure  might  not  be  damped  by  his  law.  Besides,  is  there 
any  natural  man  that  sins  against  actuated  knowledge,  but 
either  thinks  or  wishes  that  God  might  not  see  him,  that  God 
might  not  know  his  actions?  and  is  not  this  to  wish  the  destruc- 
tion of  God,  who  could  not  be  God  unless  he  were  immense 
and  omniscient? 

(3.)  Under  this  rank  fall  those  who  perform  external  duties 
only  out  of  a  principle  of  slavish  fear.  Many  men  perform 
those  duties  that  the  law  enjoins  with  the  same  sentiments  that 
slaves  perform  their  drudgery,  and  are  constrained  in  their 
duties  by  no  other  considerations  but  those  of  the  whip  and 
the  cudgel.  Since,  therefore,  they  do  it  with  reluctancy,  and 
secretly  murmur  while  they  seem  to  obey,  they  would  be  will- 
ing that  both  the  command  were  recalled,  and  the  master  that 
commands  them  were  in  another  world.  The  spirit  of  adoption 
makes  men  act  towards  God  as  a  Father,  a  spirit  of  bondage 
only  eyes  him  as  a  Judge.  Those  that  look  upon  their  supe- 
riors as  tyrannical,  will  not  be  much  concerned  in  their  welfare; 
and  would  be  more  glad  to  have  their  nails  pared  than  be  un- 
der perpetual  fear  of  them. 

Many  men  regard  not  his  infinite  goodness  in  their  service 
of  him,  but  consider  him  as  cruel,  tyrannical,  injurious  to  their 
liberty.  Adam's  posterity  are  not  free  from  the  sentiments  of 
their  common  father,  till  they  are  regenerate.  You  know  what 
conceit  was  the  hammer  whereby  the  hellish  Jael  struck  the 
nail  into  our  first  parents,  which  conveyed  death,  together  with 
the  same  imagination,  to  all  their  posterity:  "God  knows  that 
in  the  day  ye  eat  thereof,  your  eyes  shall  be  opened,  and  ye 
shall  be  as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil."  Gen.  iii.  5.  Alas, 
poor  souls!  God  knew  what  lie  did,  when  he  forbade  you  that 
fruit:  he  was  jealous  you  should  be  too  happy!  It  was  a  cru- 
elty in  him  to  deprive  you  of  a  food  so  pleasant  and  delicious! 
The  apprehension  of  the  severity  of  God's  commands  riseth  up 
no  less  in  desires  that  there  were  no  God  over  us,  than  Adam's 
apprehension,  of  envy  in  God  for  the  restraint  of  one  tree, 
moved  him  to  attempt  to  be  equal  with  God:  fear  is  as  power- 
ful to  produce  the  one  in  his  posterity,  as  pride  was  to  produce 
Vol.  I.— 13 


98  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

the  other  in  the  common  root.  When  we  apprehend  a  thing 
hurtful  to  us,  we  desire  so  much  evil  to  it  as  may  render  it  in- 
capable of  doing  us  the  hurt  we  fear.  As  we  wish  the  preser- 
vation of  what  we  love  or  hope  for;  so  we  are  naturally  apt 
to  wish  the  not  being  of  that  whence  we  fear  some  hurt  or 
trouble.  We  must  not  understand  this  as  if  any  man  did  for- 
mally wish  the  destruction  of  God  as  God.  God  in  himself  is 
an  infinite  mirror  of  goodness  and  ravishing  loveliness.  He  is 
infinitely  good,  and  universally  good,  and  nothing  but  good; 
and  is  therefore  so  agreeable  to  a  creature  as  a  creature,  that 
it  is  impossible  that  the  creature,  while  it  bears  itself  to  God 
as  a  creature,  should  be  guilty  of  this,  but  thirst  after  him,  and 
cherish  every  motion  to  him.  As  no  man  wishes  the  destruc- 
tion of  any  creature,  as  a  creature,  but  as  it  may  conduce  to 
something  which  he  counts  may  be  beneficial  to  himself;  so 
no  man  doth,  nor  perhaps  can  wish  the  cessation  of  the  being 
of  God  as  God;  for  then  he  must  wish  his  own  being  to  cease 
also:  but  as  he  considers  him  clothed  with  some  perfections, 
which  he  apprehends  as  injurious  to  him;  as  his  holiness  in 
forbidding  sin,  his  justice  in  punishing  sin;  and  God  being 
judged  in  those  perfections  contrary  to  what  the  revolted  crea- 
ture thinks  convenient  and  good  for  himself,  he  may  wish  God 
stripped  of  those  perfections,  that  thereby  he  may  be  free  from 
all  fear  of  trouble  and  grief  from  him  in  his  fallen  state.  In 
wishing  God  deprived  of  those,  he  wishes  God  deprived  of  his 
being;  because  God  cannot  retain  his  Deity  without  a  love  of 
righteousness  and  hatred  of  iniquity;  and  he  could  not  testify 
his  love  to  the  one,  or  his  loathing  of  the  other,  without  en- 
couraging goodness,  and  testifying  his  anger  against  iniquity. 

Let  us  now  appeal  to  ourselves,  and  examine  our  own  con- 
sciences. Did  we  never  please  ourselves  sometimes  in  the 
thoughts,  how  happy  we  should  be,  how  free  in  our  vain  plea- 
sures, if  there  were  no  God?  Have  we  not  desired  to  be  our 
own  lords  without  control,  subject  to  no  law  but  our  own,  and 
be  guided  by  no  will  but  that  of  the  flesh?  Did  we  never  rage 
against  God  under  his  afflicting  hand?  Did  we  never  wish  God 
stripped  of  his  holy  will  to  command,  and  his  righteous  will  to 
punish? 

Thus  much  for  the  general. 

For  the  proof  of  this,  many  considerations  will  bring  in  evi- 
dence; most  may  be  reduced  to  these  two  generals. 

Man  would  set  himself  up,  First,  as  his  own  rule;  Secondly, 
as  his  own  end  and  happiness. 

Assertion  1.  Man  would  set  himself  up  as  his  own  rule, 
instead  of  God.  This  will  be  evidenced  in  this  method. — Man 
naturally  disowns  the  rule  God  sets  him. — He  owns  any  other 
rule  rather  than  that  of  God's  prescribing. — These  he  does  in 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  99 

order  to  the  setting  himself  up  as  his  own  rule. — He  makes 
himself  not  only  his  own  rule,  but  would  make  himself  the 
rule  of  God,  and  give  laws  to  his  Creator. 

(1.)  Man  naturally  disowns  the  rule  God  sets  him.  It  is  all 
one  to  deny  his  royalty  and  to  deny  his  being;  when  we  dis- 
own his  authority,  we  disown  his  Godhead:  it  is  the  right  of 
God  to  be  the  Sovereign  of  his  creatures;  and  it  must  be  a  very 
loose  and  trivial  assent  that  such  men  have  fo  God's  superiority 
over  them,  (and  consequently  to  the  excellency  of  his  being, 
upon  which  that  authority  is  founded,)  who  are  scarce  at  ease 
in  themselves,  but  when  they  are  invading  his  rights,  breaking 
his  hands,  casting  away  his  cords,  and  contradicting  his  will. 

Every  man  naturally  is  a  son  of  Belial,  would  be  without  a 
yoke,  and  leap  over  God's  enclosures;  and  in  breaking  out 
against  his  sovereignty,  we  disown  his  being  as  God;  for  to  be 
Cud  and  Sovereign  are  inseparable.  He  could  not  be  God  if 
he  were  not  supreme;  nor  could  he  be  a  Creator  without  being 
a  Lawgiver.  To  be  God,  and  yet  inferior  to  another,  is  a  con- 
tradiction. To  make  rational  creatures  without  prescribing 
them  a  law,  is  to  make  them  without  holiness,  wisdom,  and 
goodness. 

[1.]  There  is  in  man  naturally  an  unwillingness  to  have  any 
acquaintance  with  the  rule  God  sets  him.  None  that  did  under- 
stand and  seek  God.  Psal.  xiv.  2.  The  refusing  instruction  and 
casting  his  word  behind  the  back  is  a  part  of  atheism.  Psal.  1. 
17.  We  are  heavy  in  hearing  the  instructions  either  of  law  or 
gospel,  and  slow  in  the  apprehension  of  what  we  hear.  Heb. 
v.  11,  12.  The  people  that  God  had  hedged  in  from  the  wil- 
derness of  the  world  for  his  own  garden,  were  foolish,  and  did 
not  know  God ;  were  sottish,  and  had  no  understanding  of  him. 
Jer.  iv.  22.  The  law  of  God  is  accounted  a  strange  thing, 
Hos.  viii.  12;  a  thing  of  a  different  climate,  and  a  far  country 
from  the  heart  of  man,  wherewith  the  mind  of  man  had  no 
natural  acquaintance,  and  had  no  desire  to  have  any;  or  they 
regarded  it  as  a  sordid  thing.  What  God  accounts  great  and 
valuable,  they  account  mean  and  despicable.  Men  may  show 
a  civility  to  a  stranger,  but  scarce  contract  an  intimacy:  there 
can  be  no  amicable  agreement  between  the  holy  will  of  God 
and  the  heart  of  a  depraved  creature.  One  is  holy,  the  other 
unholy;  one  is  universally  good,  the  other  worth  naught.  The 
purity  of  the  divine  rule  renders  it  nauseous  to  the  impurity  of 
a  carnal  heart.  Water  and  fire  may  as  well  kiss  each  other 
and  live  together  without  quarrelling  and  hissing,  as  the  holy 
will  of  God  and  the  unregenerate  heart  of  a  fallen  creature. 

The  nauseating  a  holy  rule  is  an  evidence  of  atheism  in  the 
heart,  as  the  nauseating  wholesome  food  is  of  the  unhealthy 
state  of  the  stomach.      It  is  found  more  or  less  in  every  Chris- 


100 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 


tian,  in  the  remains,  though  not  in  a  full  empire.  As  there  is 
a  law  in  his  mind  whereby  he  delights  in  the  law  of  God,  so 
there  is  a  law  in  his  members  whereby  he  wars  against  the  law 
of  God.  Rom.  vii.  22,  23.  25.  How  predominant  is  this  loath- 
ing of  the  law  of  God,  when  corrupt  nature  is  in  its  full 
strength,  without  any  principle  to  control  it!  There  is  in  the 
mind  of  such  a  one  a  darkness  whereby  it  is  ignorant  of  it,  and 
in  the  will  a  depravedness  whereby  it  is  repugnant  to  it.  If 
man  were  naturally  willing  and  able  to  have  an  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  and  delight  in  the  law  of  God,  it  had  not  been 
such  a  signal  favour  for  God  to  promise  to  write  the  law  in  the 
heart.  A  man  may  sooner  engrave  the  chronicle  of  a  whole 
nation,  or  all  the  records  of  God  in  the  Scripture,  upon  the 
hardest  marble  with  his  bare  finger,  than  write  one  syllable  of 
the  law  of  God  in  a  spiritual  manner  upon  his  heart.     For, 

Men  are  negligent  in  using  the  means  for  the  knowledge  of 
God's  will.  All  natural  men  are  fools,  who  know  not  how  to 
use  the  price  God  puts  into  their  hands,  Pro  v.  xvii.  16;  they 
put  not  a  due  estimate  upon  opportunities  and  means  of  grace, 
and  account  that  law  folly  which  is  the  birth  of  an  infinite  and 
holy  wisdom.  The  knowledge  of  God  which  they  may  glean 
from  creatures,  and  which  is  more  pleasant  to  the  natural  taste 
of  men,  is  not  improved  to  the  glory  of  God,  if  we  believe  the 
indictment  the  apostle  brings  against  the  gentiles.  Rom.  i.  21. 
And  most  of  those  that  have  dived  into  the  depths  of  nature, 
have  been  more  studious  of  the  qualities  of  the  creatures,  than 
of  the  excellency  of  the  nature,  or  the  discovery  of  the  mind 
of  God  in  them;  who  regard  only  the  rising  and  motions  of 
the  star,  but  follow  not  with  the  wise  men  its  conduct  to  the 
King  of  the  Jews.  How  often  do  we  see  men  filled  with  an 
eager  thirst  for  all  other  kind  of  knowledge;  that  cannot  acqui- 
esce in  a  twilight  discovery,  but  are  inquisitive  into  the  causes 
and  reasons  of  effects,  yet  are  contented  with  a  weak  and  lan- 
guishing knowledge  of  God  and  his  law,  and  are  easily  tired 
with  proposals  of  them! 

He  now  that  nauseates  the  means  whereby  he  may  come  to 
know  and  obey  God,  has  no  intention  to  make  the  law  of  God 
his  rule:  there  is  no  man  that  intends  seriously  an  end,  but  he 
intends  means  in  order  to  that  end.  As  when  a  man  intends 
the  preservation  or  recovery  of  his  health,  he  will  intend  means 
in  order  to  those  ends,  otherwise  he  cannot  be  said  to  intend 
his  health;  so  he  that  is  not  diligent  in  using  means  to  know 
the  mind  of  God,  has  no  sound  intention  to  make  the  will  of 
and  law  of  God  his  rule.  Is  not  the  inquiry  after  the  will  of 
God  made  a  work  by  the  by,  fain  to  lackey  after  other  concerns 
of  an  inferior  nature,  if  it  hath  any  place  at  all  in  the  soul? 
which  is  a  despising  the  being  of  God.     The  notion  of  the 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  jqj 

sovereignty  of  God,  bears  the  same  date  with  the  notion  of  his 
Godhead;  and  by  the  same  way  that  he  reveals  himself,  he 
reveals  his  authority  over  us,  whether  it  be  by  creatures  with- 
out, or  conscience  within.  All  authority  over  rational  creatures 
consists  in  commanding  and  directing;  the  duty  of  rational 
creatures  in  compliance  with  that  authority  consists  in  obeying. 
Where  there  is  therefore  a  careless  neglect  of  those  means 
which  convey  the  knowledge  of  God's  will  and  our  duty,  there 
is  an  utter  disowning  of  God  as  our  sovereign  and  our  rule. 

When  any  part  of  the  mind  and  will  of  God  breaks  in  upon 
men,  they  endeavour  to  shake  it  off,  as  a  man  would  a  sergeant 
that  comes  to  arrest  him;  they  like  not  to  retain  God  in  their 
knowledge.  Rom.  i.  28.  A  natural  man  receives  not  the  things 
of  the  Spirit  of  God;  that  is,  into  his  affection;  he  pusheth  them 
back  as  men  do  troublesome  and  importunate  beggars;  they 
have  no  kindness  to  bestow  upon  them.  They  thrust  with  both 
shoulders  against  the  truth  of  God,  when  it  presseth  in  upon 
them;  and  dash  as  much  contempt  upon  it  as  the  Pharisees  did 
upon  the  doctrine  our  Saviour  directed  against  their  covetous- 
ness.  As  men  naturally  delight  to  be  without  God  in  the  world, 
so  they  delight  to  be  without  any  offspring  of  God  in  their 
thoughts.  Since  the  spiritual  palate  of  man  is  depraved,  divine 
truth  is  unsavoury  and  ungrateful  to  us,  till  our  taste  and  relish 
is  restored  by  grace:  hence  men  damp  and  quench  the  motions 
of  the  Spirit  to  obedience  and  compliance  with  the  dictates  of 
God;  strip  them  of  their  life  and  vigour,  and  kill  them  in  the 
womb.  How  unable  are  our  memories  to  retain  the  substance 
of  spiritual  truth;  but,  like  sand  in  a  glass,  put  in  at  one  part, 
it  runs  out  at  the  other!  Have  not  many  a  secret  wish  that  the 
Scripture  had  never  mentioned  some  truths,  or  that  they  were 
blotted  out  of  the  Bible,  because  they  face  their  consciences, 
and  discourage  those  boiling  lusts  they  would  with  eagerness 
and  delight  pursue?  Methinks  that  interruption  John  gives  our 
Saviour  when  he  was  upon  the  reproof  of  their  pride,  looks 
little  better  than  a  design  to  divert  him  from  a  discourse  so 
much  against  the  grain,  by  telling  him  a  story  of  their  prohibit- 
ing one  to  cast  out  devils,  because  he  followed  not  them.  Mark 
ix.  33.  38.  How  glad  are  men  when  they  can  raise  a  battery 
against  a  command  of  God,  and  raise  some  smart  objection 
whereby  they  may  shelter  themselves  from  the  strictness  of  it! 

When  men  cannot  shake  off"  the  notices  of  the  will  and  mind 
of  God,  they  have  no  pleasure  in  the  consideration  of  them. 
Which  could  not  possibly  be,  if  there  were  a  real  and  fixed 
design  to  own  the  mind  and  law  of  God  as  our  rule:  subjects 
or  servants  that  love  to  obey  their  prince  and  master,  will 
delight  to  read  and  execute  his  orders.  The  devils  under- 
stand the  law  of  God  in  their  minds,  but  they  loathe  the  im- 


102  0N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

pressions  of  it  upon  their  wills.  Those  miserable  spirits  are 
bound  in  chains  of  darkness,  evil  habits  in  their  wills,  that  they 
have  not  a  thought  of  obeying  that  law  they  know.  It  was 
an  unclean  beast  under  the  law,  that  did  not  chew  the  cud: 
it  is  a  corrupt  heart  that  doth  not  chew  truth  by  meditation. 
A  natural  man  is  said  not  to  know  God,  or  the  things  of  God; 
he  may  know  them  notionally,  but  he  knows  them  not  affec- 
tionately. A  sensual  soul  can  have  no  delight  in  a  spiritual 
law.  To  be  sensual  and  not  to  have  the  Spirit,  are  inseparable. 
Jude  19. 

Natural  men  may  indeed  meditate  upon  the  law  and  truth  of 
God,  but  without  delight  in  it:  if  they  take  any  pleasure  in  it, 
it  is  only  as  it  is  knowledge,  not  as  it  is  a  rule;  for  we  delight 
in  nothing  that  we  desire,  but  upon  the  same  account  that  we 
desire  it.  Natural  men  desire  to  know  God  and  some  part  of 
his  will  and  law,  not  out  of  a  sense  of  their  practical  excel- 
lency, but  a  natural  thirst  after  knowledge:  and  if  they  have 
a  delight,  it  is  in  the  act  of  knowing,  not  in  the  object  known, 
not  in  the  duties  that  stream  from  that  knowledge;  they  design 
the  furnishing  their  understandings,  not  the  quickening  their 
affections;  like  idle  boys  that  strike  fire,  not  to  warm  themselves 
by  the  heat,  but  sport  themselves  with  the  sparks;  whereas,  a 
gracious  soul  accounts  not  only  his  meditation,  or  the  operations 
of  his  soul  about  God  and  his  will  to  be  sweet,  but  he  hath  a 
joy  in  the  object  of  that  meditation.  Psal.  civ.  34.  Many  have 
the  knowledge  of  God  who  have  no  delight  in  him  or  his  will. 
Owls  have  eyes  to  perceive  that  there  is  a  sun,  but  by  reason 
of  the  weakness  of  their  sight  have  no  pleasure  to  look  upon 
a  beam  of  it;  so  neither  can  a  man  by  nature  love  or  delight 
in  the  will  of  God,  because  of  his  natural  corruption:  that  law 
that  riseth  up  in  men  for  conviction  and  instruction,  they  keep 
down  under  the  power  of  corruption;  making  their  souls  not 
the  sanctuary,  but  prison  of  truth.  Rom.  i.  IS.  They  will  keep 
it  down  in  their  hearts,  if  they  cannot  keep  it  out  of  their  heads, 
and  will  endeavour  not  to  know  and  taste  the  spirit  of  it. 

There  is,  further,  a  rising  and  swelling  of  the  heart  against 
the  will  of  God. — Internal.  God's  law  cast  against  a  hard 
heart,  is  like  a  ball  thrown  against  a  stone  wall,  by  reason  of 
the  resistance  rebounding  the  further  from  it.  The  meeting  of  a 
divine  truth  and  the  heart  of  man,  is  like  the  meeting  of  two 
tides,  the  weaker  swells  and  foams.  We  have  a  natural  antipa- 
thy against  a  divine  rule;  and  therefore  when  it  is  clapped 
close  to  our  consciences,  there  is  a  snuffing  at  it,  and  high 
reasonings  against  it.  Corruption  breaks  out  more  strongly; 
as  water  poured  on  lime  sets  it  on  fire,  and  the  more  water 
is  cast  upon  it  the  more  furiously  it  burns;  or  as  the  sun- 
beam shining  upon  a  dunghill  makes  the  steams  the  thicker 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  ](J3 

and  the  stench  the  more  noisome,  neither  being  the  positive 
cause  of  the  smoke  in  the  lime,  or  the  stench  in  the  dunghill, 
but  by  accident  the  causes  o(  the  eruption.  "  But  sin,  taking 
occasion  by  the  commandment,  wrought  in  me  all  manner  of 
concupiscence:  for  without  the  law  sin  was  dead."  Rom.  vii. 
8.  Sin  was  in  a  languishing  posture,  as  if  it  were  dead;  like  a 
lazy  garrison  in  a  city,  till  upon  an  alarm  from  the  adversary, 
it  takes  anus  and  revives  its  courage:  all  the  sin  in  the  heart 
gathers  together  its  force  to  maintain  its  standing;  like  the 
vapours  of  the  night,  which  unite  themselves  more  closely  to 
resist  the  beams  of  the  rising  sun.  Deep  conviction  often  pro- 
vokes fierce  opposition;  and  sometimes  disputes  against  a  divine 
rule  end  in  blasphemies.  Acts  xiii.  45.  Contradicting  and  blas- 
pheming are  coupled  together.  Men  naturally  desire  things 
that  are  forbidden,  and  reject  things  commanded,  from  the  cor- 
ruption of  nature,  which  affects  an  unbounded  liberty,  and  is 
impatient  of  returning  under  that  yoke  it  hath  shaken  oft';  and 
therefore  rageth  against  the  bars  of  the  law  as  the  waves  roar 
against  the  restraint  of  a  bank.  When  the  understanding  is 
dark  and  the  mind  ignorant,  sin  lies  as  dead:  "A  man  scarce 
knows  he  hath  such  motions  of  concupiscence  in  him,  he  finds 
not  the  least  breath  of  wind,  but  a  full  calm  in  his  soul;  but 
when  he  is  awakened  by  the  law,  then  the  viciousness  of  nature 
being  sensible  of  an  invasion  of  its  empire,  arms  itself  against 
the  divine  law,  and  the  more  the  command  is  urged,  the  more 
vigorously  it  bends  its  strength,  and  more  insolently  lifts  up 
itself  against  it;"1  he  perceives  more  and  more  atheistical  lusts 
than  before;  all  manner  of  concupiscence,  more  leprous  and 
contagious  than  before.  When  there  are  any  motions  to  turn 
to  God,  a  reluctancy  is  presently  perceived ;  atheistical  thoughts 
bluster  in  the  mind  like  the  wind,  they  know  not  whence  they 
come,  nor  whither  they  go:  so  unapt  is  the  heart  to  any  ac- 
knowledgment of  God  as  his  ruler,  and  any  re-union  with  him. 
Hence  men  are  said  to  resist  the  Holy  Ghost,  Acts  vii.  51;  to 
fall  against  it,  as  the  word  signifies,  as  a  stone  or  any  ponder- 
ous body  falls  against  that  which  lies  in  its  way:  they  would 
dash  to  pieces  or  grind  to  powder  that  very  motion  which  is 
made  for  their  instruction,  and  the  Spirit  too  which  makes  it, 
and  that  not  from  a  fit  of  passion,  but  an  habitual  repugnance. 
"  Ye  always  resist!" — External;  it  is  a  fruit  of  atheism,  in  the 
fourth  verse  of  this  Psalm:  "  Who  eat  up  my  people  as  they 
eat  bread."  How  do  the  revelations  of  the  mind  of  God  meet 
with  opposition!  and  the  carnal  world,  like  dogs,  bark  against 
the  shining  of  the  moon!  so  much  men  hate  the  lights,  that 
they  spurn  at  the  lanthorns  that  bear  it;  and  because  they  can- 
not endure  the  treasure,  often  tling  the  earthen  vessels  against 

1  Thes.  Salmur.  De  Spiritu  Servitutis,  Thes.  19. 


104  0N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

the  ground  wherein  it  is  held.  If  the  entrance  of  truth  render 
the  market  worse  for  Diana's  shrines,  the  whole  city  will  be  in 
an  uproar.  Acts  xix.  24.  28,  29.  When  Socrates,  upon  natural 
principles,  confuted  the  heathen  idolatry,  and  asserted  the  unity 
of  God,  the  whole  cry  of  Athens,  a  learned  university,  is  against 
him;  and  because  he  opposed  the  publicly  received  religion, 
though  with  an  undoubted  truth,  he  must  end  his  life  by  vio- 
lence. How  has  every  corner  of  the  world  streamed  with  the 
blood  of  those  that  would  maintain  the  authority  of  God  in 
the  world!  The  devil's  children  will  follow  the  steps  of  their 
father,  and  endeavour  to  bruise  the  heel  of  divine  truth,  that 
would  endeavour  to  break  the  head  of  corrupt  lust. 

Men  often  seem  desirous  to  be  acquainted  with  the  will  of 
God,  not  out  of  any  respect  to  his  will  and  to  make  it  their 
rule,  but  upon  some  other  consideration.  Truth  is  scarcely  re- 
ceived as  truth.  There  is  more  of  hypocrisy  than  sincerity  in 
the  pale  of  the  church,  and  attendance  on  the  mind  of  God. 
The  outward  dowry  of  a  religious  profession  makes  it  often 
more  desirable  than  the  beauty.  Judas  was  a  follower  of  Christ 
for  the  bag,  not  out  of  any  affection  to  the  divine  revelation. 
Men  sometimes  pretend  a  desire  to  be  acquainted  with  the  will 
of  God,  to  satisfy  their  own  passions,  rather  than  to  conform 
to  God's  will.  The  religion  of  such  is  not  the  judgment  of  the 
man,  but  the  passion  of  the  brute.  Many  entertain  a  doctrine 
for  the  person's  sake,  rather  than  a  person  for  the  doctrine's 
sake;  and  believe  a  thing  because  it  comes  from  a  man  they 
esteem,  as  if  his  lips  were  more  canonical  than  Scripture. 

The  apostle  implies  in  the  commendation  he  gives  the  Thes- 
salonians,  1  Thess.  ii.  13,  that  some  receive  the  word  for  human 
interest,  not  as  it  is  in  truth  the  word  and  will  of  God,  to  com- 
mand and  govern  their  consciences  by  its  sovereign  authority: 
or  else  they  have  the  truth  of  God  (as  St.  James  speaks  of  the 
faith  of  Christ)  with  respect  of  persons,  James  ii.  l,and  receive 
it  not  for  the  sake  of  the  fountain,  but  of  the  channel.  So  that 
many  times  the  same  truth  delivered  by  another  is  disregarded, 
which  when  dropping  from  the  fancy  and  mouth  of  a  man's 
own  idol,  is  cried  up  as  an  oracle.  This  is  to  make  not  God, 
but  man,  the  rule;  for  though  we  entertain  that  which  materi- 
ally is  the  truth  of  God,  yet  not  formally  as  his  truth,  but  as 
conveyed  by  one  we  esteem.  And  that  we  receive  a  truth  and 
not  an  error,  we  owe  the  obligation  to  the  honesty  of  the  instru- 
ment, and  not  to  the  strength  and  clearness  of  our  own  judg- 
ment. Wrong  considerations  may  give  admittance  to  an  unclean 
as  well  as  a  clean  beast  into  the  ark  of  the  soul:  that  which  is 
contrary  to  the  mind  of  God,  may  be  entertained  as  well  as 
that  which  is  agreeable.  It  is  all  one  to  such  that  have  no 
respect  to  God,  what  they  have;  as  it  is  all  one  to  a  spunge  to 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  JQ5 

suck  up  the  foulest  water  or  the  sweetest  wine,  when  either  is 
applied  to  it. 

Many  that  entertain  the  notions  of  the  will  and  mind  of  God, 
admit  them  with  unsettled  and  wavering  affections.  There  is 
a  great  levity  in  the  heart  of  man.  The  Jews  that  one  day 
applaud  our  Saviour  with  hosannahs  as  their  King,  vote  his 
crucifixion  the  next,  and  treat  him  as  a  murderer.  We  begin  in 
the  Spirit  and  end  in  the  flesh.  Our  hearts,  like  lute-strings, 
are  changed  with  every  change  of  weather,  with  every  appear- 
ance of  a  temptation;  scarce  one  motion  of  God  in  a  thousand 
prevails  with  us  for  a  settled  abode.  It  is  a  hard  task  to  make 
a  signature  of  those  truths  upon  our  affections,  which  will  with 
ease  pass  current  with  our  understandings;  our  affections  will 
as  soon  loose  them,  as  our  understandings  embrace  them.  The 
heart  of  man  is  unstable  as  water.  Gen.  xlix.  4;  James  i.  8. 
Some  were  willing  to  rejoice  in  John's  light,  which  reflected  a 
lustre  on  their  minds;  but  not  in  his  heat,  which  would  have 
conveyed  a  warmth  to  their  hearts:  and  the  light  was  pleasing 
to  them  but  for  a  season,  while  their  corruptions  lay  as  if  they 
were  dead,  not  when  they  were  awakened.  John  v.  35.  Truth 
may  be  admitted  one  day,  and  the  next  day  rejected.  As  Aus- 
tin saith  of  a  wicked  man,  he  loves  the  truth  shining,  but  he 
hates  the  truth  reproving.  This  is  not  to  make  God,  but  our 
own  humour,  our  rule  and  measure. 

Many  desire  an  acquaintance  with  the  law  and  truth  of  God, 
with  a  design  to  gratify  some  lust  by  it,  to  turn  the  word  of 
God  to  be  a  pander  to  the  breach  of  his  law.  This  is  so  far 
from  making  God's  will  our  rule,  that  we  make  our  own  vile 
affections  the  rule  of  his  law.  How  many  forced  interpreta- 
tions of  Scripture  have  been  coined  to  give  content  to  the  lusts 
of  men;  and  the  divine  rule  forced  to  bend  and  be  squared  to 
men's  loose  and  carnal  apprehensions!  It  is  a  part  of  the  insta- 
bility or  falseness  of  the  heart  to  wrest  the  Scriptures  to  their 
own  destruction,  2  Pet.  iii.  16;  which  they  could  not  do,  if  they 
did  not  first  wring  them  to  countenance  some  detestable  error 
or  filthy  crime.  In  paradise  the  first  interpretation  made  of  the 
first  law  of  God,  was  point  blank  against  the  mind  of  the  law- 
giver, and  venomous  to  the  whole  race  of  mankind.  Paul 
himself  feared  that  some  might  put  his  doctrine  of  grace  to  so 
ill  a  use,  as  to  be  an  altar  and  sanctuary  to  shelter  their  pre- 
sumption; "Shall  we  then  continue  in  sin,  that  grace  may 
abound?"  Rom.  vi.  1.  1.5.  Poisonous  consequences  are  often 
drawn  from  the  sweetest  truths;  as  when  God's  patience  is 
made  a  topic,  whence  to  argue  against  his  providence,  Psal. 
xciv.  7;  or  an  encouragement  to  commit  evil  more  greedily; 
as  though  because  he  had  not  presently  a  revenging  hand,  he 
had  not  an  all-seeing  eye:  or  when  the  doctrine  of  justification 
Vol.  I.— 14 


106  0N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

by  faith  is  made  use  of  to  depress  a  holy  life,  or  God's  readi- 
ness to  receive  returning  sinners,  an  encouragement  to  defer 
repentance  till  a  death-bed.  A  liar  will  hunt  for  shelter  in  the 
reward  God  gave  the  mid  wives  that  lied  to  Pharaoh  for  the 
preservation  of  the  males  of  Israel,  and  Rahab's  saving  the 
spies  by  false  intelligence.  God  knows  how  to  distinguish  be- 
tween grace  and  corruption,  that  may  lie  close  together,  or 
between  something  of  moral  goodness  and  moral  evil,  which 
may  be  mixed:  we  find  their  fidelity  rewarded,  which  was  a 
moral  good,  but  not  their  lie  approved,  which  was  a  moral  evil. 
Nor  will  Christ's  conversing  with  sinners  be  a  plea  for  any  to 
thrust  themselves  into  evil  company.  Christ  conversed  with 
sinners  as  a  physician  with  diseased  persons,  to  cure  them,  not 
approve  them;  others  with  profligate  persons  to  receive  infec- 
tion from  them,  not  to  communicate  holiness  to  them.  Satan's 
children  have  studied  their  father's  art,  who  wanted  not  per- 
verted Scripture  to  second  his  temptations  against  our  Saviour. 
Matt.  iv.  4.  6.  How  often  do  carnal  hearts  turn  divine  revelation 
to  carnal  ends,  as  the  sea  turns  fresh  water  into  salt!  As  men 
subject  the  precepts  of  God  to  carnal  interests,  so  they  subject 
the  truths  of  God  to  carnal  fancies.  When  men  will  allegorize 
the  word,  and  make  a  humorous  and  crazy  fancy  the  interpre- 
ter of  divine  oracles,  and  not  the  Spirit  speaking  in  the  word, 
this  is  to  enthrone  our  own  imaginations  as  the  rule  of  God's 
law,  and  depose  his  law  from  being  the  rule  of  our  reason: 
this  is  to  rifle  truth  of  its  true  mind  and  intent.  It  is  more  to 
rob  a  man  of  his  reason,  the  essential  constitutive  part  of  man, 
than  of  his  estate.  This  is  to  refuse  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  his  will.  We  shall  never  tell  what  is  the  matter  of  a  pre- 
cept, or  the  matter  of  a  promise,  if  we  impose  a  sense  upon  it 
contrary  to  the  plain  meaning  of  it:  thereby  we  shall  make 
the  law  of  God  to  have  a  distinct  sense  according  to  the  variety 
of  men's  imaginations,  and  so  make  every  man's  fancy  a  law 
to  himself. 

Now  that  this  unwillingness  to  have  a  spiritual  acquaintance 
with  divine  truth,  is  a  disowning  God  as  our  rule,  and  a  setting 
up  self  in  his  stead,  is  evident;  because  this  unwillingness  re- 
spects truth, 

As  it  is  most  spiritual  and  holy.  A  fleshly  mind  is  most 
contrary  to  a  spiritual  law,  and  particularly  as  it  is  a  searching 
and  discovering  law,  that  would  dethrone  all  other  rules  in  the 
soul.  As  men  love  to  be  without  a  holy  God  in  the  world,  so 
they  love  to  be  without  a  holy  law,  the  transcript  and  image 
of  God's  holiness  in  their  hearts;  and  without  holy  men,  the 
lights  kindled  by  the  Father  of  lights.  As  the  holiness  of  God, 
so  the  holiness  of  the  law  most  offends  a  carnal  heart.  "  Cause 
the  Holy  One  of  Israel  to  cease  from  before  us:  prophesy  not 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM  \QJ 

unto  us  right  things."  Isa.  xxx.  10,  11.  They  could  not  endure 
God  as  a  Holy  One.  Herein  God  places  their  rebellion,  reject- 
ing him  as  their  rule:  "Rebellious  children,  that  will  not  hear 
the  law  of  the  Lord."  ver.  9.  The  more  pure  and  precious  any 
discovery  of  God  is,  the  more  it  is  disrelished  by  the  world: 
as  spiritual  sins  aie  sweetest  to  a  carnal  heart,  so  spiritual  truths 
are  most  distasteful.  The  more  of  the  brightness  of  the  sun  any 
beam  conveys,  the  more  offensive  it  is  to  a  distempered  eye. 

As  it  doth  most  relate  to  or  lead  to  God.  The  devil  directs 
his  fiercest  batteries  against  those  doctrines  in  the  word,  and 
those  graces  in  the  heart  which  most  exalt  God,  debase  man, 
and  bring  men  to  the  lowest  subjection  to  their  Creator;  such 
is  the  doctrine  and  grace  of  justifying  faith.  That  men  hate 
not  knowledge  as  knowledge,  but  as  it  directs  them  to  choose 
the  fear  of  the  Lord,  was  the  determination  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
long  ago:  "  For  that  they  hated  knowledge,  and  did  not  choose 
the  fear  of  the  Lord."  Prov.  i.  29.  Whatsoever  respects  God, 
clears  up  guilt,  witnesses  man's  revolt  to  him,  rouses  up  con- 
science, and  moves  to  a  return  to  God,  a  man  naturally  runs 
from,  as  Adam  did  from  God,  and  seeks  a  shelter  in  some  weak 
bushes  of  error,  rather  than  appear  before  it.  Not  that  men 
are  unwilling  to  inquire  into  and  contemplate  some  divine 
truths,  which  lie  furthest  from  the  heart,  and  concern  not  them- 
selves immediately  with  the  rectifying  the  soul.  They  may 
view  them  with  such  a  pleasure  as  some  might  take  in  behold- 
ing the  miracles  of  our  Saviour,  who  could  not  endure  his 
searching  doctrine.  The  light  of  speculation  may  be  pleasant, 
but  the  light  of  conviction  is  grievous;  that  which  galls  their 
consciences,  and  would  affect  them  with  a  sense  of  their  duty 
to  God. 

Is  it  not  easy  to  perceive,  that  when  a  man  begins  to  be  seri- 
ous in  the  concerns  of  the  honour  of  God  and  the  duty  of  his 
soul,  he  feels  a  reluctancy  within  him,  even  against  the  pleas 
of  conscience;  which  evidences  that  some  unworthy  piinciple 
has  got  footing  in  the  hearts  of  men,  which  fights  against  the 
declarations  of  God  without,  and  the  impressions  of  the  law 
of  God  within,  at  the  same  time  when  a  man's  own  conscience 
takes  part  with  it,  which  is  the  substance  of  the  apostle's  dis- 
course. Rom.  vii.  15,  16. 

Close  discourses  of  the  honour  of  God,  and  our  duty  to  him, 
are  irksome  when  men  are  merry.  They  are  like  a  damp  in  a 
mine,  that  takes  away  their  breath;  they  shuffle  them  out  as 
soon  as  they  can,  and  are  as  unwilling  to  retain  the  speech  of 
them  in  their  mouths  as  the  knowledge  of  them  in  their 
hearts.  Gracious  speeches,  instead  of  bettering  many  men,  dis- 
temper them,  as  sometimes  sweet  perfumes  affect  a  weak  head 
with  aches. 


108  0N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

As  it  is  most  contrary  to  self.  Men  are  unwilling  to  acquaint 
themselves  with  any  truth  that  leads  to  God,  because  it  leads 
from  self.  Every  part  of  the  will  of  God  is  more  or  less  dis- 
pleasing, as  it  sounds  harsh  against  some  carnal  interest  men 
would  set  above  God,  or  on  a  level  with  him.  Man  cannot 
desire  any  intimacy  with  that  law  which  he  regards  as  a  bird 
of  prey,  to  pick  out  his  right  eye,  or  gnaw  off  his  right  hand, 
his  lust  dearer  than  himself.  The  reason  we  have  such  hard 
thoughts  of  God's  will,  is  because  we  have  such  high  thoughts 
of  ourselves.  It  is  a  hard  matter  to  believe  or  will  that  which 
has  no  affinity  with  some  principle  in  the  understanding,  and 
no  interest  in  our  will  and  passions.  Our  unwillingness  to  be 
acquainted  with  the  will  of  God  arises  from  the  disproportion 
between  that  and  our  corrupt  hearts;  we  are  alienated  from 
the  life  of  God  in  our  minds.  Eph.  iv.  18,  19.  As  we  live  not 
like  God,  so  we  neither  think  nor  will  as  God.  There  is  an 
antipathy  in  the  heart  of  man  against  that  doctrine  which 
teaches  us  to  deny  ourselves  and  be  under  the  rule  of  another; 
but  whatsoever  favours  the  ambition,  lusts,  and  profits  of  men, 
is  easily  entertainable.  Many  are  fond  of  those  sciences,  which 
may  enrich  their  understandings,  and  grate  not  upon  their  sen- 
sual delights.  Many  have  an  admirable  dexterity  in  finding 
out  philosophical  reasons,  mathematical  demonstrations,  or 
raising  observations  upon  the  records  of  history,  and  spend 
much  time  and  many  serious  and  affectionate  thoughts  in  the 
study  of  them;  in  those  they  have  not  immediately  to  do  with 
God,  their  beloved  pleasures  are  not  impaired.  It  is  a  satisfac- 
tion to  self  without  the  exercise  of  any  hostility  against  it.  But 
had  those  sciences  been  against  self,  as  much  as  the  law  and 
will  of  God,  they  had  long  since  been  rooted  out  of  the  world. 
Why  did  the  young  man  turn  his  back  upon  the  law  of  Christ? 
Because  of  his  worldly  self.  Why  did  the  Pharisees  mock  at 
the  doctrine  of  our  Saviour,  and  not  at  their  own  traditions? 
Because  of  covetous  self.  Why  did  the  Jews  slight  the  person 
of  our  Saviour  and  put  him  to  death,  after  the  reading  so  many 
credentials  of  his  being  sent  from  heaven?  Because  of  ambi- 
tious self,  that  the  Romans  might  not  come  and  take  away  their 
kingdom.  If  the  law  of  God  were  fitted  to  the  humours  of  self, 
it  would  be  readily  and  cordially  observed  by  all  men.  Self  is 
the  measure  of  a  world  of  seeming  religious  actions ;  while 
God  seems  to  be  the  object  and  his  law  the  motive,  self  is  the 
rule  and  end;  "  Did  you  fast  unto  me,"  &c.  Zech.  vii.  5. 

[2.]  As  men  discover  their  disowning  the  will  of  God  as  a 
rule  by  unwillingness  to  be  acquainted  with  it,  so  they  discover 
it  by  the  contempt  of  it,  after  they  cannot  avoid  the  notions 
and  some  impressions  of  it.  The  rule  of  God  is  burdensome  to 
a  sinner,  he  flies  from  it  as  from  a  frightful  bugbear  and  un- 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  |()<) 

pleasant  yoke.     Sin  against  the  knowledge  of  the  law  is  there- 
fore called,  a  going  back  from  the  commandment  of  God's  lips. 
Job  xxiii.  12;  a  casting  of  God's  word  behind  them,  Psal.  1. 
17,  as  a  contemptible  thing,  fitter  to  be  trodden  in  the  dirt  than 
lodged  in  the  heart.     Nay,  it  is  a  casting  it  otf  as  an  abomina- 
ble tiling,  for  so  the  word  rui  signifies ;  "  Israel  hath  cast  off 
the  thing  that  is  good,"  Hos.  viii.  3:  an  utter  refusal  of  God; 
"As  for  the  word  that  thou  hast  spoken  unto  us  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord,  we  will  not  hearken."  Jer.  xliv.  16.     In  the  slight 
of  his  precepts  his  essential  perfections  are  slighted.     In  dis- 
owning his  will  as  a  rule,  we  disown  all  those  attributes  which 
flow  from  his  will,  as  goodness,  righteousness,  and  truth.     As 
an  act  of  the  Divine  understanding  is  supposed  to  precede  the 
act  of  the  Divine  will,  so  we  slight  the  infinite  reason  of  God. 
Every  law,  though  it  proceeds  from  the  will  of  the  lawgiver, 
and  does  formally  consist  in  an  act  of  the  will,  yet  it  presup- 
poses an  act  of  the  understanding.     If  the  commandment  be 
holy,  just,  and  good,  Rom.  vii.  12;  if  it  be  the  image  of  God's 
holiness,  a  transcript  of  his  righteousness,  and  the  efflux  of  his 
goodness;  then  in  every  breach  of  it  dirt  is  cast  upon   those 
attributes  which  shine  in  it,  and  a  slight  of  all  the   regards  he 
has  to  his  own  honour,  and  all  the  provisions  he  makes  for  his 
creature.     This  atheism  or  contempt  of  God,  is  more  taken  no- 
tice of  by  God  than  the  matter  of  the  sin  itself:  as  a  respect  to 
God  in  a  weak  and  imperfect  obedience,  is  more  than  the  mat- 
ter of  the  obedience  itself,  because  it  is  an  acknowledgment  of 
God;  so  a  contempt  of  God  in  an  act  of  disobedience,  is  more 
than  the  matter  of  disobedience.     The  creature  stands  in  such 
an  act  not  only  in  a  posture  of  distance  from  God,  but  defiance 
of  him:  it  was  not  the  bare  act  of  murder  and  adultery  which 
Nathan  charged  upon  David,  but  the  atheistical  principle  which 
spirited  those  evil  acts.      The  despising  the  commandment  of 
the  Lord  was  the  venom  of  them.  2  Sam.  xii.  9,  10.     'It  is 
possible  to  break  a  law  without  contempt;  but  when  men  pre- 
tend to  believe  there  is  a  God,  and  that  this  is  the  law  of  God, 
it   shows  a  contempt  of  his  majesty:  men   naturally  account 
God's  laws  too  strict,  his  yoke  too  heavy,  and  his  limits  too 
strait;    and  he   that  lives    in  a  contempt  of  this  law,  curses 
God  in  his  life.     How  can  they  believe  there  is  a  God,  who 
despise  him  as  a  Ruler?     How  can  they  believe  him  to  be  a 
Guide,  that  disdain  to  follow  him?  To  think  we  firmly  believe 
a  God  without  living  conformable  to  his  law,  is  an  idle  and 
vain  imagination.     The  true  and  sensible  notion  of  a  God  can- 
not subsist  with  disorder  and  an  affected  unrighteousness. 
This  contempt  is  seen, 
In  any  presumptuous  breach  of  any  part  of  his  law.     Such 

i  Claud. 


HO  0N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

sins  are  frequently  called  in  Scripture  rebellions,  which  are  a 
denial  of  the  allegiance  we  owe  to  him.  By  a  wilful  refusal 
of  his  right  in  one  part,  we  root  up  the  foundation  of  that  rule 
he  doth  justly  challenge  over  us  :  his  right  is  as  extensive  to 
command  us  in  one  thing  as  in  another:  and  if  it  be  disowned 
in  one  thing,  it  is  virtually  disowned  in  all,  and  the  whole 
statute  book  of  God  is  contemned.  "  Whosoever  shall  keep  the 
whole  law,  and  yet  offend  in  one  point,  he  is  guilty  of  all." 
Jam.  ii.  10.  A  willing  breaking  one  part,  though  there  be  a 
willing  observance  of  all  the  other  points  of  it,  is  a  breach  of  the 
whole,  because  the  authority  of  God,  which  gives  sanction  to 
the  whole,  is  slighted.  The  obedience  to  the  rest  is  dissembled  : 
for  the  love,  which  is  the  root  of  all  obedience,  is  wanting;  for 
"  love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law."  Rom.  xiii.  10.  The  rest  are 
obeyed  because  they  cross  not  carnal  desire  so  much  as  the 
other,  and  so  it  is  an  observance  of  himself,  not  of  God.  Besides, 
the  authority  of  God,  which  is  not  prevalent  to  restrain  us  from 
the  breach  of  one  point,  would  be  of  as  little  force  with  us  to 
restrain  us  from  the  breach  of  all  the  rest,  did  the  allurements 
of  the  flesh  give  us  as  strong  a  diversion  from  the  one,  as  from 
the  other;  and  though  the  command  that  is  transgressed  be  the 
least  in  the  whole  law,  yet  the  authority  which  enjoins  it  is  the 
same  with  that  which  enacts  the  greatest.  And  it  is  not  so 
much  the  matter  of  the  command,  as  the  authority  commanding 
which  lays  the  obligation. 

This  is  also  seen  in  the  natural  averseness  to  the  declarations 
of  God's  will  and  mind,  which  way  soever  they  tend.  Since 
man  affected  to  be  as  God, he  desires  to  be  boundless;  he  would 
not  have  fetters,  though  they  be  golden  ones,  and  conduce  to 
his  happiness;  though  the  law  of  God  be  a  strength  to  them, 
yet  they  will  not;  "  In  returning  shall  be  your  strength,  and 
you  would  not."  Isa.  xxx.  15.  They  would  not  have  a  bridle 
to  restrain  them  from  running  into  the  pit,  nor  be  hedged  in  by 
the  law,  though  for  their  security:  as  if  they  thought  it  too 
slavish  and  low-spirited  a  thing  to  be  guided  by  the  will  of 
another.  Hence  man  is  compared  to  a  wild  ass,  that  loves  to 
snuff  up  the  wind  in  the  wilderness  at  her  pleasure,  rather  than 
come  under  the  guidance  of  God.  Jer.  ii.  24.  From  whatsoever 
quarter  of  the  heavens  you  pursue  her,  she  will  run  the  other. 

The  Israelites  could  not  endure  what  was  commanded,  Heb. 
xii.  20,  though,  in  regard  of  the  moral  part,  agreeable  to  what 
they  found  written  in  their  own  nature;  and  to  the  observance 
whereof  they  had  the  highest  obligations  of  any  people  under 
heaven,  since  God  had  by  many  prodigies  delivered  them  from 
a  cruel  slavery;  the  memory  of  which  prefaced  the  decalogue; 
"  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  which  have  brought  thee  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage."    Exod.  xx.  2. 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  ]j  j 

They  could  not  think  of  the  rule  of  their  duty,  but  they  must 
reflect  upon  the  grand  incentive  of  it  in  their  redemption  from 
Egyptian  thraldom.  Yet  this  people  were  cross  to  God,  which 
way  soever  he  moved  :  when  they  were  in  the  brick-kilns,  tbey 
cried  for  deliverance;  when  they  had  heavenly  manna,  tbey 
longed  for  their  onions  and  garlick.  In  Numb.  xiv.  3,  tbey 
repent  of  their  deliverance  from  Egypt,  and  talk  of  returning 
again  to  seek  the  remedy  of  their  evils  in  tbe  bands  of  their 
most  cruel  enemies;  and  would  rather  put  themselves  into  tbe 
irons,  whence  God  hath  delivered  them,  than  believe  one  word 
of  the  promise  of  God  for  giving  them  a  fruitful  land.  But 
when  Moses  tells  them  God's  order,  that  they  should  turn  back- 
by  the  way  of  the  Red  sea,  ver.  25,  and  that  God  had  confirmed 
it  by  an  oath,  that  they  should  not  see  the  land  of  Canaan,  ver. 
28,  they  then  run  cross  to  this  command  of  God,  and  instead  of 
marching  towards  the  Red  sea,  which  they  had  wished  for 
before,  they  will  go  up  to  Canaan,  as  in  spite  of  God  and  his 
threatening:  "We  will  go  to  the  place  which  the  Lord  hath 
promised,"  ver.  40;  which  Moses  calls  a  transgressing  the 
commandment  of  the  Lord,  ver.  41.  They  would  presume  to 
go  up,  notwithstanding  Moses's  prohibition,  and  are  smitten  by 
tbe  Amalekites.  When  God  gives  them  a  precept,  with  a 
promise  to  go  up  to  Canaan,  they  long  for  Egypt;  when  God 
commands  them  to  return  to  the  Red  sea,  which  was  nearer  to 
the  place  they  longed  for,  they  will  shift  sides  and  go  up  to 
Canaan.1  And  when  they  found  they  were  to  traverse  the 
solitudes  of  the  desert,  they  took  pet  against  God;  and  instead 
of  thanking  him  for  the  late  victory  against  the  Canaanites, 
they  reproach  him  for  his  conduct  from  Egypt,  and  the  manna 
wherewith  he  nourished  them  in  the  wilderness.  They  would 
not  go  to  Canaan,  the  way  God  had  chosen,  nor  preserve 
themselves  by  the  means  God  had  ordained.  They  would  not 
be  at  God's  disposal,  but  complain  of  the  badness  of  the  way, 
and  the  lightness  of  manna,  empty  of  any  necessary  juice  to 
sustain  their  nature.  They  murmuringly  solicit  tbe  will  and 
power  of  God  to  change  all  that  order  which  he  had  resolved 
in  his  council,  and  take  another,  conformable  to  their  vain, 
foolish  desires.  And  they  signified  thereby  that  they  would 
invade  his  conduct,  and  that  he  should  act  according  to  their 
fancy;  which  the  psalmist  calls  a  tempting  of  God,  and  limiting 
the  Holy  One  of  Israel.  Psa.  lxxviii.  41. 

To  what  point  soever  the  declarations  of  God  stand,  the  will 
of  man  turns  the  quite  contrary  way.  Is  not  the  conduct  of 
this  nation  the  best  then  in  the  world  for  discovery  of  the  depth 
of  our  natural  corruption;  how  cross  man  is  to  God:  and  that 
charge  God  brings  against  them,  may  be  brought  against  all 

'  Numb.  xxi.  4,  5.  and  Daille  Serm.  1  Cor.  x.  Ser.  9.  p.  234,  235.  40. 


1X2  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

men  by  nature,  that  they  despise  his  judgments,  and  have  a 
rooted  abhorrence  of  his  statutes  in  their  soul,  Lev.  xxvi.  43. 
No  sooner  had  they  recovered  from  one  rebellion,  but  they  re- 
volted to  another.  So  difficult  a  thing  it  is  for  man's  nature  to 
be  rendered  capable  of  conforming  to  the  will  of  God.  The 
carriage  of  his  people  is  but  a  copy  of  the  nature  of  mankind, 
and  is  written  for  our  admonition,  1  Cor.  x.  11.  From  this 
temper  men  are  said  to  make  void  the  law  of  God,  Psal.  cxix. 
126 ;  to  make  it  of  no  obligation,  an  antiquated  and  moth-eaten 
record.  And  the  pharisees,  by  setting  up  their  traditions  against 
the  will  of  God,  are  said  to  make  his  law  of  none  effect,  to  strip 
it  of  all  its  authority,  as  the  word  signifies,  Matt.  xv.  6.  r,xvpCaa,ts. 

Again,  we  have  the  greatest  slight  of  that  will  of  God  which 
is  most  for  his  honour  and  his  greatest  pleasure.  It  is  the  na- 
ture of  man,  ever  since  Adam,  to  do  so.  God  "  desired  mercy 
and  not  sacrifice,  the  knowledge  of  himself  more  than  burnt 
offering;  but  they,  like  men,  (as  Adam,)  have  trangressed  the 
covenant,"  invaded  God's  rights,  and  not  let  him  be  Lord  of 
one  tree.  Hos.  vi.  6,  7. 

We  are  more  curious  observers  of  the  fringes  of  the  law, 
than  of  the  greater  concerns  of  it.  The  Jews  were  diligent  in 
sacrifices  and  offerings,  which  God  did  not  urge  upon  them  as 
principles,  but  as  types  of  other  things,  but  negligent  of  the 
faith  which  was  to  be  established  by  him:  holiness,  mercy, 
pity,  which  concerned  the  honour  of  God,  as  Governor  of  the 
world,  and  were  imitations  of  the  holiness  and  goodness  of 
God,  they  were  strangers  to.  This  is  God's  complaint.  Isa.  i. 
11,  12,  16,  17. 

We  shall  find  our  hearts  most  averse  to  the  observation  of 
those  laws  which  are  eternal  and  essential  to  righteousness; 
such  that  he  could  not  but  command,  as  he  is  a  righteous  Gover- 
nor; in  the  observation  of  which,  we  come  nearest  to  him  and 
express  his  image  most  clearly;  as  those  laws  for  an  inward 
and  spiritual  worship,  a  supreme  affection  to  him.  God  in  re- 
gard of  the  righteousness  and  holiness  of  his  nature,  and  the 
excellency  of  his  being,  could  not  command  the  contrary  to 
these.  But  this  part  of  his  will  our  hearts  most  swell  against, 
our  corruption  doth  most  snarl  at;  whereas  those  laws  which 
are  only  positive,  and  have  no  intrinsic  righteousness  in  them, 
but  depend  purely  upon  the  will  of  the  Lawgiver,  and  may  be 
changed  at  his  pleasure,  (which  the  other,  that  have  an  intrin- 
sic righteousness  in  them,  cannot,)  we  better  comply  with,  than 
that  part  of  his  will  that  doth  express  more  the  righteousness 
of  his  nature,  Psal.  1.  6.  17.  19;  such  as  the  ceremonial  part  of 
worship,  and  the  ceremonial  law  among  the  Jews.  We  are 
more  willing  to  observe  order  in  some  outward  attendances 
and  ostentatious  devotions,  than  discard  secret  affections  to 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  U3 

evil,  crucify  inward  lusts  and  delightful  thoughts.  A  hanging 
down  the  head  like  a  bulrush  is  not  difficult,  but  the  breaking 
the  heart  like  a  potter's  vessel  to  shreds  and  dust,  (a  sacrifice 
God  delights  in,  whereby  the  excellency  of  God  and  the  vile- 
ness  of  the  creature  is  owned)  goes  against  the  grain.  To  cut 
off  an  outward  branch  is  not  so  hard  as  to  hack  at  the  root. 
What  God  most  loathes,  as  most  contrary  to  his  will,  we  most 
love:  no  sin  did  God  so  severely  hate,  and  no  sin  were  the 
Jews  more  inclined  unto,  than  that  of  idolatry.  The  heathen 
had  not  changed  their  gods,  as  the  Jews  had  changed  their 
glory.  Jer.  ii.  11.  And  all  men  are  naturally  tainted  with  this 
sin,  which  is  so  contrary  to  the  holy  and  excellent  nature  of 
God.  By  how  much  the  more  defect  there  is  of  purity  in  our 
respects  to  God,  by  so  much  the  more  respect  there  is  to  some 
idol  within  or  without  us — to  humour,  custom,  or  interest. 

Never  did  any  law  of  God  meet  with  so  much  opposition  as 
Christianity,  which  was  the  design  of  God,  from  the  first  pro- 
mise to  the  exhibiting  of  the  Redeemer,  and  from  thence  to  the 
end  of  the  world.  All  people  drew  swords  at  first  against  it: 
the  Romans  prepared  yokes  for  their  neighbours,  but  provided 
temples  for  the  idols  those  people  worshipped.  But  Christianity, 
the  choicest  design  and  most  delightful  part  of  the  will  of  God, 
never  met  with  a  kind  entertainment  at  first  in  any  place. 
Rome,  that  entertained  all  others,  persecuted  this  with  fire  and 
sword,  though  sealed  by  greater  testimonies  from  heaven,  than 
their  own  records  could  report  in  favour  of  their  idols. 

And  we  run  great  hazards,  and  expose  ourselves  to  more 
trouble  to  cross  the  will  of  God  than  is  necessary  to  the  observ- 
ance of  it.  It  is  a  vain  charge  men  bring  against  the  divine 
precepts,  that  they  are  rigorous,  severe,  and  difficult;  when, 
besides  the  contradiction  to  our  Saviour,  who  tells  us  his  yoke 
is  easy  and  his  burden  light,  they  thwart  their  own  calm  reason 
and  judgment.  Is  there  not  more  difficulty  to  be  vicious,  covet- 
ous, violent,  cruel,  than  to  be  virtuous,  charitable,  kind?  Doth 
the  will  of  God  enjoin  that  which  is  not  conformable  to  right 
reason,  and  secretly  delightful  in  the  exercise  and  issue?  And, 
on  the  contrary,  what  doth  Satan  and  the  world  engage  us  in, 
that  is  not  full  of  molestation  and  hazard?  Is  it  a  sweet  and 
comely  thing  to  combat  continually  against  our  own  con- 
sciences, and  resist  our  own  light,  and  commence  a  perpetual 
quarrel  against  ourselves,  as  we  ordinarily  do  when  we  sin? 
They  in  the  prophet  would  be  at  the  expense  of  thousands  of 
rams,  and  ten  thousand  rivers  of  oil,  if  they  could  compass 
them;  yea,  would  strip  themselves  of  their  natural  affection  to 
their  first-born  to  expiate  the  sin  of  their  soul,  rather  than  do 
justice,  love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly  with  God,  Mic.  vi. 
6 — 8;  things  more  conducive  to  the  honour  of  God,  the  wel- 
Vol.  I. — 15 


114  0N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

fare  of  the  world,  the  security  of  their  souls,  and  of  a  more 
easy  practice  than  the  offerings  they  wished  for. 

Do  not  men  then  disown  God  when  they  will  walk  in  ways 
hedged  with  thorns,  wherein  they  meet  with  the  arrows  of 
conscience  at  every  turn  in  their  sides,  and  slide  down  to  an 
everlasting  punishment,  sink  under  an  intolerable  slavery  to 
contradict  the  will  of  God?  When  they  will  prefer  a  sensual 
satisfaction,  with  remorse  in  their  consciences,  violation  of 
their  reason,  gnawing  cares  and  weary  travels,  before  the 
honour  of  God,  the  dignity  of  their  natures,  the  happiness  of 
peace  and  health,  which  might  be  preserved  at  a  cheaper  rate, 
than  they  are  at  to  destroy  them? 

It  is  also  seen  in  the  unwillingness  and  awkwardness  of  the 
heart,  when  it  is  to  pay  God  a  service.  Men  do  evil  with  both 
hands  earnestly,  Mic.  vii.  3,  but  do  good  with  one  hand  faintly; 
no  life  in  the  heart,  nor  any  diligence  in  the  hand.  What  slight 
and  loose  thoughts  of  God  doth  this  unwillingness  imply!  It  is 
a  wrong  to  his  providence,  as  though  we  were  not  under  his 
government,  and  had  no  need  of  his  assistance;  a  wrong  to  his 
excellency,  as  though  there  were  no  amiableness  in  him  to 
make  his  service  desirable ;  an  injury  to  his  goodness  and 
power,  as  if  he  were  not  able  or  willing  to  reward  the  crea- 
ture's obedience,  or  careless  not  to  take  notice  of  it.  It  is  a 
sign  we  receive  little  satisfaction  in  him,  and  that  there  is  a 
great  unsuitableness  between  him  and  us. 

There  is  a  kind  of  constraint  in  the  first  engagement.  We 
are  rather  pressed  to  it  than  enter  ourselves  volunteers.  What 
we  call  service  to  God,  is  done  naturally  much  against  our 
wills;  it  is  not  a  delightful  food,  but  a  bitter  potion ;  we  are 
rather  haled,  than  run  to  it.  There  is  a  contradiction  of  sin 
within  us  against  our  service,  as  there  was  a  contradiction  of 
sinners  without  our  Saviour  against  his  doing  the  will  of  God. 
Our  hearts  are  unwieldy  to  any  spiritual  service  of  God;  we 
are  fain  to  use  a  violence  with  them  sometimes.  Hezekiah,  it 
is  said,  walked  before  the  Lord  with  a  perfect  heart,  2  Kings 
xx.  3;  he  walked,  '  he  made  himself  to  walk.'  Man  naturally 
cares  not  for  a  walk  with  God:  if  he  hath  any  communion  with 
him,  it  is  with  such  a  dulness  and  heaviness  of  spirit,  as  if  he 
wished  himself  out  of  his  company.  Man's  nature,  being  con- 
trary to  holiness,  hath  an  aversion  to  any  act  of  homage  to 
God,  because  holiness  must  at  least  be  pretended.  In  every 
duty  wherein  we  have  a  communion  with  God,  holiness  is  re- 
quisite. Now  as  men  are  against  the  truth  of  holiness,  because 
it  is  unsuitable  to  them,  so  they  are  not  friends  to  those  duties 
which  require  it,  and  for  some  space  divert  them  from  the 
thoughts  of  their  beloved  lusts.  The  word  of  the  Lord  is  a 
yoke,  prayer  a  drudgery,  obedience  a  strange  element.     We 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  \  \  5 

are  like  fish,  that  drink  up  iniquity  like  water,  Job  xv.  16,  and 
come  not  to  the  bank  without  the  force  of  an  angle;  no  more 
willing  to  do  service  for  God,  than  a  fish  is  of  itself  to  do  ser- 
vice for  man.  It  is  a  constrained  act  to  satisfy  conscience,  and 
such  are  servile,  not  son-like  performances,  and  spring  from 
bondage  more  than  affection:  if  conscience,  like  a  task-master, 
did  not  scourge  them  to  duty,  they  would  never  perform  it. 

Let  us  appeal  to  ourselves,  whether  we  are  not  more  unwil- 
ling to  secret,  closet,  hearty  duty  to  God,  than  to  join  with  others 
in  some  external  service;  as  if  those  inward  services  were  a 
going  to  the  rack,  and  rather  our  penance  than  privilege.  How 
much  service  hath  God  in  the  world  from  the  same  principle 
that  vagrants  perform  their  task  in  bridewell!  How  glad  are 
many  of  evasions  to  back  them  in  the  neglect  of  the  commands 
of  God,  of  corrupt  reasonings  from  the  flesh  to  waylay  an  act 
of  obedience,  and  a  multitude  of  excuses  to  blunt  the  edge  of 
the  precept !  The  very  service  of  God  shall  be  a  pretence  to 
deprive  him  of  the  obedience  due  to  him.  Saul  will  not  be 
ruled  by  God's  will  in  the  destroying  the  cattle  of  the  Amalek- 
ites  but  by  his  own:  and  will  impose  upon  the  will  and  wisdom 
of  God,  judging  God  mistaken  in  his  command,  and  that  the 
cattle  God  thought  fittest  to  be  meat  to  the  fowls,  were  fitter  to 
be  sacrifices  on  the  altar.  1  Sam.  xv.  3.  9.  15.  21. 

If  we  do  perform  any  part  of  his  will,  is  it  not  for  our  own 
ends,  to  have  some  deliverance  from  trouble?  "  In  trouble  have 
they  visited  thee;  they  poured  out  a  prayer  when  thy  chasten- 
ing was  upon  them."  Isa.  xxvi.  1G.  In  affliction  he  shall  find 
them  kneeling  in  homage  and  devotion.  In  prosperity  he  shall 
feel  them  kicking  with  contempt.  They  can  pour  out  a  prayer 
in  distress,  and  scarce  drop  one  when  they  are  delivered. 

There  is  a  slightness  in  our  service  of  God.  We  are  loth  to 
come  into  his  presence,  and  when  we  do  come,  we  are  loth  to 
continue  with  him.  We  pay  not  a  homage  to  him  heartily,  as 
to  our  Lord  and  Governor;  we  regard  him  not  as  our  Master, 
whose  work  we  ought  to  do,  and  whose  honour  we  ought  to 
aim  at. 

In  regard  to  the  matter  of  service.  When  the  torn,  the  lame, 
and  the  sick  are  offered  to  God,  Mai.  i.  13,  14;  so  thin  and  lean 
a  sacrifice,  that  you  might  have  thrown  it  to  the  ground  with 
a  puff,  so  some  understand  the  meaning  of  the  words,  "  you 
have  snufled  at  it."  Men  have  naturally  such  slight  thoughts 
of  the  majesty  and  law  of  God,  that  they  think  any  service  is 
good  enough  for  him,  and  conformable  to  his  law.  The  dullest 
and  deadest  times  we  think  fittest  to  pay  God  a  service  in; 
when  sleep  is  ready  to  close  our  eyes,  and  we  are  unfit  to  serve 
ourselves,  we  think  it  a  fit  time  to  open  our  hearts  to  God. 
How  few  morning  sacrifices  hath  God  from  many  persons  and 


]\Q  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

families?  Men  leap  out  of  their  beds  to  their  carnal  pleasures  or 
worldly  employments,  without  any  thought  of  their  Creator 
and  Preserver,  or  any  reflection  upon  his  will  as  the  rule  of  our 
daily  obedience.  And  as  many  reserve  the  dregs  of  their  lives, 
their  old  age,  to  offer  up  their  souls  to  God;  so  they  reserve  the 
dregs  of  the  day,  their  sleeping  time,  for  the  offering  up  their 
service  to  him.  How  many  grudge  to  spend  their  best  time  in 
the  serving  the  will  of  God,  and  reserve  for  him  the  sickly  and 
rheumatic  part  of  their  lives;  the  remainder  of  that  which  the 
devil  and  their  own  lusts  have  fed  upon  ! 

Would  not  any  prince  or  governor  judge  a  present  half  eaten 
up  by  wild  beasts,  or  that  which  died  in  a  ditch,  a  contempt  of 
Ins  royalty?  A  corrupt  thing  is  too  base  and  vile  for  so  great  a 
king  as  God  is,  whose  name  is  dreadful.  Mai.  i.  14.  When  by 
age  men  are  weary  of  their  own  bodies,  they  would  present 
them  to  God;  yet  grudgingly,  as  if  a  tired  body  were  too  good 
for  him,  snuffing  at  the  command  for  service.  God  calls  for  our 
best,  and  we  give  him  the  worst. 

In  respect  of  frame.  We  think  any  frame  will  serve  God's 
turn,  which  speaks  our  slight  of  God  as  a  Ruler.  Man  natu- 
rally performs  duty  with  an  unholy  heart,  whereby  it  becomes 
an  abomination  to  God:  "  He  that  turneth  away  his  ear  from 
hearing  the  law,  even  his  prayer  shall  be  abomination"  to  God. 
Prov.  xxviii.  9.  The  services  which  he  commands,  he  hates  for 
their  evil  frames  or  corrupt  ends,  "  I  hate,  I  despise  your  feast- 
days,  and  I  will  not  smell  in  your  solemn  assemblies."  Amos 
v.  21.  God  requires  gracious  services,  and  we  give  him  corrupt 
ones.  We  do  not  rouse  up  our  hearts,  as  David  called  upon  his 
lute  and  harp  to  awake.  Psa.  lvii.  8.  Our  hearts  are  not  given 
to  him,  we  put  him  off  with  bodily  exercise:  the  heart  is  but 
ice  to  what  it  doth  not  affect.  There  is  not  that  natural  vigour 
in  the  observance  of  God,  which  we  have  in  worldly  business: 
when  we  see  a  liveliness  in  men  in  other  things,  change  the 
scene  into  a  motion  towards  God,  how  suddenly  doth  their 
vigour  shrink,  and  their  hearts  freeze  into  sluggishness!  Many 
times  we  serve  God  as  languishingly  as  if  we  were  afraid  he 
should  accept  us,  and  pray  as  coldly  as  if  we  were  unwilling  he 
should  hear  us,  and  take  away  that  lust  by  which  we  are  gov- 
erned, and  which  conscience  forces  us  to  pray  against,  as  if  we 
were  afraid  God  should  set  up  his  own  throne  and  government 
in  our  hearts.  How  fleeting  are  we  in  Divine  meditation,  how 
sleepy  in  spiritual  exercises  !  but  in  other  exercises  how  active! 
The  soul  doth  not  awaken  itself,  and  excite  those  animal  and 
vital  spirits,  which  it  will  in  bodily  recreations  and  sports; 
much  less  the  powers  of  the  soul;  whereby  it  is  evident  we 
prefer  the  latter  before  any  service  to  God.  Since  there  is  a 
fulness  of  animal  spirits,  why  might  they  not  be  excited  in  holy 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 


117 


duties  as  well  as  in  other  operations,  but  that  there  is  a  reluc- 
tancy  in  the  soul  to  exercise  its  supremacy  in  this  case,  and 
perform  any  thing  becoming  a  creature  in  subjection  to  God  as 
a  Ruler? 

It  is  evident  also  in  the  distractions  we  have  in  his  service: 
how  loth  arc  we  to  serve  God  fixedly  one  hour,  nay,  a  part  of 
an  hour,  notwithstanding  all  the  thoughts  of  his  majesty,  and 
the  eternity  of  glory  set  before  our  eye?  What  man  is  there 
since  the  fall  of  Adam,  that  served  God  one  hour  without  many 
wanderings  and  unsuitable  thoughts  unfit  for  that  service?  How 
ready  are  our  hearts  to  start  out,  and  unite  themselves  with 
any  worldly  objects  that  please  us! 

Weariness  in  it  evidenceth  it.  To  be  weary  of  our  dulness 
signifies  a  desire;  to  be  weary  of  service  signifies  a  discontent 
to  be  ruled  by  God.  How  tired  are  we  in  the  performance 
of  spiritual  duties,  when  in  the  vain  triflings  of  time  we  have 
a  perpetual  motion!  How  will  many  willingly  revel  whole 
nights,  when  their  hearts  will  flag  at  the  threshold  of  a  reli- 
gious service!  Like  Dagon,  1  Sam.  v.  4,  we  lose  both  our  heads 
to  think,  and  hands  to  act,  when  the  ark  of  God  is  present. 
Some  in  the  prophet  wished  the  new  moon  and  the  sabbath 
over,  that  they  might  sell  their  corn,  and  be  busied  again  in 
their  worldly  affairs.  Amos  viii.  5.  A  slight  and  weariness  of 
the  sabbath  was  a  slight  of  the  Lord  of  the  sabbath,  and  of  that 
freedom  from  the  yoke  and  rule  of  sin,  which  was  signified  by 
it.  The  design  of  the  sacrifices  in  the  new  moon  was  to  sig- 
nify a  rest  from  the  tyranny  of  sin,  and  a  consecration  to  the 
spiritual  service  of  God.  Servants  that  are  quickly  weary  of 
their  work,  are  weary  of  the  authority  of  their  master,  that 
enjoins  it.  If  our  hearts  had  a  value  for  God,  it  would  be  with 
us  as  with  the  needle  to  the  loadstone;  there  would  be  upon 
his  beck  a  speedy  motion  to  him,  and  a  fixed  union  with  him. 
When  the  judgments  and  affections  of  the  saints  shall  be  fully 
refined  in  glory,  they  shall  be  willing  to  behold  the  face  of  God, 
and  be  under  his  government  to  eternity,  without  any  weari- 
ness: as  the  holy  angels  have  owned  God  as  their  sovereign 
nearly  these  six  thousand  years,  without  being  weary  of  run- 
ning on  his  errands.  But  alas!  while  the  flesh  clogs  us,  there 
will  be  some  relics  of  unwillingness  to  hear  his  injunctions,  and 
weariness  in  performing  them;  though  men  may  excuse  those 
things  by  extrinsic  causes,  yet  God's  unerring  judgment  calls 
it  a  weariness  of  himself.  "Thou  hast  not  called  upon  me,  0 
Jacob;  but  thou  hast  been  weary  of  me,  0  Israel."  Isa.  xliii. 
22.  Of  this  he  taxeth  his  own  people,  when  he  tells  them  he 
would  have  the  beasts  of  the  field,  the  dragons  and  the  owls; 
the  gentiles,  that  the  Jews  counted  no  better  than  such,  to  honour 


1X8  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

him  and  acknowledge  him  their  rule  in  a  way  of  duty.  Ver. 
20,  21. 

This  contempt  is  seen  in  a  deserting  the  rule  of  God,  when 
our  expectations  are  not  answered  upon  our  service.  When 
services  are  performed  from  carnal  principles,  they  are  soon 
cast  off  when  carnal  ends  meet  not  with  desired  satisfaction. 
Bat  when  we  own  ourselves  God's  servants,  and  God  our 
Master,  our  eyes  will  wait  upon  him  till  he  have  mercy  on  us. 
Psal.  cxxiii.  2.  It  is  one  part  of  the  duty  we  owe  to  God  as 
our  master  in  heaven,  to  continue  in  prayer,  Col.  iv.  1,2;  and 
by  the  same  reason  in  all  other  service,  and  to  watch  in  the 
same  with  thanksgiving.  To  watch  for  occasions  of  praise,  to 
watch  with  cheerfulness  for  further  manifestations  of  his  will, 
strength  to  perform  it,  success  in  the  performance,  that  we  may 
from  all  draw  matter  of  praise:  as  we  are  in  a  posture  of  obe- 
dience to  his  precepts,  so  we  should  be  in  a  posture  of  waiting 
for  the  blessing  of  it. 

But  naturally  we  reject  the  duty  we  owe  to  God,  if  he  do 
not  speed  the  blessing  we  expect  from  him.  How  many  do 
secretly  mutter  the  same  as  they  in  Job  xxi.  15,  "  What  is  the 
Almighty,  that  we  should  serve  him?  and  what  profit  shall  we 
have  if  we  pray  to  him  ?"  They  serve  not  God  out  of  con- 
science to  his  commands,  but  for  some  carnal  profit ;  and  if 
God  make  them  to  wait  for  it,  they  will  not  stay  his  leisure, 
but  cease  soliciting  him  any  longer.  Two  things  are  expressed 
that  God  was  not  worthy  of  any  homage  from  them.  "  What 
is  the  Almighty,  that  we  should  serve  him:"  and  that  the  ser- 
vice of  him  would  not  bring  them  in  a  good  revenue,  or  an 
advantage  of  that  kind  they  expected.  Interest  drives  many 
men  on  to  some  kind  of  service,  and  when  they  do  not  find  an 
advance  of  that,  they  will  acknowledge  God  no  more;  but  like 
some  beggars,  if  you  give  them  not  upon  their  asking,  and  call- 
ing you  good  master,  from  blessing  they  will  turn  to  cursing. 

How  often  do  men  do  that  secretly,  practically,  if  not  plainly, 
which  Job's  wife  advised  him  to,  "  curse  God,"  and  cast  off 
that  disguise  of  integrity  they  had  assumed.  "  Dost  thou  still 
retain  thine  integrity  ?  Curse  God."  Job  ii.  9.  What  a  stir, 
and  pulling,  and  crying  is  here!  cast  off  all  thoughts  of  religious 
service,  and  be  at  daggers-drawing  with  that  God,  who  for  all 
thy  service  of  him  has  made  thee  so  wretched  a  spectacle  to 
men  and  a  banquet  for  worms!  The  like  temper  is  deciphered 
in  the  Jews:  "  It  is  in  vain  to  serve  God;  and  what  profit  is  it 
that  we  have  kept  his  ordinance,  and  that  we  have  walked 
mournfully  before  the  Lord?"  Mai.  iii.  14.  What  profit  is  it 
that  we  have  regarded  his  statutes,  and  carried  ourselves  in  a 
way  of  subjection  to  God,  as  our  Sovereign,  when  we  inherit 
nothing  but  sorrow,  and  our  idolatrous  neighbours  swim  in  all 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 


119 


kind  of  pleasures?  As  If  it  were  the  most  miserable  thing  to 
acknowledge  God.  If  men  have  not  the  benefits  they  expect, 
they  think  God  unrighteous  in  himself,  and  injurious  to  them, 
in  not  conferring  the  favour  they  imagine  they  have  merited: 
and  if  they  have  not  that  recompense,  they  will  deny  God  that 
subjection  they  owe  to  him  as  creatures.  Grace  moves  to  God 
upon  a  sense  of  duty;  corrupt  nature  upon  a  sense  of  interest: 
sincerity  is  encouraged  by  gracious  returns,  but  is  not  melted 
away  by  God's  delay  or  refusal;  corrupt  nature  would  have 
God  at  its  beck,  and  steers  a  course  of  duty  by  hope  of  some 
carnal  profit,  not  by  a  sense  of  the  sovereignty  of  God. 

This  contempt  is  seen  in  breaking  promises  with  God. 
"  One  while  the  conscience  of  a  man  makes  vows  of  new 
obedience,  and  perhaps  binds  himself  with  many  an  oath,  but 
they  prove  like  Jonah's  gourd,  withering  the  next  day  after 
their  birth.  This  was  Pharaoh's  temper;  under  a  storm  he 
would  submit  to  God,  and  let  Israel  go;  but  when  the  storm  is 
ended,  he  will  not  be  under  God's  control;  and  Israel's  slavery 
shall  be  increased.  The  fear  of  Divine  wrath  makes  many  a 
sinner  turn  his  back  upon  his  sin,  and  the  love  of  his  ruling 
lust  makes  him  turn  his  back  upon  his  true  Lord.  This  is  from 
the  prevalency  of  sin,  that  disputes  with  God  for  the  sove- 
reignty."1 

When  God  hath  sent  a  sharp  disease,  as  a  messenger  to  bind 
men  to  their  beds,  and  make  an  interruption  of  their  sinful 
pleasures,  their  mouths  are  full  of  promises  of  a  new  life,  in 
hope  to  escape  the  just  vengeance  of  God.  The  sense  of  hell 
which  strikes  strongly  upon  them,  makes  them  full  of  such  pre- 
tended resolutions  when  they  howl  upon  their  beds.  But  if 
God  be  pleased  in  his  patience  to  give  them  a  respite,  to  take 
oil*  the  chains  wherewith  he  seemed  to  be  binding  them  for 
destruction,  and  recruit  their  strength,  they  are  more  earnest  in 
their  sins,  than  they  were  in  their  promises  of  a  reformation; 
as  if  they  had  got  the  mastery  of  God,  and  had  outwitted  him. 
How  often  doth  God  charge  them  with  not  returning  to  him 
after  a  succession  of  judgments  !  Amos  iv.  6.  10,  11.  So  hard 
it  is,  not  only  to  allure,  but  to  scourge  men  to  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  God  as  their  Ruler. 

Consider  then, 

Are  we  not  naturally  inclined  to  disobey  the  known  will  of 
God?  Can  we  say,  Lord,  for  thy  sake  we  refrain  the  thing  to 
which  our  hearts  incline?  Do  we  not  allow  ourselves  to  be 
licentious,  earthly,  vain,  proud,  revengeful,  though  we  know  it 
will  offend  him?  Have  we  not  been  peevishly  cross  to  his 
declared  will,  and  run  counter  to  him  and  those  laws  which 
express  most  of  the  glory  of  his  holiness?  Is  not  this  to  disown 

1  Reynolds. 


120  0N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

him  as  our  rule  ?  Did  we  never  wish  there  were  no  law  to  bind 
us,  no  precept  to  check  our  idols?  What  is  this,  but  to  wish 
that  God  would  depose  himself  from  being  our  governor,  and 
leave  us  to  our  own  conduct  ?  or  else  to  wish  that  he  were  as 
unholy  as  ourselves,  as  careless  of  his  own  laws  as  we  are,  that 
is,  that  he  were  no  more  a  God  than  we,  a  God  as  sinful  and 
unrighteous  as  ourselves?  He  whose  heart  riseth  against  the 
law  of  God  to  unlaw  it,  riseth  against  the  Author  of  that  law 
to  undeify  him.  He  that  casts  contempt  upon  the  dearest  thing 
God  hath  in  the  world,  that  which  is  the  image  of  his  holiness, 
the  delight  of  his  soul;  that  which  he  hath  given  a  special 
charge  to  maintain,  and  that  because  it  is  holy,  just,  and  good ; 
would  not  stick  to  rejoice  at  the  destruction  of  God  himself.  If 
God's  holiness  and  righteousness  in  the  stream  be  despised, 
much  more  will  an  immense  goodness  and  holiness  in  the  foun- 
tain be  rejected.  He  that  wisheth  a  beam  far  from  his  eyes, 
because  it  offends  and  scorches  him,  can  be  no  friend  to  the 
sun,  from  whence  that  beam  doth  issue.  How  unworthy  a 
creature  is  man,  since  he  only,  a  rational  creature,  is  the  sole 
being  that  withdraws  itself  from  the  rule  of  God  in  this  earth! 
And  how  miserable  a  creature  is  he  also,  since  departing  from 
the  order  of  God's  goodness,  he  falls  into  the  order  of  his  jus- 
tice; and  while  he  refuseth  God  to  be  the  rule  of  his  life,  he 
cannot  avoid  him  being  the  judge  of  his  punishment?  It  is 
this  is  the  original  of  all  sin,  and  the  fountain  of  all  our  misery. 

This  is  the  first  thing  man  disowns,  the  rule  which  God  sets 
him. 

(2.)  Man  naturally  owns  any  other  rule  than  that  of  God's 
prescribing.  The  law  of  God  orders  one  thing,  the  heart  of  man 
desires  another.  There  is  not  the  basest  thing  in  the  world,  but 
man  would  sooner  submit  to  be  guided  by  it.  rather  than  by  the 
holiness  of  God;  and  when  any  thing  that  God  commands 
crosses  our  own  wills,  we  value  it  no  more  than  we  would  the 
advice  of  a  poor  despicable  beggar. 

How  many  are  lovers  of  pleasure  more  than  lovers  of  God? 
2  Tim.  iii.  4.  To  make  something  which  contributes  to  the  per- 
fection of  nature,  as  learning,  wisdom,  moral  virtues,  our  rule, 
would  be  more  tolerable;  but  to  pay  that  homage  to  a  swinish 
pleasure,  which  is  the  right  of  God,  is  an  inexcusable  contempt 
of  him.  The  greatest  excellency  in  the  world  is  infinitely  below 
God;  much  more  a  bestial  delight,  which  is  both  disgraceful 
and  below  the  nature  of  man.  If  we  made  the  vilest  creature 
on  earth  our  idol,  it  is  more  excusable  than  to  be  the  slave  of 
a  brutish  pleasure.  The  viler  the  thing  is  that  doth  possess  the 
throne  in  our  heart,  the  greater  contempt  it  is  of  him  who  can 
only  claim  a  right  to  it,  and  is  worthy  of  it.  Sin  is  the  first 
object  of  man's  election,  as  soon  as  the  faculty  whereby  he 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  121 

chooses  comes  to  exercise  its  power:  and  it  is  so  dear  to  man, 
that  it  is,  in  the  estimate  of  our  Saviour,  counted  as  the  right 
hand,  and  the  right  eye,  dear,  precious  and  useful  members. 

[1.]  The  rule  of  Satan  is  owned  before  the  rule  of  God.  The 
natural  man  would  rather  be  under  the  guidance  of  Satan  than 
the  yoke  of  his  Creator.  Adam  chose  him  to  be  his  governor 
in  paradise.  No  sooner  had  Satan  spoke  of  God  in  a  way  of 
derision,  "Yea,  hath  God  said?"  Gen.  iii.  1.  5,  but  man  fol- 
lows his  counsel  and  approves  of  the  scoff;  and  the  greatest 
part  of  his  posterity  have  not  been  wiser  by  his  fall,  but  would 
rather  ramble  in  the  devil's  wilderness,  than  to  stay  in  God's 
fold.  It  is  by  the  sin  of  man  that  the  devil  is  become  the  god 
of  the  world,  as  if  men  were  the  electors  of  him  to  the  govern- 
ment: sin  is  an  election  of  him  for  a  lord,  and  a  putting  the  soul 
under  his  government.  Those  that  live  according  to  the  course 
of  the  world,  and  are  loth  to  displease  it,  are  under  the  govern- 
ment of  the  prince  of  it.  The  greatest  part  of  the  works  done 
in  the  world  is  to  enlarge  the  kingdom  of  Satan.  For  how 
many  ages  were  the  laws  whereby  the  greatest  part  of  the 
world  was  governed  in  the  affairs  of  religion,  the  fruits  of  his 
usurpation  and  policy,  when  temples  were  erected  to  him, 
priests  consecrated  to  his  service!  The  rites  used  in  most  of  the 
worship  of  the  world  were  either  of  his  own  coining,  or  the 
misapplying  the  rites  God  had  ordained,  to  himself  under  the 
notion  of  a  God:  whence  the  apostle  calls  all  idolatrous  feasts, 
the  table  of  devils,  the  cup  of  devils,  sacrifice  to  devils,  fellow- 
ship with  devils,  1  Cor.  x.  20,  21;  devils  being  the  real  object 
of  the  pagan  worship,  though  not  formally  intended  by  the 
worshipper:  though  in  some  parts  of  the  Indies,  the  direct  and 
peculiar  worship  is  to  the  devil,  that  he  might  not  hurt  them. 
And  though  the  intention  of  others  was  to  offer  to  God,  and  not 
the  devil,  yet,  since  the  action  was  contrary  to  the  will  of  God, 
he  regards  it  as  a  sacrifice  to  devils.  It  was  not  the  intention 
of  Jeroboam  to  establish  priests  to  the  devil,  when  he  conse- 
crated them  to  the  service  of  his  calves,  for  Jehu  afterwards 
calls  them  the  servants  of  the  Lord,  2  Kings  x.  23,  "  See  if  there 
be  here  none  of  the  servants  of  the  Lord,"  to  distinguish  them 
from  the  servants  of  Baal;  signifying  that  the  true  God  was 
worshipped  under  those  images,  and  not  Baal,  nor  any  of  the 
gods  of  the  heathens;  yet  Scripture  couples  the  calves  and 
devils  together,  and  ascribes  the  worship  given  to  one,  to  be 
given  to  the  other.  "He  ordained  him  priests  for  the  high 
places,  and  for  the  devils,  and  for  the  calves  which  he  had 
made;"  2  Chron.  xi.  15;  so  that  they  were  sacrifices  to  devils, 
not  withstanding  the  intention  of  Jeroboam  and  his  subjects  that 
had  set  them  up  and  worshipped  them;  because  they  were  con- 
trary to  the  mind  of  God,  and  agreeable  to  the  doctrine  and 
Vol.  I. —16 


122  0N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

mind  of  Satan,  though  the  object  of  their  worship  in  their  own 
intention  was  not  the  devil,  but  some  deified  man  or  some 
canonized  saint.  The  intention  makes  not  a  good  action:  if 
so,  when  men  kill  the  best  servants  of  God  with  a  design  to  do 
God  service,  as  our  Saviour  foretells,  John  xvi.  2,  the  action 
would  not  be  murder ;  yet  who  can  call  it  otherwise,  since  God 
is  wronged  in  the  persons  of  his  servants?  Since  most  of  the 
worship  of  the  world,  which  men's  corrupt  natures  incline  them 
to,  is  false,  and  different  from  the  revealed  will  of  God,  it  is  a 
practical  acknowledgment  of  the  devil,  as  the  governor,  by  ac- 
knowledging and  practising  those  doctrines,  which  have  not  the 
stamp  of  Divine  revelation  upon  them,  but  were  invented  by 
Satan  to  depress  the  honour  of  God  in  the  world.  It  doth  con- 
cern men  then  to  take  good  heed,  that  in  their  acts  of  worship 
they  have  a  Divine  rule;  otherwise  it  is  an  owning  the  devil  as 
the  rule:  for  there  is  no  medium.  Whatsoever  is  not  from  God, 
is  from  Satan. 

But  to  bring  this  closer  to  us,  and  consider  that  which  is  more 
common  among  us:  men  that  are  in  a  natural  condition  and 
wedded  to  their  lusts,  are  under  the  paternal  government  of  Sa- 
tan, "  Ye  are  of  your  father  the  devil,  and  the  lusts  of  your  father 
ye  will  do."  John  viii.  44.  If  we  divide  sin  into  spiritual  and 
carnal,  which  division  comprehends  all,  the  devil's  authority  is 
owned  in  both:  in  spiritual,  we  conform  to  his  example,  be- 
cause those  he  commits;  in  carnal,  we  obey  his  will,  because 
those  he  directs.  He  acts  the  one,  and  sets  us  a  copy:  he 
tempts  to  the  other,  and  gives  us  a  kind  of  a  precept.  Thus 
man  by  nature  being  a  willing  servant  of  sin,  is  more  desirous 
to  be  bound  in  the  devil's  iron  chains,  than  in  God's  silken 
cords. 

What  greater  atheism  can  there  be  than  to  use  God  as  if  he 
were  inferior  to  the  devil?  to  take  the  part  of  his  greatest 
enemy,  who  drew  all  others  into  the  faction  against  him?  to 
please  Satan  by  offending  God,  and  gratify  our  adversary 
with  the  injury  of  our  Creator?  For  a  subject  to  take  arms 
against  his  prince  with  the  deadliest  enemy,  that  both  himself 
and  prince  hath  in  the  whole  world,  adds  a  greater  blackness  to 
the  rebellion. 

[2.]  The  more  visible  rule  preferred  before  God  in  the  world, 
is  man.  The  opinion  of  the  world  is  more  our  rule  than  the 
precept  of  God;  and  many  men's  abstinence  from  sin  is  not 
from  a  sense  of  the  Divine  will,  no,  nor  from  a  principle  of  rea- 
son, but  from  an  affection  to  some  man  on  whom  they  depend, 
or  fear  of  punishment  from  a  superior:  the  same  principle  with 
that  in  a  ravenous  beast,  who  abstains  from  what  he  desires 
for  fear  only  of  a  stick  or  club.  Men  will  walk  with  the  herd, 
go  in  fashion  with  the  most,  speak  and  act  as  the  most  do. 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  123 

While  we  conform  to  the  world,  we  cannot  perform  a  reasona- 
ble service  to  God,  nor  prove,  nor  approve  practically  what 
the  good  and  acceptable  will  of  God  is.  The  apostle  puts  them 
in  opposition  to  one  another.  Rom.  xii.  1,  2. 

This  appears, 

In  complying  more  with  the  dictates  of  men  than  the  will  of 
God.  Men  draw  encouragement  from  God's  forbearance  to 
sin  more  freely  against  him;  but  the  fear  of  punishment  for 
breaking  the  will  of  man,  lays  a  restraint  upon  them.  The 
fear  of  man  is  a  more  powerful  curb,  to  restrain  men  in  their 
duty,  than  the  fear  of  God:  if  we  may  please  a  friend,  a  mas- 
ter, a  governor,  we  are  regardless  whether  we  please  God  or 
no:  men  pleasers  are  more  than  God  pleasers.  Man  is  more 
advanced  as  a  rule  than  God,  when  we  submit  to  human  orders 
and  stagger  and  dispute  against  divine.  Would  not  a  prince 
think  himself  slighted  in  his  authority,  if  any  of  his  servants 
should  decline  his  commands,  by  the  order  of  one  of  his  sub- 
jects? And  will  not  God  make  the  same  account  of  us,  when 
we  deny  or  delay  our  obedience,  for  fear  of  one  of  his  crea- 
tures? In  the  fear  of  man,  we  as  little  acknowledge  God  for 
our  sovereign,  as  we  do  for  our  comforter:  "  I,  even  I  am  he 
that  comibrteth  you :  who  art  thou,  that  thou  shouldest  be  afraid 
of  a  man  that  shall  die — and  forgettest  the  Lord  thy  Maker?" 
Isa.  li.  12,  13.  We  put  a  slight  upon  God,  as  if  he  were  not 
able  to  bear  us  out  in  our  duty  to  him,  and.  incapable  to  balance 
the  strength  of  an  arm  of  flesh. 

In  observing  that  which  is  materially  the  will  of  God,  not 
because  it  is  his  will,  but  the  injunctions  of  men.  As  the  word 
of  God  may  be  received,  yet  not  as  his  word,  so  the  will  of 
God  may  be  performed,  yet  not  as  his  will.  It  is  materially 
done,  but  not  formally  obeyed.  An  action,  and  obedience  in 
that  action,  are  two  things:  as  when  man  commands  the  ceas- 
ing from  all  works  of  the  ordinary  calling  on  the  Sabbath,  it  is 
the  same  that  God  enjoins;  the  cessation,  or  attendance  of  his 
servants  on  the  hearing  the  word,  are  conformable  in  the  mat- 
ter of  it  to  the  will  of  God;  but  it  is  only  conformable  in  the 
obediential  part  of  the  acts  to  the  will  of  man,  when  it  is  done 
only  with  respect  to  a  human  precept.  As  God  hath  a  right 
to  enact  his  laws  without  consulting  his  creatures  in  the  way  of 
his  government,  so  man  is  bound  to  obey  those  laws  without 
consulting  whether  they  be  agreeable  to  men's  laws  or  not.  If 
we  act  the  will  of  God,  because  the  will  of  our  superiors  con- 
curs with  it,  we  obey  not  God  in  that,  but  man;  a  human  will 
being  the  rule  of  our  obedience,  and  not  the  divine.  This  is 
to  vilify  God,  and  make  him  inferior  to  man  in  our  esteem,  and 
to  value  the  rule  of  man  above  that  of  our  Creator. 

Since  God  is  the  highest  perfection  and  infinitely  good,  what- 


124  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

soever  rule  he  gives  the  creature  must  be  good,  else  it  cannot 
proceed  from  God.  A  base  thing  cannot  be  the  product  of  an 
infinite  excellency;  and  an  unreasonable  thing  cannot  be  the 
product  of  an  infinite  wisdom  and  goodness.  Therefore  as  the 
respecting  God's  will  before  the  will  of  man  is  excellent  and 
worthy  of  a  creature,  and  is  an  acknowledging  the  excellency, 
goodness,  and  wisdom  of  God,  so  the  eyeing  the  will  of  man 
before  and  above  the  will  of  God,  is,  on  the  contrary,  a  denial 
of  all  those  in  a  lump,  and  a  preferring  the  wisdom,  goodness, 
and  power  of  man  in  his  law  above  all  those  perfections  of 
God  in  his.  Whatsoever  men  do  that  looks  like  moral  virtue 
or  abstinence  from  vices,  not  out  of  obedience  to  the  rule  God 
has  set,  but  because  of  custom,  necessity,  example,  or  imita- 
tion, they  may  in  the  doing  of  it  be  rather  said  to  be  apes  than 
Christians. 

In  obeying  the  will  of  man,  when  it  is  contrary  to  the  will 
of  God.  As  the  Israelites  willingly  walked  after  the  command- 
ment, Hos.  v.  11,  not  of  God,  but  of  Jeroboam  in  the  case  of 
the  calves;  and  made  the  king's  heart  glad  with  their  lies. 
Hos.  vii.  3.  They  cheered  him  with  their  ready  obedience  to 
his  command  for  idolatry,  which  was  a  lie  in  itself,  and  a  lie  in 
them,  against  the  commandment  of  God  and  the  warnings  of 
the  prophets;  rather  than  cheer  the  heart  of  God  with  their 
obedience  to  his  worship  instituted  by  him.  Nay,  and  when 
God  offered  to  cure  their  wound,  their  iniquity  breaks  out 
afresh;  they  would  neither  have  him  as  a  Lord  to  rule  them, 
nor  a  Physician  to  cure  them:  "When  I  would  have  healed 
Israel,  then  the  iniquity  of  Ephraim  was  discovered."  Hos. 
vii.  1.  The  whole  Persian  nation  shrunk  at  once  from  a  duty  due 
by  the  light  of  nature  to  the  Deity,  upon  a  decree  that  neither 
God  nor  man  should  be  petitioned  to  for  thirty  days,  but  only 
their  king.  Dan.  vi.  One  only,  Daniel,  excepted  against  it,  who 
preferred  his  homage  to  God  above  obedience  to  his  prince. 
An  adulterous  generation  is  many  times  made  the  rule  of  men's 
professions,  as  is  implied  in  those  words  of  our  Saviour; 
"  Whosoever  shall  be  ashamed  of  me  and  my  words  in  this 
adulterous  and  sinful  generation,"  Mark  viii.  38,  that  is,  own 
him  among  his  disciples,  and  be  ashamed  of  him  among  his 
enemies.  Thus  men  are  said  to  deny  God,  Tit.  i.  16,  when 
they  attend  to  Jewish  fables  and  the  precepls  of  men,  rather 
than  the  word  of  God;  when  the  decrees  or  canons  of  fallible 
men  are  valued  at  a  higher  rate,  and  preferred  before  the  wri- 
tings of  the  Holy  Ghost  by  his  apostles. 

As  man  naturally  disowns  the  rule  God  sets  him,  and  owns 
any  other  rule  rather  than  that  of  God's  prescribing,  so, 

(3.)  He  does  this  in  order  to  the  setting  himself  up  as  his 
own  rule.     As  though  our  own  wills,  and  not  God's,  were  the 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  ]  25 

true  square  and  measure  of  goodness.  We  make  an  idol  of 
our  own  wills;  and  as  much  as  self  is  exalted,  God  is  deposed. 
The  more  we  esteem  our  own  wills,  the  more  we  endeavour 
to  annihilate  the  will  of  God;  account  nothing  of  him,  the  more 
we  account  of  ourselves;  and  endeavour  to  render  ourselves 
his  superiors  by  exalting  our  own  wills.  No  prince  but  would 
look  upon  his  authority  as  invaded,  and  his  royalty  derided,  if  a 
subject  should  resolve  to  be  a  law  to  himself,  in  opposition  to 
his  known  will.  True  piety  is  to  hate  ourselves,  deny  our- 
selves, and  cleave  solely  to  the  service  of  God.  To  make  our- 
selves our  own  rule,  and  the  object  of  our  chiefest  love,  is 
atheism.  If  self-denial  be  the  greatest  part  of  godliness,  the 
great  letter  in  the  alphabet  of  religion,  self-love  is  the  great  letter 
in  the  alphabet  of  practical  atheism.  Self  is  the  great  anti- 
christ and  antigod  in  the  world,  that  sets  up  itself  above  all  that 
is  called  God.  Self-love  is  the  captain  of  that  black  band;  2 
Tim.  iii.  2.  It  sits  in  the  temple  of  God,  and  would  be  adored 
as  God.  Self-love  begins,  but  denying  the  power  of  godliness, 
which  is  the  same  with  denying  the  ruling  power  of  God.  ends 
the  list.  It  is  so  far  from  binding  to  the  righteous  will  of  the 
Creator,  that  it  would  have  the  eternal  will  of  God  stoop  to  the 
humour  and  unrighteous  will  of  a  creature:  and  this  is  the 
ground  of  the  contention  between  the  tiesh  and  the  spirit  in 
the  heart  of  a  renewed  man;  flesh  wars  for  the  godhead  of 
self,  and  spirit  fights  for  the  godhead  of  God.  The  one  would 
settle  the  throne  of  the  Creator,  and  the  other  maintain  a  law 
of  covetousness,  ambition,  envy,  lust,  in  the  stead  of  God. 

The  evidence  of  this  will  appear  in  these  propositions. 

[1.]  This  is  natural  to  man  as  he  is  corrupted.  What  was  the 
venom  of  the  sin  of  Adam,  is  naturally  derived  with  his  nature 
to  all  his  posterity.  It  was  not  the  eating  a  forbidden  fruit,  or 
the  pleasing  his  palate,  that  Adam  aimed  at,  or  was  the  chief 
object  of  his  desire ;  but  to  live  independently  on  his  Creator, 
and  be  a  god  to  himself;  "  Ye  shall  be  as  gods."  Gen.  iii.  5. 
That  which  was  the  matter  of  the  devil's  temptation,  was  the 
incentive  of  man's  rebellion.  A  likeness  to  God  he  aspired  to 
in  the  judgment  of  God  himself,  an  infallible  interpreter  of 
man's  thoughts;  "behold,  man  is  become  as  one  of  us,  to  know 
good  and  evil,"  in  regard  of  self-sufficiency  and  being  a  rule  to 
himself.  The  Jews  understood  the  ambition  of  man  to  reach 
no  further  than  an  equality  with  the  angelic  nature:  but  Jeho- 
vah here  understands  it  in  another  sense.  God  had  ordered  man 
by  this  prohibition  not  to  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  know- 
ledge of  good  and  evil;  not  to  attempt  the  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil  of  himself,  but  to  wait  upon  the  dictates  of  God  ;  not 
to  trust  to  his  own  counsels,  but  to  depend  wholly  upon  him  for 
direction  and  guidance.  Certainly  he  that  would  not  hold  off  his 


1 2(5  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

hand  from  so  small  a  thing,  when  he  had  his  choice  of  the  fruit 
of  the  garden,  would  not  have  denied  himself  any  thing  his 
appetite  had  desired  when  that  principle  had  prevailed  upon 
him.  He  would  not  have  stuck  at  a  greater  matter  to  please 
himself,  with  the  displeasing  of  God,  when  for  so  small  a  thing 
he  would  incur  the  anger  of  his  Creator. 

Thus  would  he  deify  his  own  understanding  against  the  wis- 
dom of  God,  and  his  own  appetite  against  the  will  of  God.  This 
desire  of  equality  with  God,  a  learned  man  J  thinks  the  apostle 
intimates  in  the  words,  "  Who,  being  in  the  form  of  God, 
thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God."  Phil.  ii.  6.  The 
Son's  being  in  the  form  of  God,  and  thinking  it  not  robbery  to 
be  equal  with  God,  implies  that  the  robbery  of  sacrilege  com- 
mitted by  our  first  parents,  for  which  the  Son  of  God  humbled 
himself  to  the  death  of  the  cross,  was  an  attempt  to  be  equal 
with  God,  and  depend  no  more  upon  God's  directions,  but  his 
own  conduct,  which  could  be  no  less  than  an  invasion  of  the 
throne  of  God,  and  an  endeavour  to  put  himself  into  a  posture 
to  be  his  equal.  Other  sins,  adultery  and  theft,  &c.  could  not 
be  committed  by  him  at  that  time,  but  he  immediately  puts 
forth  his  hand  to  usurp  the  power  of  his  Maker:  this  treason  is 
the  old  Adam  in  every  man.  The  first  Adam  contradicted 
the  will  of  God  to  set  up  himself:  the  second  Adam  humbled 
himself,  and  did  nothing  but  by  the  command  and  will  of  his 
Father.  This  principle,  wherein  the  venom  of  the  old  Adam 
lies,  must  be  crucified,  to  make  way  for  the  throne  of  the  hum- 
ble and  obedient  principle  of  the  new  Adam,  or  quickening 
Spirit.  Indeed  sin  in  its  own  nature  is  nothing  else  but  a  wil- 
ling according  to  self,  and  contrary  to  the  will  of  God.  Lusts 
are  therefore  called  the  wills  of  the  flesh  and  of  the  mind;  Eph. 
ii.  3.  As  the  precepts  of  God  are  God's  will,  so  the  violations 
of  these  precepts  is  man's  will:  and  thus  man  usurps  a  godhead 
to  himself,  by  giving  that  honour  to  his  own  will  which  belongs 
to  God;  appropriating  the  right  of  rule  to  himself,  and  denying 
it  to  his  Creator.  That  servant  that  acts  according  to  his  own 
will,  with  a  neglect  of  his  master's,  refuseth  the  duty  of  a  ser- 
vant, and  invades  the  right  of  his  master.  This  self-love  and 
desire  of  independency  on  God  has  been  the  root  of  all  sin  in 
the  world:  the  great  controversy  between  God  and  man  hath 
been,  whether  he  or  they  shall  be  God;  whether  his  reason  or 
theirs,  his  will  or  theirs,  shall  be  the  guiding  principle.  As  grace 
is  the  union  of  the  will  of  God  and  the  will  of  the  creature,  so 
sin  is  the  opposition  of  the  will  of  self  to  the  will  of  God. 
Leaning  to  our  own  understanding,  is  opposed,  as  a  natural 
evil,  to  trusting  in  the  Lord,  a  supernatural  grace;  Prov.  iii.  5. 
Men  commonly  love  what  is  their  own,  their  own  inventions, 

1  Dr.  Jackson. 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  127 

their  own  fancies;  therefore  the  ways  of  a  wicked  man  are 
called  the  ways  of  his  own  heart,  Eccles.  xi.  9;  and  the  ways 
of  a  superstitious  man  his  own  devices;  "we  will  walk  after 
our  own  devices,"  Jer.  xviii.  12,  we  will  be  a  law  to  ourselves. 
And  what  the  psalmist  saith  of  the  tongue,  "Our  tongues  are 
our  own,  who  shall  control  us?  is  as  truly  the  language  of  men's 
hearts,  Our  wills  are  our  own,  who  shall  check  us? 

[2.]  This  is  evident  in  the  dissatisfaction  of  men  with  their 
own  consciences  when  they  contradict  the  desires  of  self.  Con- 
science is  nothing  but  an  actuated  or  retlex  knowledge  of  a 
superior  power  and  an  equitable  law;  a  law  impressed,  and  a 
power  above  it  impressing  it.  Conscience  is  not  the  lawgiver, 
but  the  remembrancer,  to  remind  us  of  that  law  of  nature  im- 
printed upon  our  souls,  and  actuate  the  considerations  of  the 
duty  and  penalty,  to  apply  the  rule  to  our  acts,  and  pass  judg- 
ment upon  matter  of  fact;  it  is  to  give  the  charge,  urge  the 
rule,  enjoin  the  practice  of  those  notions  of  right,  as  part  of 
our  duty  and  obedience. 

Hut  man  is  as  much  displeased  with  the  directions  of  con- 
science, as  he  is  out  of  love  with  the  accusations  and  con- 
demning sentence  of  this  officer  of  God.  We  cannot  naturally 
endure  any  quick  and  lively  practical  thoughts  of  God  and  his 
will,  and  we  distaste  our  own  consciences  for  putting  us  in  mind 
of  it.  They  therefore  like  not  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge, 
Rom.  i.  28,  that  is,  God  in  their  own  consciences;  they  would 
blow  it  out  as  it  is  the  candle  of  the  Lord  in  them  to  direct 
them,  and  their  acknowledgments  of  God,  to  secure  themselves 
against  the  practice  of  its  principles.  They  would  stop  all  the 
avenues  to  any  beam  of  light,  and  would  not  sutler  a  sparkle 
of  divine  knowledge  to  flutter  in  their  minds,  in  order  to  set 
up  another  directing  rule  suited  to  the  fleshly  appetite;  and 
when  they  cannot  stop  the  light  of  it  from  glaring  in  their  faces, 
they  rebel  against  it,  and  cannot  endure  to  abide  in  its  paths; 
Job  xxiv.  13.  He  speaks  not  of  those  who  had  the  written 
word  or  special  revelations;  but  only  a  natural  light,  or  tradi- 
tional, handed  from  Adam:  hence  are  all  the  endeavours  to 
still  it,  when  it  begins  to  speak,  by  some  carnal  pleasures,  as 
Saul's  evil  spirit  with  a  fit  of  music;  or  bribe  it  with  some  fits 
of  a  showy  devotion,  when  it  holds  the  law  of  God  in  its  com- 
manding authority  before  the  mind.  They  would  wipe  out  all 
the  impressions  of  it  when  it  presses  the  advancement  of  God 
above  self,  and  entertain  it  with  no  better  compliment  than 
Ahab  did  Elisha,  "  Hast  thou  found  me,  0  my  enemy?" 

If  we  are  like  to  God  in  any  thing  of  our  natural  fabric,  it 
is  in  the  superior  and  more  spiritual  part  of  our  souls.  The 
resistance  of  that  which  is  most  like  to  God,  and  instead  of  God 
in  us,  is  a  disowning  of  the  Sovereign  represented  by  that 


128  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

officer.  He  that  would  be  without  conscience,  would  be  with- 
out God,  whose  vicegerent  it  is,  and  make  the  sensitive  part, 
which  conscience  opposes,  his  lawgiver.  Thus  a  man,  out  of 
respect  to  sinful  self,  quarrels  with  his  natural  self,  and  cannot 
comport  himself  in  a  friendly  behaviour  to  his  internal  im- 
planted principles:  he  hates  to  come  under  the  rebukes  of  them 
as  much  as  Adam  hated  to  come  into  the  presence  of  God,  after 
he  turned  traitor  against  him.  The  bad  entertainment  God's 
deputy  has  in  us,  reflects  upon  that  God  whose  cause  it  pleads; 
it  is  upon  no  other  account  that  men  loathe  the  upright  lan- 
guage of  their  own  reason  in  those  matters,  and  wish  the.  eter- 
nal silence  of  their  own  consciences,  but  as  they  maintain  the 
rights  of  God,  and  would  hinder  the  idol  of  self  from  usurping 
his  Godhead  and  prerogative.  Though  this  power  be  part  of 
a  man's  self,  rooted  in  his  nature,  as  essential  to  him  and  inse- 
parable from  him  as  the  best  part  of  his  being;  yet  he  quarrels 
with  it  as  it  is  God's  deputy,  and  stickling  tor  the  honour  of 
God  in  his  soul,  and  quarrelling  with  that  sinful  self  he  would 
cherish  above  God.  We  are  not  displeased  with  this  faculty 
barely  as  it  exercises  a  self-reflection,  but  as  it  is  God's  vice- 
gerent, and  bears  the  mark  of  his  authority  in  it.  In  some  cases 
this  self-reflecting  act  meets  with  good  entertainment,  when  it 
acts  not  in  contradiction  to  self,  but  suitable  to  natural  affec- 
tions. As,  suppose  a  man  has  in  his  passion  struck  his  child, 
and  caused  thereby  some  great  mischief  to  him,  the  reflection 
of  conscience  will  not  be  unwelcome  to  him;  will  work  some 
tenderness  in  him,  because  it  takes  the  part  of  self  and  of  natu- 
ral affection.  But  in  the  more  spiritual  concerns  of  God,  it  will 
be  rated  as  a  busy-body. 

[3.]  Many,  if  not  most  actions,  materially  good  in  the  world, 
are  done  more  because  they  are  agreeable  to  self,  than  as  they 
are  honourable  to  God.  As  the  word  of  God  may  be  heard 
not  as  his  word,  1  Thess.  ii.  13,  but  as  there  may  be  pleasing 
notions  in  it,  or  discourses  against  an  opinion  or  party  we  dis- 
affect;  so  the  will  of  God  may  be  performed,  not  as  his  will, 
but  as  it  may  gratify  some  selfish  consideration,  when  we  will 
please  God  so  far  as  it  may  not  displease  ourselves,  and  serve 
him  as  our  Master  so  far  as  his  command  may  be  a  servant  to 
our  humour;  when  we  consider  not  who  it  is  that  commands, 
but  how  short  it  comes  of  displeasing  that  sin  which  rules  in 
our  heart,  pick  and  choose  what  is  least  burdensome  to  the  flesh 
and  distasteful  to  our  lusts. 

He  that  doth  the  will  of  God,  not  out  of  conscience  of  that 
will,  but  because  it  is  agreeable  to  himself,  casts  down  the  will 
of  God,  and  sets  his  own  will  in  the  place  of  it;  takes  the  crown 
from  the  head  of  God,  and  places  it  upon  the  head  of  self.  If 
things  are  done,  not  because  they  are  commanded  by  God,  but 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  ]  09 

desirable  to  us;  it  is  a  disobedient  obedience;  a  conformity  to 
God's  will  in  regard  of  the  matter,  a  conformity  to  our  own 
will  in  regard  of  the  motive;  either  as  the  things  done  are 
agreeable  to  natural  and  moral  self,  or  sinful  self. 

As  they  are  agreeable  to  natural  or  moral  self.  When  men 
wili  practise  some  points  of  religion,  and  walk  in  the  track  of 
some  Divine  precepts,  not  because  they  are  Divine,  but  because 
they  are_  agreeable  to  their  humour  or  constitution  of  nature; 
from  the  sway  of  a  natural  bravery,  the  bias  of  a  secular  inte- 
rest, not  from  an  ingenuous  sense  of  God's  authority,  or  a 
voluntary  submission  to  his  will;  as  when  a  man  will  avoid 
excess  in  drinking,  not  because  it  is  dishonourable  to  God,  but  as 
it  is  a  blemish  to  his  own  reputation,  or  an  impairing  of  the  health 
of  his  body:  doth  this  deserve  the  name  of  an  observance  of  the 
Divine  injunction,  or  rather  an  obedience  to  ourselves?  Or  when 
a  man  will  be  liberal  in  the  distribution  of  his  charity,  not 
with  an  eye  to  God's  precept,  but  in  compliance  with  his  own 
natural  compassion,  or  to  indulge  the  generosity  of  his  nature. 
The  one  is  obedience  to  a  man's  own  preservation,  the  other 
an  obedience  to  the  interest  or  impulse  of  a  moral  virtue.  It  is 
not  respect  to  the  rule  of  God,  but  the  authority  of  self;  and  at 
the  best,  is  but  the  performance  of  the  material  part  of  the 
Divine  rule,  without  any  concurrence  of  a  spiritual  motive  or  a 
spiritual  manner.  That  only  is  maintaining  the  rights  of  God, 
when  we  pay  an  observance  to  his  rule,  without  examining  the 
agreeableness  of  it  to  our  secular  interest,  or  consulting  with  the 
humour  <>f  flesh  and  blood;  when  we  will  not  decline  his  ser- 
vice, though  we  find  it  cross,  and  hath  no  affinity  with  the  plea- 
sure of  our  own  nature  :  such  an  obedience  as  Abraham  mani- 
fested in  his  readiness  to  sacrifice  his  son;  such  an  obedience  as 
our  Saviour  demands  in  cutting  off  the  right  hand.  When  we 
observe  any  thing  of  divine  order  upon  the  account  of  its  suita- 
bleness to  our  natural  sentiments,  we  shall  readily  divide  from 
him.  When  the  interest  of  nature  turns  its  point  against  the  inte- 
rest of  God's  honour,  we  shall  fall  off  from  him  according  to  the 
change  we  find  in  our  own  humours.  And  can  that  be  valued 
as  a  setting  up  the  rule  of  God,  which  must  be  deposed  upon 
the  mutable  interest  of  an  inconstant  mind?  Esau  had  no  regard 
to  God  in  delaying  the  execution  of  his  resolution  to  shorten  his 
brother's  days,  though  he  was  awed  by  the  reverence  of  his 
father  to  delay  it:  he  considered,  perhaps,  how  justly  he  might 
lie  under  the  imputation  of  hastening  aged  Isaac's  death,  by 
depriving  him  of  a  beloved  son.  But  had  the  old  man's  head 
hern  laid,  neither  the  contrary  command  of  God,  nor  the  near- 
ness of  a  fraternal  relation,  could  have  bound  his  hands  from 
the  act,  no  more  than  they  did  his  heart  from  the  resolution. 
"Esau  hated  Jacob  because  of  the  blessing  wherewith  his 
Vol.  I.— 17 


130  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

Father  blessed  him:  and  Esau  said  in  his  heart,  The  days  of 
mourning  for  my  father  are  at  hand,  then  will  I  slay  my  bro- 
ther." Gen.  xxvii.  41. 

So,  many  children  that  expect  at  the  death  of  their  parents 
great  inheritances  or  portions,  may  be  observant  of  them,  not  in 
regard  of  the  rule  fixed  by  God,  but  to  their  own  hopes,  which 
they  would  not  frustrate  by  disobliging  them.  Whence  is  it 
that  many  men  abstain  from  gross  sins,  but  in  love  to  their 
reputation?  Wickedness  may  be  acted  privately,  which  a  man's 
own  credit  puts  a  bar  to  the  open  commission  of.  The  pre- 
serving his  own  esteem  may  divert  him  from  entering  into  a 
brothel-house,  to  which  he  hath  set  his  mind  before,  against  a 
known  precept  of  his  Creator.  As  Pharaoh  parted  with  the 
Israelites,  so  do  some  men  with  their  blemishing  sins;  not  out 
of  a  sense  of  God's  rule,  but  the  smart  of  present  judgments,  or 
fear  of  a  future  wrath.  Our  security  then,  and  reputation,  are  set 
up  in  the  place  of  God. 

This  also  maybe  and  is  in  renewed  men,  (who  have  the  law 
written  in  their  hearts,  that  is,  an  habitual  disposition  to  an 
agreement  with  the  law  of  God,)  when  what  is  done  is  with  a 
respect  to  this  habitual  inclination,  without  eyeing  the  Divine 
precept,  which  is  appointed  to  be  their  rule.  This  also  is  to  set 
up  a  creature,  as  renewed  self  is,  instead  of  the  Creator,  and 
that  law  of  his  in  his  word,  which  ought  to  be  the  rule  of  our 
actions.  Thus  it  is  when  men  choose  a  moral  life,  not  so  much 
out  of  respect  to  the  law  of  nature  as  it  is  the  law  of  God,  but 
as  it  is  a  law  become  one  with  their  souls  and  constitutions; 
there  is  more  of  self  in  this,  than  consideration  of  God;  for  if  it 
were  the  latter,  the  revealed  law  of  God  would  upon  the  same 
reason  be  received  as  well  as  his  natural  law.  From  this  prin- 
ciple of  self,  morality  comes  by  some  to  be  advanced  above 
evangelical  dictates. 

As  they  are  agreeable  to  sinful  self.  Not  that  the  commands 
of  God  are  suited  to  bolster  up  the  corruptions  of  men,  no  more 
than  the  law  can  be  said  to  excite  or  revive  sin.  Rom.  vii.  S,  9. 
But  it  is  like  a  scandal  taken,  not  given;  an  occasion  taken 
by  the  tumultuousness  of  our  depraved  nature.  The  Phari- 
sees were  devout  in  long  prayers,  not  from  a  sense  of  duty,  or 
a  care  of  God's  honour;  but  to  satisfy  their  ambition,  and 
rake  together  fuel  for  their  covetousness,  that  they  might  have 
the  greater  esteem  and  richer  offerings,  to  free  by  their  prayers 
the  souls  of  deceased  persons  from  purgatory;  an  opinion  that 
some  think  the  Jewish  synagogue  had  then  entertained,1  since 
some  of  their  doctors  have  defended  such  a  notion.  Men  may 
observe  some  precepts  of  God,  to  have  a  better  conveniency  to 

1  Matt,  xxiii.  14.  "Ye  devour  widows'  houses,  and  for  a  pretence  make  long 
prayers."    Gerard  in  loco. 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  131 

break  others.  Jclm  was  ordered  to  cut  off  the  house  of  Ahab. 
The  service  he  undertook  was  in  itself  acceptable,  but  corrupt 
nature  misacted  that  which  holiness  and  righteousness  com- 
manded. God  appointed  it  to  magnify  his  justice,  and  check 
the  idolatry  that  had  been  supported  by  that  family:  Jehu  acted 
it  to  satisfy  his  revenge  and  ambition;  he  did  it  to  fulfil  his 
lust,  not  the  will  of  God  who  enjoined  him.  Jehu  applauds  it 
as  zeal,  and  God  abhors  it  as  murder,  and  therefore  would 
K avenge  the  blood  of  Jezreel  upon  the  house  of  Jehu."  Hos. 
i.  l.  Such  kind  of  services  are  not  paid  to  God  for  his  own 
sake,  but  to  ourselves  for  our  lusts'  sake. 

[4.]  This  is  evident  in  neglecting  to  take  God's  direction  upon 
emergent  occasions.  This  follows  the  text,  "none  did  seek 
God."  When  we  consult  not  with  him,  but  trust  more  to  our 
own  will  and  counsel,  we  make  ourselves  our  own  governors 
and  lords,  independent  upon  him.  As  though  we  could  be  our 
own  counsellors,  and  manage  our  concerns  without  his  leave 
and  assistance;  as  though  our  works  were  in  our  own  hands, 
and  not  in  the  hands  of  God,  Eccles.  ix.  1,  that  we  can  by  our 
own  strength  and  sagacity  direct  them  to  a  successful  end  with- 
out him.  If  we  must  acquaint  ourselves  with  God  before  we 
decree  a  thing,  Job  xxii.  2S,  then  to  decree  a  thing  without 
acquainting  God  with  it,  is  to  prefer  our  purblind  wisdom  be- 
fore the  infinite  wisdom  of  God.  To  resolve  without  consulting 
God,  is  to  depose  God,  and  deify  self,  our  own  wit  and  strength. 
We  would  rather,  like  Lot,  follow  our  own  humour  and  stay 
in  Sodom,  than  observe  the  angels' order  to  go  out  of  it. 

[5.]  As  we  account  the  actions  of  others  to  be  good  or  evil, 
as  they  suit  with  or  spurn  against  our  fancies  and  humours. 
Virtue  is  a  crime,  and  vice  a  virtue,  as  it  is  contrary  to  or  concur- 
rent with  our  humours.  Little  reason  have  many  men  to  blame 
the  actions  of  others,  but  because  they  are  not  agreeable  to 
what  they  affect  and  desire:  we  would  have  all  men  take 
directions  from  us,  and  move  according  to  our  beck.  Hence 
that  common  speech  in  the  world;  Such  an  one  is  an  honest 
friend:  why?  because  he  is  of  their  humour,  and  lackeys  ac- 
cording to  their  wills.  Thus  we  make  self  the  measure  and 
square  of  good  and  evil  in  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  judge  of  it 
by  our  own  fancies,  and  not  by  the  will  of  God,  the  proper  rule 
of  judgment. 

Well  then  let  us  consider, 

Is  not  this  very  common?  are  we  not  naturally  more  willing 
to  displease  God  than  displease  ourselves,  when  it  comes  to  a 
point  that  we  must  do  one  or  other?  Is  not  our  own  counsel  of 
more  value  with  us  than  conformity  to  the  will  of  the  Creator? 
Do  not  our  judgments  often  run  counter  to  the  judgment  of 
God?  Have  his  laws  a  greater  respect  from  us  than  our  own 


132  0N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

humours?  Do  we  scruple  the  staining  his  honour  when  it  comes 
in  competition  with  our  own?  Are  not  the  lives  of  most  men  a 
pleasing  themselves,  without  a  repentance  that  ever  they  dis- 
pleased God  ?  Is  not  this  to  undeify  God,  to  deify  ourselves,  and 
disown  the  propriety  he  hath  in  us  by  the  right  of  creation  and 
beneficence?  We  order  our  own  ways  by  our  own  humours,  as 
though  we  were  the  authors  of  our  own  being,  and  had  given 
ourselves  life  and  understanding.  This  is  to  destroy  the  order 
that  God  hath  placed  between  our  wills  and  his  own,  and  a 
lifting  up  of  the  foot  above  the  head;  it  is  the  deformity  of  the 
creature.  The  honour  of  every  rational  creature  consists  in  the 
service  of  the  first  cause  of  his  being;  as  the  welfare  of  every 
creature  consists  in  the  orders  and  proportionable  motion  of  its 
members,  according  to  the  law  of  its  creation. 

He  that  moves  and  acts  according  to  a  law  of  his  own,  offers 
a  manifest  wrong  to  God,  the  highest  wisdom  and  chiefest 
good;  disturbs  the  order  of  the  world;  annuls  the  design  of  the 
righteousness  and  holiness  of  God.  The  law  of  God  is  the  rule 
of  that  order  he  would  have  observed  in  the  world :  he  that 
makes  another  law  his  rule,  thrusts  out  the  order  of  the  Crea- 
tor, and  establishes  the  disorder  of  the  creature. 

But  this  will  yet  be  more  evident  in  the  fourth  thing. 

(4.)  Man  would  make  himself  the  rule  of  God,  and  give 
laws  to  his  Creator.  We  are  willing  God  should  be  our  bene- 
factor, but  not  our  ruler;  we  are  content  to  admire  his  excel- 
lency and  pay  him  a  worship,  provided  he  will  walk  by  our  rule. 

"This  commits  a  riot  upon  his  nature:  to  think  him  to  be 
what  we  ourselves  would  have  him  and  wish  him  to  be.  Psal. 
1.  21.  We  would  amplify  his  mercy  and  contract  his  justice. 
We  would  have  his  power  enlarged  to  supply  our  wants,  and 
straitened  when  it  goes  about  to  revenge  our  crimes.  We  would 
have  him  wise  to  defeat  our  enemies,  but  not  to  disappoint  our 
unworthy  projects:  we  would  have  him  all  eye  to  regard  our 
indigence,  and  blind,  not  to  discern  our  guilt:  we  would  have 
him  true  to  his  promises,  regardless  of  his  precepts,  and  false 
to  his  threatenings.  We  would  form  anew  the  nature  of  God 
according  to  our  models,  and  shape  a  God  according  to  our 
fancies,  as  he  made  us  at  first  according  to  his  own  image:  in- 
stead of  obeying  him,  we  would  have  him  obey  us:  instead 
of  owning  and  admiring  his  perfections,  we  would  have  him 
strip  himself  of  his  infinite  excellency,  and  clothe  himself  with 
a  nature  agreeable  to  our  own.  This  is  not  only  to  set  up 
self  as  the  law  of  God,  but  to  make  our  own  imaginations  the 
model  of  the  nature  of  God."1 

Corrupted  man  takes  a  pleasure  to  accuse  or  suspect  the  ac- 
tions of  God.    We  would  not  have  him  act  conveniently  to  his 

1  Decay  of  Christian  Piety,  p.  1G0. 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  J33 

nature;  but  act  what  doth  gratify  us,  and  abstain  from  what  is 
distasteful  to  us.  Man  is  never  well,  but  when  he  is  impeach- 
ing one  or  other  perfection  of  God's  nature,  and  undermining 
his  glory;  as  if  all  his  attributes  must  stand  indicted  at  the  bar 
of  our  purblind  reason.  This  weed  shoots  up  in  the  exercise 
of  grace;  Peter  intended  the  refusal  of  our  Saviour's  washing 
his  feet  as  an  act  of  humility,  but  Christ  understands  it  to  be  a 
prescribing  a  law  to  himself,  a  correcting  his  love.  John  xiii. 
8,  9. 

This  is  evidenced, 

[1.]  In  the  strivings  against  his  law.  How  many  men  imply 
by  their  lives  that  they  would  have  God  deposed  from  his 
government,  and  some  unrighteous  being  step  into  his  throne; 
as  if  God  had  or  should  change  his  laws  of  holiness  into  laws 
of  licentiousness;  as  if  he  should  abrogate  his  own  eternal  pre- 
cepts, and  enact  contrary  ones  in  their  stead!  What  is  the  lan- 
Lru:ige  of  such  practices,  but  that  they  would  be  God's  lawgivers 
and  not  his  subjects?  that  he  should  deal  with  them  according 
to  their  own  wills,  and  not  according  to  his  righteousness?  that 
they  could  make  a  more  holy,  wise,  and  righteous  law  than  the 
law  of  God  ?  that  their  imaginations,  and  not  God's  righteous- 
ness, should  be  the  rule  of  his  doing  good  to  them?  "  They  have 
forsaken  my  law,  and  walked  after  the  imaginations  of  their 
own  heart."  Jer.  ix.  13,  14. 

When  an  act  is  known  to  be  a  sin,  and  the  law  that  forbids 
it  acknowledged  to  be  the  law  of  God,  and  after  this  we  per- 
sist in  that  which  is  contrary  to  it,  we  tax  his  wisdom  as  if  he 
did  not  understand  what  was  convenient  for  us;  we  would 
teach  God  knowledge,  Job  xxi.  22;  it  is  an  implicit  wish  that 
God  had  laid  aside  the  holiness  of  his  nature,  and  framed  a  law 
to  humour  our  lusts.  When  God  calls  for  weeping,  and  mourn- 
ing, and  girding  with  sackcloth  upon  approaching  judgments, 
then  the  corrupt  heart  is  for  joy  and  gladness,  eating  of  flesh 
and  drinking  of  wine,  because  to-morrow  they  should  die,  Isa. 
xxii.  12,  13:  as  if  God  had  mistaken  himself  when  he  ordered, 
them  so  much  sorrow,  when  their  lives  were  so  near  an  end; 
and  had  lost  his  understanding,  when  he  ordered  such  a  pre- 
cept. Disobedience  is  therefore  called  contention;  "contentious 
and  obey  not  the  truth,"  Rom.  ii.  8;  contention  against  God, 
whose  truth  it  is  that  they  disobey;  a  dispute  with  him,  as  to 
which  hath  more  of  wisdom  in  itself  and  conveniency  for  them, 
his  truth  or  their  imaginations.  The  more  the  love,  goodness, 
and  holiness  of  God  appears  in  any  command,  the  more  are  we 
naturally  averse  from  it,  and  cast  an  imputation  on  him,  as  if 
he  were  foolish,  unjust,  cruel,  and  that  we  could  have  advised 
and  directed  him  better.  The  goodness  of  God  is  eminent  to 
us  m  appointing  a  day  for  his  own  worship,  wherein  we  might 


134  0N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

converse  with  him  and  he  with  us,  and  our  souls  be  refreshed 
with  spiritual  communications  from  him;  and  we  rather  use  it 
for  the  ease  of  our  bodies,  than  the  advancement  of  our  souls; 
as  if  God  were  mistaken  and  injured  his  creature,  when  he 
urged  the  spiritual  part  of  duty.  Every  disobedience  to  the 
law  is  an  implicit  giving  law  to  him,  and  a  charge  against  him 
that  he  might  have  provided  better  for  his  creatures. 

[2.]  In  disapproving  the  methods  of  God's  government  of 
the  world.  If  the  counsels  of  Heaven  roll  not  about  according 
to  their  schemes,  instead  of  adoring  the  unsearchable  depths  of 
his  judgments,  they  call  him  to  the  bar, and  accuse  him,  because 
they  are  not  fitted  to  their  narrow  vessels;  as  if  a  nut-shell 
could  contain  an  ocean.  As  corrupt  reason  esteems  the  highest 
truths  foolishness,  so  it  counts  the  most  righteous  ways  unequal. 
Thus  we  commence  a  suit  against  God,  as  though  he  had  not 
acted  righteously  and  wisely,  but  must  give  an  account  of  his 
proceedings  at  our  tribunal.  This  is  to  make  ourselves  God's 
superiors,  and  presume  to  instruct  him  better  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  world,  as  though  God  hindered  himself  and  the 
world,  in  not  making  us  of  his  privy  council,  and  not  ordering 
his  affairs  according  to  the  contrivances  of  our  dim  understand- 
ings. 

Is  not  this  manifest  in  our  immoderate  complaints  of  God's 
dealings  with  his  church,  as  though  there  were  a  coldness  of 
God's  affections  to  his  church,  and  a  glowing  heat  towards  it 
only  in  us?  Hence  are  those  importunate  desires  for  things 
which  are  not  established  by  any  promise,  as  though  we  would 
overrule  and  over-persuade  God  to  comply  with  our  humour. 
We  have  an  ambition  to  be  God's  tutors,  and  direct  him  in  his 
counsels.  "Who  hath  been  his  counsellor?"  sailh  the  apostle. 
Rom.  xi.  34.  Who  ought  not  to  be  his  counsellor?  saith  cor- 
rupt nature.  Men  will  find  fault  with  God  in  what  he  suffers 
to  be  done  according  to  their  own  minds,  when  they  feel  the 
bitter  fruit  of  it.  When  Cain  had  killed  his  brother,  and  his 
conscience  racked  him,  how  saucily  and  discontentedly  does  he 
answer  God,  "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?"  Gen.  iv.  9.  Since 
thou  dost  own  thyself  the  Rector  of  the  world,  thou  shouldest 
have  preserved  his  person  from  my  fury;  since  thou  dost  ac- 
cept his  sacrifice  before  my  offering,  preservation  was  due  as 
well  as  acceptance.  If  this  temper  be  found  on  earth,  no  won- 
der it  is  lodged  in  hell.  That  deplorable  person  under  the 
sensible  stroke  of  God's  sovereign  justice,  would  oppose  his 
nay  to  God's  will.  "  And  he  said,  Nay,  father  Abraham  :  but 
if  one  went  unto  them  from  the  dead  they  will  repent."  Luke 
xvi.  30.  He  would  presume  to  prescribe  more  effectual  means 
than  Moses  and  the  prophets,  to  inform  men  of  the  danger  they 
incurred  by  their  sensuality.     David  was  displeased,  it  is  said, 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  J35 

when  the  Lord  had  made  a  breach  upon  Uzzah,  2  Sam.  vi.  8; 
not  with  Uzzah,  who  was  the  object  of  his  pity,  but  with  God, 
who  was  the  inllicter  of  that  punishment. 

"When  any  of  our  friends  have  been  struck  with  a  rod  against 
our  sentiments  and  wishes,  have  not  our  hearts  been  apt  to 
swell  in  complaints  against  God,  as  though  he  disregarded  the 
goodness  of  such  a  person,  did  not  see  with  our  eyes,  and  mea- 
sure him  by  our  esteem  of  him?  As  if  he  should  have  asked 
our  counsel  before  he  had  resolved,  and  managed  himself  ac- 
cording to  our  will  rather  than  his  own.  If  he  be  patient  to 
the  wicked,  we  are  apt  to  tax  his  holiness,  and  accuse  him  as 
an  enemy  to  his  own  law.  If  he  inflict  severity  upon  the  right- 
eous, we  are  ready  to  suspect  his  goodness,  and  charge  him  to 
be  an  enemy  to  his  affectionate  creatine.  If  he  spare  the  Nim- 
rods  of  the  world,  we  are  ready  to  ask,  "  Where  is  the  God  of 
judgment?"  Mai.  ii.  17.  If  he  aillict  the  pillars  of  the  earth, 
we  are  ready  to  question,  where  is  the  God  of  mercy?  It  is 
impossible,  since  the  depraved  nature  of  man,  and  the  various 
interests  and  passions  in  the  world,  that  infinite  power  and 
wisdom  can  act  righteously  for  the  good  of  the  universe,  but 
he  will  shake  some  corrupt  interest  or  other  upon  the  earth;  so 
various  are  the  inclinations  of  men,  and  such  a  weathercock- 
judgment  hath  every  man  in  himself,  that  the  Divine  method 
he  applauds  this  day,  upon  a  change  of  his  interest,  he  will 
cavil  at  the  next.  It  is  impossible  for  the  just  orders  of  God 
to  please  the  same  person  many  weeks,  scarce  many  minutes 
together.  God  must  cease  to  be  God,  or  to  be  holy,  if  he  should 
manage  the  concerns  of  the  world  according  to  the  fancies  of 
men. 

How  unreasonable  is  it  thus  to  impose  laws  upon  God? 
Must  God  revoke  his  own  orders?  govern  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  his  creature  ?  Must  God,  who  only  hath  power  and 
wisdom  to  sway  the  sceptre,  become  the  obedient  subject  of 
every  man's  humour,  and  manage  every  thing  to  serve  the 
design  of  a  simple  creature?  This  is  not  to  be  God,  but  to  set 
the  creature  in  his  throne.  Though  this  be  not  formally  done, 
yet  that  it  is  interpretatively  and  practically  done,  is  every 
hour's  experience. 

[3.]  In  impatience  in  our  particular  concerns.  It  is  ordinary 
with  man  to  charge  God  in  his  complaints  in  the  time  of  alllic- 
tion.  Therefore  it  is  the  commendation  the  Holy  Ghost  gives 
to  Job,  that  in  all  this,  that  is,  in  those  many  waves  that  rolled 
over  him,  he  did  not  charge  God  foolishly,  he  never  spoke  nor 
thought  any  thing  unworthy  of  the  majesty  and  righteousness 
of  God.  Job  i.  22.  Yet  afterwards  we  find  him  warping;  he 
nicknames  the  affliction  to  be  God's  oppression  of  him,  and  no 
act  of  his  goodness;  "Is  it  good  unto  thee  that  thou  shouldest 


136  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

oppress?"  Job  x.  3.  He  seems  to  charge  God  with  injustice, 
for  punishing  him  when  he  was  not  wicked;  for  which  he  ap- 
peals to  God,  "Thou  knowest  that  I  am  not  wicked,"  ver.  7; 
and  that  God  acted  not  like  a  Creator,  ver.  8. 

If  our  projects  are  disappointed,  what  fretfulness  against 
God's  management  are  our  hearts  racked  with!  How  do  un- 
comely passions  bubble  up  in  us,  interpretatively  at  least,  wish- 
ing that  the  arms  of  his  power  had  been  bound,  and  the  eye  of 
his  omniscience  been  hoodwinked,  that  we  might  have  been 
left  to  our  own  liberty  and  designs !  And  this  oftentimes  when 
we  have  more  reason  to  bless  him  than  repine  at  him.  The 
Israelites  murmured  more  against  God  in  the  wilderness,  with 
manna  in  their  mouths,  than  they  did  at  Pharaoh  in  the  brick- 
kilns, with  their  garlic  and  onions  between  their  teeth.  Though 
we  repine  at  instruments  in  our  afflictions,  yet  God  counts  it  a 
reflection  upon  himself.  The  Israelites' speaking  against  Moses, 
was  in  God's  interpretation  a  rebellion  against  himself,  Numb, 
xvi.  41,  compared  with  xvii.  10.  And  rebellion  is  always  a 
desire  of  imposing  laws  and  conditions  upon  those  against  whom 
the  rebellion  is  raised.  The  sottish  dealings  of  the  vine-dressers 
in  Franconia  with  the  statue  of  St.  Urban,  the  protector  of  the 
vines,  upon  his  own  day,  is  an  emblem  of  onr  dealing  with 
God.  If  it  be  a  clear  day  and  portend  a  prosperous  vintage, 
they  honour  the  statue  and  drink  healths  to  it;  if  it  be  a  rainy 
day,  and  presage  a  scantiness,  they  daub  it  with  dirt  in  indig- 
nation. We  cast  out  our  mire  and  dirt  against  God  when  he 
acts  cross  to  our  wishes,  and  flatter  him  when  the  wind  of  his 
Providence  joins  itself  to  the  tide  of  our  interest. 

Men  set  a  high  price  upon  themselves,  and  are  angry  God 
values  them  not  at  the  same  rate;  as  if  their  judgment  concern- 
ing themselves  were  more  piercing  than  his.  This  is  to  dis- 
annul God's  judgment,  and  condemn  him,  and  count  ourselves 
righteous,  as  it  is  in  Job  xl.  8.  This  is  the  epidemical  disease 
of  human  nature;  they  think  they  deserve  caresses  instead  of 
rods,  and  upon  crosses  are  more  ready  to  tear  out  the  heart  of 
God,  than  reflect  humbly  upon  their  own  hearts.  When  we 
accuse  God,  we  applaud  ourselves,  and  make  ourselves  his 
superiors,  intimating  that  we  have  acted  more  righteously  to 
him  than  he  to  us,  which  is  the  highest  manner  of  imposing 
laws  upon  him;  as  that  emperor  accused  the  justice  of  God  for 
snatching  him  out  of  the  world  too  soon. *  What  a  high  piece 
of  practical  atheism  is  this,  to  desire  that  that  infinite  wisdom 
should  be  guided  by  our  folly,  and  asperse  the  righteousness  of 
God  rather  than  blemish  our  own!  Instead  of  silently  submit- 
ting to  his  will  and  adoring  his  wisdom,  we  declaim  against 
him,  as  an  unwise  and  unjust  Governor.     We  would  invert  his 


1  Ccelum  suspiciens  vitam,  &c.     Vita  Titi,  c. 


10. 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  |  ;>7 

order,  make  him  the  steward,  and  ourselves  the  proprietors  of 
what  we  are  and  have  :  we  deny  ourselves  to  be  sinners,  and 
our  mercies  to  be  forfeited. 

[4.]   It  is  evidenced,  in  envying  the  gifts  and  prosperities  of 
others.     Envy  hath  a  deep  tincture  of  practical  atheism,  and  is 
a  cause  of  atheism.1     We  are  unwilling  to  leave  God  to  be  the 
Proprietor,  and  do  what  he  will  with  his  own,  and,  as  a  Crea- 
tor, to  do  what  he  pleases   with   his  creatures:  we  assume  a 
liberty  to  direct  God  what  portions,  when   and  how  he  should 
bestow  upon  his  creatures:  we  would  not  let  him  choose  his 
own  favourites,  and  pitch  upon  his  own  instruments  for  his 
glory:  as  if  God  should  have  asked  counsel  of  us  how  he  should 
dispose  of  his  benefits.     We  are  unwilling  to  leave  to  his  wis- 
dom the  management  of  his  own  judgments  to  the  wicked,  and 
the  dispensation  of  his  own  love  to  ourselves.     This  temper  is 
natural.     It  is  as  ancient  as  the  first  age  of  the  world.     Adam 
envied  God  a  felicity  by  himself,  and  would  not  spare  a  tree 
that  he  had  reserved  as  a  mark  of  his  sovereignty.  The  passion 
that  God  had  given  Cain  to  employ  against  his  sin,  he  turns 
against  his  Creator:  he  was  wroth  with  God,  Gen.  iv.  5,  and 
with  Abel;  but  envy  was  at  the  root,  because   his   brother's 
sacrifice  was  accepted,  and  his  refused.     How  could  he  envy 
his  accepted  person,  without  reflecting  upon  the  accepter  of  his 
offering?  Good  men  have  not  been  free  from  it.    Job  questions 
tin;  goodness  of  God,  that  he  should  shine  upon  the  counsel  of 
the  wicked.  Job.  x.  3.  Jonah  had  too  much  of  self  in  fearing  to 
be  counted  a  false  prophet,  when  he  came  with  absolute  denun- 
ciations of  wrath.  Jonah  iv.  2.     And  when  he  could  not  bring 
a  volley  of  destroying  judgments  upon  the  Ninevites,  he  would 
shoot  his  fury  against  his  Master,  envying  those  poor  people  the 
benefit,  and  God  the  honour  of  his  mercy;  and  tins  after  he  had 
been  sent  into  the  whale's  belly  to  learn  humiliation;   which, 
though  he  exercised  there,  yet  those  two  great  branches  of  self- 
pride  and  envy  were  not  lopped  off  from  him  in  the  belly  of 
hell.  And  God  was  fain  to  take  pains  with  him,  and,  by  a  gourd, 
scarce  makes  him  ashamed  of  his  peevishness.  Envy  is  not  like 
to  cease,  till  all  atheism  be  cashiered,  and  that  is  in  heaven. 

This  sin  is  an  imitation  of  the  devil,  whose  first  sin  upon 
earth  was  envy,  as  his  first  sin  in  heaven  was  pride.  It  is  a 
wishing  that  to  ourselves  which  the  devil  asserted  as  his  right, 
to  give  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  to  whom  he  pleased,  Luke 
iv.  6;  it  is  an  anger  with  God,  because  he  hath  not  given  us  a 
patent  for  government.  It  utters  the  same  language  in  dis- 
paragement of  God,  as  Absalom  did  in  reflection  on  his  father. 
If  I  were  king  in  Israel,  justice  should  be  better  managed  :  if  I 

■  Because  wicked  men  flourish  in  the  world — Sollicitor  nullos  esse  putare  Deos, 
"I  am  led  to  think  there  are  no  gods." 
Vol.  I.— 18 


138  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

were  lord  of  the  world,  there  should  be  more  wisdom  to  discern 
the  merits  of  men,  and  more  righteousness  in  distributing  to 
them  their  several  portions.  Thus  we  impose  laws  upon  God, 
and  would  have  the  righteousness  of  his  will  submit  to  the  cor- 
ruptions of  ours,  and  have  him  lower  himself  to  gratify  our 
ininds,  rather  than  fulfil  his  own :  we  charge  the  Author  of 
those  gifts  with  injustice,  that  he  hath  not  dealt  equally;  or  with 
ignorance,  that  he  hath  mistaken  his  mark.  In  the  same  breath 
that  we  censure  him  by  our  peevishness,  we  would  guide  him 
by  our  wills. 

This  is  an  unreasonable  part  of  atheism.  If  all  were  in  the 
same  state  and  condition,  the  order  of  the  world  would  be  im- 
paired. Is  God  bound  to  have  a  care  of  thee,  and  neglect  all  the 
world  besides?  "Shall  the  earth  be  forsaken  for  thee?"  Job 
xviii.  4.  Joseph  had  reason  to  be  displeased  with  his  brothers, 
if  they  had  muttered  because  he  gave  Benjamin  a  double  por- 
tion, and  the  rest  a  single.  It  was  unfit  that  they,  who  had 
deserved  no  gift  at  all,  should  prescribe  him  rules  how  to  dis- 
pense his  own  gifts;  much  more  unworthy  it  is  to  deal  so  with 
God;  yet  this  is  too  common. 

[5.]  It  is  evidenced  in  corrupt  matter  or  ends  of  prayer  and 
praise.  When  we  are  importunate  for  those  things,  that  we 
know  not  whether  the  righteousness,  holiness,  and  wisdom  of 
God  can  grant,  because  he  hath  not  discovered  his  will  in  any 
promise  to  bestow  them;  we  would  then  impose  such  condi- 
tions on  God,  which  he  never  obliged  himself  to  grant;  when 
we  pray  for  things  not  so  much  to  glorify  God,  which  ought  to 
be  the  end  of  prayer,  as  to  gratify  ourselves.  We  acknowledge 
indeed  by  the  act  of  petitioning,  that  there  is  a  God;  but  we 
would  have  him  undeify  himself  to  be  at  our  beck,  and  debase 
himself  to  serve  our  turns,  when  we  desire  those  things  which 
are  repugnant  to  those  attributes,  whereby  he  doth  manage  the 
government  of  the  world,  or  when  by  some  superficial  services 
we  think  we  have  gained  indulgence  to  sins:  which  seems  to 
be  the  thought  of  the  strumpet  in  her  paying  her  vows,  to  wallow 
more  freely  in  the  mire  of  her  sensual  pleasure;  '•'  I  have  peace 
offerings  with  me;  this  day  have  I  paid  my  vows:"  I  have 
made  my  peace  with  God,  and  have  entertainment  for  thee, 
Prov.  vii.  14;  or  when  men  desire  God  to  bless  them  in  the 
commission  of  some  sin.  As  when  Balak  and  Balaam  offered 
sacrifices,  that  they  might  prosper  in  the  cursing  of  the  Israel- 
ites. Numb,  xxiii.  1. 

So  for  a  man  to  pray  to  God  to  save  him  while  he  neglects 
the  means  of  salvation  appointed  by  God,  or  to  renew  him, 
when  he  slights  the  word,  the  only  instrument  to  that  purpose, 
this  is  to  impose  laws  upon  God,  contrary  to  the  declared  will 
and  wisdom  of  God,  and  to  desire  him  to  slight  his  own  insti- 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  J  39 

tutions.  When  we  come  into  the  presence  of  God  with  Insts 
reeking  in  our  hearts,  and  leap  from  sin  to  duty,  we  would  im- 
pose the  law  of  our  corruption  on  the  holiness  of  God.  While 
we  pray  the  "will  of  God  may  be  done,"  self-love  wishes  its 
own  will  may  be  performed,  as  though  God  should  serve  our 
humours,  when  we  will  not  obey  his  precepts.  And  when  we 
make  vows  under  any  affliction,  what  is  it  often  but  a  secret 
contrivance  to  bend  and  Hatter  him  to  our  conditions?  We  will 
serve  him  if  he  will  restore  us;  we  think  thereby  to  compound 
die  business  with  him,  and  bring  him  down  to  our  terms. 

[6.]  It  is  evidenced  in  positive  and  bold  interpretations  of 
the  judgments  of  God  in  the  world.  To  interpret  the  judgments 
of  God  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  sufferer,  unless  it  be  an  un- 
usual judgment,  and  have  a  remarkable  hand  of  God  in  it,  and 
the  sin  be  rendered  plainly  legible  in  the  affliction,  is  a  pre- 
sumption of  this  nature;  as  when  men  will  judge  the  Galileans, 
whose  blood  Pilate  mingled  with  their  sacrifices,  greater  sinners 
than  others,  and  themselves  righteous,  because  no  drops  of  it 
were  dashed  upon  them;  or  when  Shimei,  being  of  the  house 
of  Saul,  shall  judge  according  to  his  own  interest,  and  desires, 
David's  flight  upon  Absalom's  rebellion,  to  be  a  punishment 
for  invading  the  rights  of  Saul's  family,  and  depriving  him  of 
the  succession  in  the  kingdom,  2  Sam.  xvi.  5,  as  if  he  had  been 
of  God's  privy  council,  when  he  decreed  such  acts  of  justice  in 
the  world. 

Thus  we  would  fasten  our  own  wills  as  a  law  or  motive 
upon  God,  aiid  interpret  his  acts  according  to  the  motions  of 
self.  Is  it  not  too  ordinary  when  God  sends  an  affliction  upon 
those  that  bear  ill  will  to  us,  to  judge  it  to  be  a  righting  of  our 
cause,  to  be  a  fruit  of  God's  concern  for  us  in  revenging  our 
wrongs,  as  if  we  had  heard  the  secrets  of  God,  or  as  Eliphaz 
saith,  had  turned  over  the  records  of  heaven.  Job  xv.  8.  This 
is  a  judgment  according  to  self-love,  not  a  divine  rule;  which 
imposes  laws  upon  heaven,  implying  a  secret  wish  that  God 
would  take  care  only  of  them,  make  our  concerns  his  own,  not 
in  ways  of  kindness  and  justice,  but  according  to  our  fancies. 
And  this  is  common  in  the  profane  world,  in  those  curses  they 
so  readily  denounce  upon  any  affront,  as  if  God  were  bound  to 
draw  his  arrows  and  shoot  them  into  the  heart  of  all  their 
offenders  at  their  beck  and  pleasure. 

[7.]  It  is  evidenced  in  mixing  rules  for  the  worship  of  God 
with  those  which  have  been  ordered  by  him.  Since  men  are 
most  prone  to  live  by  sense,  it  is  no  wonder  that  a  sensible 
worship,  which  affects  their  outward  sense  with  some  kind  of 
amazement,  is  dear  to  them,  and  spiritual  worship  most  loath- 
some. 

Pompous  rites  have  been  the  great  engine  wherewith  the 


140  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

devil  hath  deceived  the  souls  of  men,  and  wrought  them  to  a 
nauseating  the  simplicity  of  divine  worship,  as  unworthy  the 
majesty  and  excellency  of  God.  2  Cor.  xi.  3.  Thus  the  Jews 
would  not  understand  the  glory  of  the  second  temple  in  the 
presence  of  the  Messiah,  because  it  had  not  the  pompous 
grandeur  of  that  of  Solomon's  erecting. 

Hence  in  all  ages  men  have  been  forward  to  disfigure  God's 
models,  and  dress  up  a  child  of  their  own,  as  though  God  had 
been  defective  in  providing  for  his  own  honour  in  his  institu- 
tions without  the  assistance  of  his  creature.  This  has  always 
been  in  the  world  :  the  old  world  had  their  imaginations,  and 
the  new  world  has  continued  them.  The  Israelites  in  the 
midst  of  miracles,  and  under  the  memory  of  a  famous  deliver- 
ance, would  erect  a  calf.  The  Pharisees,  that  sat  in  Moses' 
chair,  would  coin  new  traditions,  and  enjoin  them  to  be  as  cur- 
rent as  the  law  of  God.  Matt.  xv.  6.  Papists  will  be  blending 
the  Christian  appointments  with  Pagan  ceremonies,  to  please 
the  carnal  fancies  of  the  common  people.  Altars  have  been 
multiplied  under  the  knowledge  of  the  law  of  God.  Hos.  viii. 
11.  Interest  is  made  the  balance  of  the  conveniency  of  God's 
injunctions.  Jeroboam  fitted  a  worship  to  politic  ends,  and 
posted  up  calves  to  prevent  his  subjects  revolting  from  his 
sceptre,  which  might  be  occasioned  by  their  resort  to  Jerusa- 
lem, and  converse  with  the  body  of  the  people  from  whom  they 
were  separated.  1  Kings  xii.  27.  Men  will  be  putting  in  their 
own  dictates  with  God's  laws,  and  are  unwilling  he  should  be 
the  sole  Governor  of  the  world  without  their  counsel;  they  will 
not  suffer  him  to  be  Lord  of  that  which  is  purely  and  solely 
his  concern.  How  often  have  the  practice  of  the  primitive 
church,  the  custom  wherein  we  are  bred,  the  sentiments  of  our 
ancestors,  been  owned  as  a  more  authentic  rule  in  matters  of 
worship,  than  the  mind  of  God  delivered  in  his  word!  It  is 
natural  by  creation  to  worship  God;  and  it  is  as  natural  by  cor- 
ruption for  man  to  worship  him  in  a  human  way,  and  not  in  a 
divine.  Is  not  this  to  impose  laws  upon  God?  to  esteem  our- 
selves wiser  than  he?  to  think  him  negligent  of  his  own  service, 
and  that  our  feeble  brains  can  find  out  ways  to  accommodate 
his  honour,  better  than  himself  has  done?  Thus  do  men  for 
the  most  part  equal  their  own  imaginations  to  God's  oracles: 
as  Solomon  built  a  high  place  to  Moloch  and  Chemosh,  upon 
the  mount  of  Olives,  to  face  on  the  east  part  Jerusalem  and 
the  temple.  1  Kings  xi.  7.  This  is  not  only  to  impose  laws  on 
God,  but  also  to  make  self  the  standard  of  them. 

[8.]  It  is  evidenced  in  fitting  interpretations  of  Scripture  to 
their  own  minds  and  humours.  Like  the  Lacedemonians,  that 
dressed  the  images  of  their  gods  according  to  the  fashion  of 
their  own  country,  we  would  wrest  Scripture  to  serve  our  own 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  ].jj 

designs,  and  judge  the  law  of  God  by  the  law  of  sin,  and  make 
the  serpentine  seed  in  us  to  be  the  interpreter  of  divine  oracles. 
This  is  like  Belshazzar,  to  drink  healths  out  of  the  sacred  ves- 
sels. As  God  is  the  author  of  his  law  and  word,  so  he  is  the 
best  interpreter  of  it;  the  Scripture  having  an  impress  of  divine 
wisdom,  holiness,  and  goodness,  must  be  regarded  according  to 
that  impress,  with  a  submission  and  meekness  of  spirit  and 
li'Vt hreoee  of  God  in  it.  But  when  in  our  inquiries  into  the 
word,  we  inquire  not  of  God,  but  consult  flesh  and  blood, 
the  temper  of  the  times  wherein  we  live,  or  the  satisfaction  of 
a  party  we  side  withal,  and  impose  glosses  upon  it  according 
to  our  own  fancies,  it  is  to  put  laws  upon  God,  and  make  self 
the  rule  of  him.  He  that  interprets  the  law  to  bolster  up  some 
eager  appetite  against  the  will  of  the  Lawgiver,  ascribes  to 
himself  as  great  an  authority  as  to  him  that  enacted  it. 

[9.]  In  falling  off  from  God  after  some  fair  compliances, 
when  his  will  grateth  upon  us  and  crosseth  ours.  They  will 
walk  with  him  as  far  as  he  pleaseth  them,  and  leave  him  upon 
the  first  distaste,  as  though  God  must  observe  their  humours 
more  than  they  his  will.  Amos  must  be  suspended  from  pro- 
phesying, because  the  land  could  not  bear  his  words,  and  his 
discourses  condemned  their  unworthy  practices  against  God. 
Amos  vii.  10,  &c.  The  young  man  came  not  to  receive  direc- 
tions from  our  Saviour,  but  expected  a  confirmation  of  his  own 
rules,  rather  than  an  imposition  of  new.  Mark  x.  17.  22.  He 
rather  cares  for  commendations  than  instructions,  and  upon  the 
disappointment  turns  his  back.  He  was  sad,  that  Christ  would 
not  suffer  him  to  be  rich  and  a  Christian  together,  and  leaves 
him  because  his  command  was  not  suitable  to  the  law  of  his 
covetousness.  Some  truths  that  are  at  a  further  distance  from 
us,  we  can  hear  gladly.  But  when  the  conscience  begins  to 
smart  under  others,  if  God  will  not  observe  our  wills,  we  will 
with  Herod,  be  a  law  to  ourselves.  Mark  vi.  20.  27. 

More  instances  might  be  observed; 

Ingratitude  is  a  setting  up  self,  and  an  imposing  laws  on  God. 
It  is  as  much  as  to  say,  God  did  no  more  than  he  was  obliged 
to  do;  as  if  the  mercies  we  have  were  an  act  of  duty  in  God, 
and  not  of  bounty. — Insatiable  desires  after  wealth;  hence  are 
those  speeches,  "  We  will  go  into  such  a  city,  and  buy  and  sell, 
and  get  gain."  James  iv.  13.  As  though  they  had  the  command 
of  God,  and  God  must  lackey  after  their  wills. — When  our 
hearts  are  not  contented  with  any  supply  of  our  wants,  but  are 
craving  an  overplus  for  our  lust:  when  we  are  unsatisfied  in 
the  midst  of  plenty,  and  still,  like  the  grave,  cry,  Give,  give. 

Incorrigibleness  under  allliction  also  evinces  this. 

•Assertion  2.  As  man  would  be  a  law  to  himself,  so  he  would 
be  his  own  end  and  happiness  in  opposition  to  God. 


142  0N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

Here  four  things  should  be  discoursed  on.  Man  would  make 
himself  his  own  end  and  happiness. — He  would  make  any- 
thing his  end  and  happiness  rather  than  God. — He  would  make 
himself  the  end  of  all  creatures. — He  would  make  himself  the 
end  of  God. 

(1.)  Man  would  make  himself  his  own  end  and  happiness. 
As  God  ought  to  be  esteemed  the  first  cause,  in  point  of  our 
dependence  on  him,  so  he  ought  to  be  our  last  end,  in  point  of 
our  enjoyment  of  him.  When  we  therefore  trust  in  ourselves, 
we  refuse  him  as  the  first  cause;  and  when  we  act  for  ourselves 
and  expect  a  blessedness  from  ourselves,  we  refuse  him  as  the 
chiefest  good  and  last  end,  which  is  an  undeniable  piece  of 
atheism.  For  man  is  a  creature  of  a  higher  rank  than  others 
in  the  world,  and  was  not  made  as  animals,  plants,  and  other 
works  of  the  Divine  power,  materially  to  glorify  God;  but  a 
rational  creature,  intentionally  to  honour  God  by  obedience  to 
his  rule,  dependence  on  his  goodness,  and  zeal  for  his  glory. 
It  is  therefore  as  much  a  slighting  of  God,  for  man,  a  creature, 
to  set  himself  up  as  his  own  end,  as  to  regard  himself  as  his 
own  law. 

For  the  discovery  of  this,  observe  that  there  is  a  three-fold 
self-love. 

Natural;  which  is  common  to  us  by  the  law  of  nature  with 
other  creatures,  inanimate,  as  well  as  animate  ;  and  so  closely 
twisted  with  the  nature  of  every  creature,  that  it  cannot  be  dis- 
solved, but  with  the  dissolution  of  nature  itself.  It  consisted 
not  with  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God  to  create  an  unna- 
tural nature,  or  to  command  any  thing  unnatural.  Nor  doth 
he;  for  when  he  commands  us  to  sacrifice  ourselves  and  dear- 
est lives  for  himself,  it  is  not  without  a  promise  of  a  more  noble 
state  and  being,  in  exchange  for  what  we  lose.  This  self-love 
is  not  only  commendable,  but  necessary,  as  a  rule  to  measure 
that  duty  we  owe  to  our  neighbour,  whom  we  cannot  love  as 
ourselves  if  we  do  not  first  love  ourselves.  God  having  planted 
this  self-love  in  our  nature,  makes  this  natural  principle  the 
measure  of  our  affection  to  all  mankind  of  the  same  blood  with 
ourselves. 

Carnal;  when  a  man  loves  himself  above  God,  in  opposition 
to  God,  with  a  contempt  of  God;  when  our  thoughts,  affections, 
designs,  centre  only  in  our  own  fleshly  interest;  and  rifle  God 
of  his  honour,  to  make  u  present  of  it  to  ourselves.  Thus  the 
natural  self-love,  in  itself  good,  becomes  criminal  by  the  excess, 
when  it  would  be  superior  and  not  subordinate  to  God. 

Gracious;  when  we  love  ourselves  for  higher  ends  than  the 
nature  of  a  creature,  as  a  creature,  dictates,  namely,  in  subser- 
viency to  the  glory  of  God.  This  is  a  reduction  of  the  revolted 
creature,  to  his  true  and  happy  order.     A  Christian  is  therefore 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  J43 

said  to  be  created  in  Christ  to  good  works.  Eph.  ii.  10.  As  all 
creatures  were  created,  not  only  for  themselves,  but  for  the 
honour  of  God,  so  the  grace  of  the  new  creation  carries  a  man 
to  answer  this  end,  and  to  order  all  his  operations  to  the  honour 
of  God,  and  his  well  pleasing. 

The  first  is  from  nature,  the  second  from  sin,  the  third  from 
grace.  The  first  is  implanted  by  creation,  the  second  the  fruit 
of  corruption,  and  the  third  is  by  the  powerful  operations  of 
grace. 

Now  the  carnal  self-love  is  set  up  in  the  stead  of  God  as  our 
last  end;  like  the  sea,  which  all  the  little  and  great  streams  of 
our  actions  run  to  and  rest  in. 

And  this  is, 

Natural.  It  sticks  as  close  to  us  as  our  souls;  it  is  as  natural 
as  sin;  the  foundation  of  all  the  evil  in  the  world.  As  self- 
abhorrence  is  the  first  stone  that  is  laid  in  conversion,  so  an 
inordinate  self-love  was  the  first  inlet  to  all  iniquity:  as  grace 
is  a  rising  from  self  to  centre  in  God,  so  is  sin  a  shrinking  from 
God  into  the  mire  of  a  carnal  selfishness.  Since  every  creature 
is  nearest  to  itself  and  next  to  God,  it  cannot  fall  from  God,  but 
must  immediately  sink  into  self.  And  therefore  all  sins  are 
well  said  to  be  branches  or  modifications  of  this  fundamental 
passion.1  What  is  wrath,  but  a  defence  and  strengthening  of 
self  against  the  attempts  of  some  real  or  imaginary  evil? 
Whence  springs  envy,  but  from  a  self-love,  grieved  at  its  own 
wants  in  the  midst  of  another's  enjoyment,  able  to  supply  it? 
What  is  impatience,  but  a  regret  that  self  is  not  provided  for  at 
the  rate  of  our  wish,  and  that  it  has  met  with  a  shock  against 
supposed  merit?  What  is  pride,  but  a  sense  of  self-worth,  a  de- 
sire to  have  self  of  a  higher  elevation  than  others?  What  is 
drunkenness,  but  a  seeking  a  satisfaction  for  sensual  self  in  the 
spoils  of  reason?  No  sin  is  committed  as  sin,  but  as  it  pretends 
a  self-satisfaction.  Sin  indeed  may  well  be  termed  a  man's  self, 
because  it  is,  since  the  loss  of  original  righteousness,  the  form 
that  overspreads  every  part  of  our  souls.  The  understanding 
assents  to  nothing  false  but  under  the  notion  of  true,  and  the 
will  embraces  nothing  evil  but  under  the  notion  of  good;  but 
the  rule  whereby  we  measure  the  truth  and  goodness  of  pro- 
posed objects,  is  not  the  unerring  word,  but  the  inclinations  of 
self,  the  gratifying  of  which  is  the  aim  of  our  whole  lives. 

Sin  and  self  are  all  one.  What  is  called  a  living  to  sin  in  one 
place,  Rom.  vi.,  is  called  a  living  to  self  in  another.  "  That  they 
that  live  should  not  live  unto  themselves."  2  Cor.  v.  15.  And 
upon  this  account  it  is  that  both  the  Hebrew  word,  won  and  the 
Greek  word,  a/xaprmvuv,  used  in  Scripture  to  express  sin,  pro- 
perly signify  to  miss  the  mark,  and  swerve  from  that  object  to 

'  More,  Dial.  2.  $  17.  p.  274. 


|44  0N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

which  all  our  actions  should  be  directed,  namely,  the  glory  of 
God.  When  we  fell  to  loving  ourselves,  we  fell  from  loving 
God:  and  therefore  when  the  psalmist  saith,  there  were  none 
that  sought  God,  namely,  as  the  last  end,  he  presently  adds, 
"  they  are  all  gone  aside,"  namely,  from  their  true  mark,  and 
therefore  become  filthy.  Psal.  xiv.  3. 

Since  it  is  natural,  it  is  also  universal.  Ps.  xiv.  1.  The  not 
seeking  God  is  as  universal  as  our  ignorance  of  him.  No  man 
in  a  state  of  nature,  but  has  it  predominant;  no  renewed  man 
on  this  side  heaven  but  has  it  partially:  the  one  has  it  flourish- 
ing, the  other  has  it  struggling.  If  to  aim  at  the  glory  of  God 
as  the  chief  end,  and  not  to  live  to  ourselves,  be  the  greatest 
mark  of  the  restoration  of  the  Divine  image,  2  Cor.  v.  15,  and 
a  conformity  to  Christ,  who  glorified  not  himself,  Heb.  v.  5,  but 
the  Father,  John  xvii.  4,  then  every  man  wallowing  in  the  mire 
of  corrupt  nature,  pays  a  homage  to  self,  as  a  renewed  man  is 
biassed  by  the  honour  of  God. 

The  Holy  Ghost  excepts  none  from  this  crime,  "all  seek  their 
own."  Phil.  ii.  21.  It  is  rare  for  them  to  look  above  or  beyond 
themselves:  whatsoever  may  be  the  immediate  subject  of  their 
thoughts  and  inquiries,  yet  the  utmost  end  and  stage  is  their 
profit,  honour,  or  pleasure:  whatever  it  be  that  immediately 
possesses  the  mind  and  will,  self  sits  like  a  queen,  and  sways 
the  sceptre,  and  orders  things  at  that  rate  that  God  is  excluded, 
and  can  find  no  room  in  his  thoughts;  "The  wicked,  through 
the  pride  of  his  countenance,  will  not  seek  after  God;  God  is 
not  in  all  his  thoughts."  Psal.  x.  4.  The  whole  little  world  of 
man  is  so  overflowed  with  a  deluge  of  self,  that  the  dove,  the 
glory  of  the  Creator,  can  find  no  place  where  to  set  its  foot; 
and  if  ever  it  gain  the  favour  of  admittance,  it  is  to  disguise 
and  be  a  vassal  to  some  carnal  project;  as  the  glory  of  God  was 
a  mask  for  the  murdering  his  servants. 

It  is  from  the  power  of  this  principle  that  the  difficulty  of 
conversion  arises.  As  there  is  no  greater  pleasure  to  a  believing 
soul  than  the  giving  itself  up  to  God,  and  no  stronger  desire  in 
it  than  to  have  a  fixed  and  unchangeable  will  to  serve  the  de- 
signs of  his  honour:  so  there  is  no  greater  torment  to  a  wicked 
man  than  to  part  with  his  carnal  ends,  and  lay  down  the  Da- 
gon  of  self  at  the  feet  of  the  ark.  Self-love  and  self-opinion 
in  the  Pharisees,  waylaid  all  the  entertainment  of  truth.  They 
sought  honour  one  of  another,  and  not  the  honour  which  comes 
from  God.  John  v.  44.  It  is  of  so  large  an  extent,  and  so  in- 
sinuating a  nature,  that  it  winds  itself  into  the  exercise  of 
moral  virtues,  mixes  with  our  charity,  Matt.  vi.  2,  and  finds 
nourishment  in  the  ashes  of  martyrdom,  1  Cor.  xiii.  3. 

This  making  ourselves  our  end,  will  appear  in  a  few  things. 

[1.]    In  frequent  self-applauses,  and   inward  overweening 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM  145 

reflections.  Nothing  is  more  ordinary  in  the  natures  of  men, 
than  a  doting  on  their  own  perfections,  acquisitions,  or  actions 
in  the  world.  Most  think  of  themselves  above  what  they  ought 
to  think.  Rom.  xii.  3.  Few  think  of  themselves  so  meanly  as 
they  ought  to  think.  This  sticks  as  close  to  us  as  our  skin. 
And  as  humility  is  the  beauty  of  grace,  this  is  the  filthiest  soil 
of  nature.  Our  thoughts  run  more  delightfully  upon  the  track 
of  our  own  perfections,  than  the  excellency  of  God.  And  when 
we  find  any  thing  of  a  seeming  worth,  that  may  make  us  glitter 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  how  cheerfully  do  we  grasp  and  em- 
brace ourselves!  When  the  grosser  profanenesses  of  men  have 
been  discarded, and  the  floods  of  them  dammed  up;  the  head  of 
corruption,  whence  they  sprang,  will  swell  the  higher  within, 
in  self-applauding  speculations  of  their  own  reformation,  with- 
out acknowledgments  of  their  own  weaknesses,  and  desires  of 
Divine  assistance  to  make  a  further  progress.  "  I  thank  God,  I 
am  not  like  this  publican."  Luke  xviii.  11.  A  self-reflection, 
with  a  contempt  rather  than  compassion  to  his  neighbour,  is 
frequent  in  every  Pharisee.  The  vapours  of  self-affections,  in 
our  clouded  understandings,  like  those  in  the  air  in  misty  morn- 
ings, alter  the  appearance  of  things,  and  make  them  look  bigger 
than  they  are.  This  is  thought  by  some  to  be  the  sin  of  the 
fallen  angels,  who  reflecting  upon  their  own  natural  excellency 
superior  to  other  creatures,  would  find  a  blessedness  in  their 
own  nature,  as  God  did  in  his;  and  make  themselves  the  last 
end  of  their  actions.  It  is  from  this  principle  we  are  naturally 
so  ready  to  compare  ourselves,  rather  with  those  that  are  below 
us,  than  with  those  that  are  above  us;  and  often  think  those 
that  are  above  us,  inferior  to  us,  and  secretly  glory  that  we  are 
become  none  of  the  meanest  and  lowest  in  natural  or  moral 
excellencies. 

How  far  were  the  gracious  penmen  of  the  Scripture  from 
this,  who  when  possessed  and  directed  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
and  filled  with  a  sense  of  him,  instead  of  applauding  themselves, 
publish  upon  record  their  own  faults  to  all  the  eyes  of  the 
world!  And  if  Peter,  as  some  think,  dictated  the  gospel  which 
Mark  wrote  as  his  amanuensis,  it  is  observable,  that  his  crime 
in  denying  his  Master  is  aggravated  in  that  gospel  in  some 
circumstances,  and  less  spoken  of  his  repentance,  than  in  the 
other  evangelists.  "  When  he  thought  thereon,  he  wept,"  Mark 
xiv.  72;  but  in  the  other,  "  He  went  out,  and  wept  bitterly." 
Matt.  xxvi.  15.  Luke  xxii.  62. 

This  is  one  part  of  atheism  and  self-idolatry,  to  magnify 
ourselves  with  the  forgetfulness  and  to  the  injury  of  our  Crea- 
tor. 

[2.]  In  ascribing  the  glory  of  what  we  do  or  have,  to  our- 
selves, to  our  own  wisdom,  power,  and  virtue.    How  flaunting 
Vol.  I.— in 


146  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

is  Nebuchadnezzar,  at  the  prospect  of  Babylon,  which  he  had 
exalted  to  be  the  head  of  so  great  an  empire,  "  Is  not  this  great 
Babylon  that  I  have  built?"  Dan.  iv.  30.  He  struts  upon  the 
battlements  of  his  palace,  as  if  there  were  no  God  but  himself 
in  the  world,  while  his  eye  could  not  but  see  the  heavens  above 
him  to  be  none  of  his  own  framing;  attributing  his  acquisitions 
to  his  own  arm,  and  referring  them  to  his  own  honour,  for  his 
own  delight;  not  for  the  honour  of  God,  as  a  creature  ought; 
nor  for  the  advantage  of  his  subjects,  as  the  duty  of  a  prince: 
he  regards  Babylon  as  his  heaven,  and  himself  as  his  idol,  as  if 
he  were  all,  and  God  nothing.  An  example  of  this  we  have  in 
the  present  age.  But  it  is  often  observed,  that  God  vindicates 
his  own  honour,  brings  the  most  heroical  men  to  contempt  and 
unfortunate  ends,  as  a  punishment  of  their  pride,  as  he  did 
here,  "  While  the  word  was  in  the  king's  mouth,  there  fell  a 
voice  from  heaven."  Dan.  iv.  31. l  This  was  Herod's  crime,  to 
suffer  others  to  do  it:  he  had  discovered  his  eloquence  actively, 
and  made  himself  his  own  end  passively,  in  approving  the  flat- 
teries of  the  people;  and  offered  not  with  one  hand  to  God  the 
glory  he  received  from  his  people  with  the  other.  Acts  xii. 
22,  23.  Samosatenus  is  reported  to  have  put  down  the  hymns 
which  were  sung  for  the  glory  of  God  and  Christ,  and  caused 
songs  to  be  sung  in  the  temple  for  his  own  honour. 

When  any  thing  succeeds  well,  we  are  ready  to  attribute  it 
to  our  own  prudence  and  industry:  if  we  meet  with  a  cross, 
we  fret  against  the  stars  and  fortune,  and  second  causes,  and 
sometimes  against  God;  as  they  curse  God  as  well  as  their 
king,  Isa.  viii.  21,  not  acknowledging  any  defect  in  themselves. 
The  psalmist  by  his  repetition  of  "Not  unto  us,  not  unto  us, 
but  to  thy  name  give  glory,"  Psal.  cxv.  1,  implies  the  natu- 
rality  of  this  temper,  and  the  difficulty  to  cleanse  our  hearts 
from  those  self-reflections.  If  it  be  angelical  to  refuse  an  undue 
glory  stolen  from  God's  throne,  Rev.  xxii.  8,  9,  it  is  diabolical 
to  accept  and  cherish  it.  To  seek  our  own  glory  is  not  glory, 
Prov.  xxv.  27.  It  is  vile,  and  the  dishonour  of  a  creature,  who 
by  the  law  of  his  creation  is  referred  to  another  end.  So  much 
as  we  sacrifice  to  our  own  credit,  to  the  dexterity  of  our  hands, 
or  the  sagacity  of  our  wit,  we  detract  from  God. 

[3.]  In  desires  to  have  self-pleasing  doctrines;  when  we 
cannot  endure  to  hear  anything  that  crosses  the  flesh;  though 
the  wise  man  tells  us,  "  It  is  better  to  hear  the  rebuke  of  the 
wise,  than  the  song  of  fools."  Eccles.  vii.  5.  If  Hanani  the 
seer  reprove  king  Asa  for  not  relying  on  the  Lord,  his  passion 
shall  be  armed  for  self  against  the  prophet,  and  arrest  him  a 
prisoner.  2  Chron.  xvi.  10.  If  Micaiah  declare  to  Ahab  the 
evil  that  shall  befall  him,  Anion  the  governor  shall  receive 

1  Sanderson's  Sermons. 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  ]47 

orders  to  clap  him  up  in  a  dungeon.  Fire  doth  not  sooner 
seize  upon  combustible  matter,  than  fury  will  be  kindled,  if 
self  be  but  pinched.  This  interest  of  lustful  self  barred  the 
heart  of  Herodias  against  the  entertainment  of  the  truth,  and 
caused  her  savagely  to  dip  her  hands  in  the  blood  of  the  Bap- 
tist, to  make  him  a  sacrifice  to  that  inward  idol.  Mark  vi.  18, 
19.  28. 

[4.]  In  being  highly  concerned  for  injuries  done  to  ourselves, 
and  little  or  not  at  all  concerned  for  injuries  done  to  God.  How 
will  the  blood  rise  in  us,  when  our  honour  and  reputation  are 
invaded,  and  scarce  reflect  upon  the  dishonour  God  sutlers  in 
our  sight  and  hearing.  Violent  passions  will  transform  us  into 
Boanerges  in  the  one  case,  and  our  unconcernedness  render  us 
Gallios  in  the  other.  We  shall  extenuate  that  which  concerns 
God,  and  assravate  that  which  concerns  ourselves.  Nothing 
but  the  death  of  Jonathan,  a  first  born  and  a  generous  son,  will 
satisfy  his  father  Saul,  when  the  authority  of  his  edict  was 
broken  by  his  tasting  of  honey;  though  he  had  recompensed 
his  crime  committed  in  ignorance,  by  the  purchase  of  a  gallant 
victory,  lint  when  the  authority  of  God  was  violated  in  saving 
the  Amalekites'  cattle,  against  the  command  of  a  greater  Sove- 
reign than  himself;  he  can  daub  the  business,  and  excuse  it 
with  a  design  of  sacrificing.  He  was  not  so  earnest  in  hinder- 
ing the  people  from  the  breach  of  God's  command,  as  he  was 
in  vindicating  the  honour  of  his  own,  1  Sam.  xv.  21.  He 
could  hardly  admit  of  an  excuse  to  salve  his  own  honour;  but 
in  the  concerns  of  God's  honour,  pretend  piety,  to  cloak  his 
avarice. 

And  it  is  often  seen,  when  the  violation  of  God's  authority 
and  the  stain  of  our  own  reputation  are  coupled  together;  we 
are  more  troubled  for  what  disgraces  us,  than  for  what  dis- 
honours God:  when  Saul  had  thus  transgressed,  he  is  desirous 
that  Samuel  would  turn  again  to  preserve  his  own  honour 
before  the  elders,  rather  than  grieved  that  he  had  broken  the 
command  of  God.  ver.  30. 

[5.]  In  trusting  in  ourselves.  When  we  consult  with  our 
own  wit  and  wisdom,  more  than  inquire  of  God,  and  ask  leave 
of  him:  as  the  Assyrian,  "By  the  strength  of  my  hand  I  have 
done  it,  and  by  my  wisdom;  for  I  am  prudent."  Isa.  x.  13. 
When  we  attempt  tilings  in  the  strength  of  our  own  heads  and 
parts,  and  trust  in  our  own  industry,  without  application  to 
God,  for  direction,  blessing,  and  success,  we  affect  the  privilege 
of  the  Deity,  and  make  gods  of  ourselves.  The  same  language 
in  reality  with  Ajax  in  Sophocles:  "  Others  think  to  overcome 
with  the  assistance  of  the  gods,  but  I  hope  to  gain  honour 
without  them."  Dependence  and  trust  is  an  act  due  from  the 
creature  only  to  God.     Hence  God  aggravates  the  crime  of  the 


148  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

Jews  in  trusting  in  Egypt,  "  the  Egyptians  are  men,  and  not 
God."  Isa.  xxxi.  3.  Confidence  in  ourselves  is  a  defection  from 
God.  Jer.  xvii.  5.  And  when  we  depart  from  and  cast  off 
God  to  depend  upon  ourselves,  which  is  but  an  arm  of  flesh, 
we  choose  the  arm  of  flesh  for  our  god;  we  rob  God  of  that 
confidence  we  ought  to  place  in  him,  and  that  adoration  which 
is  due  to  him,  and  build  it  upon  another  foundation:  not  that 
we  are  to  neglect  the  reason  and  parts  God  hath  given  us,  or 
spend  more  time  in  prayer  than  in  consulting  about  our  own 
affairs;  but  to  mix  our  own  intentions  in  business  with  ejacula- 
tions to  Heaven,  and  take  God  along  with  us  in  every  motion. 
But  certainly  it  is  an  idolizing  of  self,  when  we  are  more  dili- 
gent in  our  attendance  on  our  own  wit,  than  fervent  in  our 
recourses  to  God. 

[6.]  The  power  of  sinful  self,  above  the  efficacy  of  the  no- 
tion of  God,  is  evident  in  our  workings  for  carnal  self  against 
the  light  of  our  own  consciences.  When  men  of  sublime  rea- 
son and  clear  natural  wisdom,  are  voluntary  slaves  to  their  own 
lusts,  row  against  the  stream  of  their  own  consciences,  serve 
carnal  self  with  a  disgraceful  and  disturbing  drudgery,  making 
it  their  god,  sacrificing  natural  self,  all  sentiments  of  virtue,  and 
the  quiet  of  their  lives,  to  the  pleasure,  honour,  and  satisfaction 
of  carnal  self;  this  is  a  prostituting  God,  in  his  deputy  con- 
science, to  carnal  affections,  when  their  eyes  are  shut  against 
the  enlightenings  of  it,  and  their  ears  deaf  to  its  voice,  but  open 
to  the  least  breath  and  whisper  of  self;  a  debt  that  the  creature 
owes  supremely  to  God. 

Much  more  might  be  said,  but  let  us  see  what  atheism  lurks 
in  this,  and  how  it  intrenches  upon  God. 

It  is  a  usurping  God's  prerogative.  It  is  God's  prerogative 
to  be  his  own  end,  and  act  for  his  own  glory,  because  there  is 
nothing  superior  to  him  in  excellency  and  goodness  to  act  for: 
he  had  not  his  being  from  any  thing  without  himself,  whereby 
he  should  be  obliged  to  act  for  any  thing  but  himself.  To  make 
ourselves  then  our  last  end,  is  to  co-rival  God  in  his  being  the 
supreme  good,  and  blessedness  to  himself:  as  if  we  were  our 
own  principle,  the  author  of  our  own  being,  and  were  not 
obliged  to  a  higher  power  than  ourselves  for  what  we  are  and 
have.  To  direct  the  lines  of  all  our  motions  to  ourselves,  is  to 
imply  that  they  first  issued  only  from  ourselves.  When  we  are 
rivals  to  God  in  his  chief  end,  we  own  or  desire  to  be  rivals  to 
him  in  the  principle  of  his  being:  this  is  to  set  ourselves  in  the 
place  of  God.  All  things  have  something  without  them,  and 
above  them  as  their  end :  all  inferior  creatures  act  for  some 
superior  order  in  the  rank  of  creation;  the  lesser  animals  are 
designed  for  the  greater,  and  all  for  man;  man,  therefore,  for 
something  nobler  than  himself.     To  make  ourselves  therefore 


ON    PRACTICAL  ATHEISM 


149 


our  own  end  is  to  deny  any  superior,  l<>  whom  we  are  to  direct 
our  actions.  God  alone  being  the  Supreme  Being,  can  be  his 
own  ultimate  end,  for  if  there  were  any  thing  higher  and  bet- 
ter than  God,  the  purity  and  righteousness  of  his  own  nature 
would  cause  him  to  acl  for  and  toward  that  as  his  chiefest  mark. 
This  is  the  highest  sacrilege,  to  alienate  the  proper  good  and 
rights  of  God,  and  employ  them  for  our  own  use;  to  steal  from 
him  his  own  honour,  and  put  it  into  our  own  cabinets;  like 
those  birds  that  ravished  the  sacrifice  from  the  altar  and  car- 
ried it  to  their  own  nests.  When  we  love  only  ourselves,  and 
act  for  no  other  end  but  ourselves,  we  invest  ourselves  with  the 
dominion  which  is  the  right  of  God,  and  take  the  crown  from 
his  head:  for  as  the  crown  belongs  to  the  king,  so  to  love  his 
own  will,  to  will  by  his  own  will  and  for  himself,  is  the  pro- 
perty of  God,  because  he  has  no  other  will,  no  other  end  above 
him  to  be  the  rule  and  scope  of  his  actions. 

When  therefore  we  are  by  self-love  transformed  wholly  into 
ourselves,  we  make  ourselves  our  own  foundation,  without  God 
and  against  God  ;  when  we  mind  our  own  glory  and  praise, 
we  would  have  a  royal  state  equal  with  God,  who  created  all 
things  for  himself.  Prov.  xvi.  4.  What  can  man  do  more  for 
God  than  he  naturally  does  for  himself,  since  he  does  all  those 
things  for  himself  which  he  should  do  for  God?  we  own  our- 
selves to  be  our  own  creators  and  benefactors,  and  lling  off  all 
sentiments  of  gratitude  to  him. 

It  is  a  vilifying  of  God.  When  we  make  ourselves  our  end, 
it  is  plain  language  that  God  is  not  our  happiness:  we  postpone 
God  to  ourselves,  as  if  he  were  not  an  object  so  excellent  and 
fit  for  our  love  as  ourselves  are  ;  for  it  is  irrational  to  make 
that  our  end  which  is  not  God,  and  not  the  chiefest  good.  It 
is  to  deny  him  to  be  better  than  we,  to  make  him  not  to  be  so 
good  as  ourselves,  and  so  fit  to  be  our  chiefest  good  as  ourselves 
are;  that  he  has  not  deserved  any  such  acknowledgment  at 
our  hands  by  all  that  he  has  done  for  us.  We  assert  ourselves 
his  superiors  by  such  kind  of  acting,  though  we  are  infinitely 
more  inferior  to  God  than  any  creature  can  be  to  us.  Man 
cannot  dishonour  God  more  than  by  referring  that  to  his  own 
glory  which  God  made  for  his  own  praise,  upon  account  where- 
of he  only  has  a  right  to  glory  and  praise,  and  none  else.  He 
thus  changes  the  glory  of  the  incorruptible  God  into  a  cor- 
ruptible image,  Rom.  i.  23;  a  perishing  lame  and  reputation, 
which  extends  but  little  beyond  the  limits  of  his  own  habita- 
tion, or  if  it  does,  survives  but  a  few  years,  and  perishes  at  last 
with  the  age  wherein  he  lived. 

It  is  as  much  as  in  us  lies  a  destroying  of  God.  By  this  tem- 
per we  destroy  that  God  that  made  us,  because  we  destroy  his 
intention  and  his  honour.     God  cannot  outlive  his  will  and  his 


150  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

glory,  because  he  cannot  have  any  other  rule  but  his  own  wil\, 
or  any  other  end  but  his  own  honour.  The  setting  up  self  as 
our  end,  puts  a  nullity  upon  the  true  Deity:  by  paying  to  our- 
selves that  respect  and  honour  which  is  due  to  God,  we  make 
the  true  God  as  no  God.  Whosoever  makes  himself  a  king  of 
his  prince's  rights  and  territories,  manifests  an  intent  to  throw 
him  out  of  his  government.  To  choose  ourselves  as  our  end 
is  to  undeify  God,  since  to  be  the  last  end  of  a  rational  creature 
is  a  right  inseparable  from  the  nature  of  the  Deity;  and  there- 
fore not  to  set  God,  but  self,  always  before  us,  is  to  acknow- 
ledge no  being  but  ourselves  to  be  God. 

(2.)  The  second  thing  is,  man  would  make  any  thing  his  end 
and  happiness  rather  than  God.  An  end  is  so  necessary  in  all 
our  actions,  that  he  deserves  not  the  name  of  a  rational  crea- 
ture that  proposes  not  one  to  himself.  This  is  the  distinction 
between  rational  creatures  and  others;  they  act  with  a  formal 
intention,  whereas  other  creatures  are  directed  to  their  end  by 
a  natural  instinct,  and  moved  by  nature  to  what  the  others 
should  be  moved  to  by  reason.  When  a  man  therefore  acts  for 
that  end,  which  was  not  intended  him  by  the  law  of  his  crea- 
tion, nor  is  suited  to  the  noble  faculties  of  his  soul,  he  acts  con- 
trary to  God,  overturns  his  order,  and  merits  no  better  a  title 
than  that  of  an  atheist. 

A  man  may  be  said  two  ways  to  make  a  thing  his  last  end 
and  chief  good. 

Formally.  When  he  actually  judges  this  or  that  thing  to  be 
his  chiefest  good,  and  orders  all  things  to  it.  So  man  does  not 
formally  judge  sin  to  be  good,  or  any  object  which  is  the  incen- 
tive of  sin  to  be  his  last  end:  this  cannot  be  while  he  has  the 
exercise  of  his  rational  faculties. 

Virtually  and  implicitly.  When  he  loves  any  thing  against 
the  command  of  God,  and  prefers  in  the  stream  of  his  actions 
the  enjoyment  of  that,  before  the  fruition  of  God  ;  and  lays  out 
more  strength  and  expends  more  time  in  the  gaining  that,  than 
answering  the  true  end  of  his  creation:  when  he  acts  so  as  if 
something  below  God  could  make  him  happy  without  God, 
or  that  God  could  not  make  him  happy  without  the  addi- 
tion of  something  else.  Thus  the  glutton  makes  a  god  of  his 
dainties;  the  ambitious  man  of  his  honour;  the  incontinent  man 
of  his  lust;  and  the  covetous  man  of  his  wealth;  and  conse- 
quently esteems  them  as  his  chiefest  good,  and  the  most  noble 
end,  to  which  he  directs  his  thoughts.  Thus  he  vilifies  and 
lessens  the  true  God,  which  can  make  him  happy,  in  a  multi- 
tude of  false  gods,  that  can  only  render  him  miserable.  He  that 
loves  pleasure  more  than  God,  says  in  his  heart  there  is  no  God 
but  his  pleasure.  He  that  loves  his  belly  more  than  God,  says 
in  his  heart  there  is  no  god  but  his  belly.     Their  happiness  is 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  j-,1 

not  accounted  to  lie  in  that  God  that  made  the  world,  but  in  the 
pleasure  or  profit  they  make  their  god. 

In  this,  though  a  created  object  be  the  immediate  and  subor- 
dinate term  to  which  we  turn,  yet  principally  and  ultimately, 
the  affection  to  it  terminates  in  self:  nothing  is  naturally  enter- 
tained by  us,  but  as  it  affects  our  sense,  or  mingles  with  some 
promise  of  advantage  to  us. 

This  is  seen, 

[1.]  In  the  fewer  thoughts  we  have  of  God,  than  of  any 
thing  else.  Did  we  apprehend  God  to  be  our  chiefest  good  and 
highest  end,  should  we  grudge  him  the  pains  of  a  few  days' 
thoughts  upon  him?  Men  in  their  travels  are  frequently  think- 
ing upon  their  intended  stage;  but  our  thoughts  run  upon  new 
acquisitions  to  increase  our  wealth,  rear  up  our  families,  re- 
venge our  injuries,  and  support  our  reputation.  Trifles  possess 
us;  but  God  is  not  in  all  our  thoughts,  Psa.  x.  4,  seldom  the 
sole  object  of  them.  We  have  durable  thoughts  of  transitory 
things,  and  flitting  thoughts  of  a  durable  and  eternal  good.  The 
covenant  of  grace  engages  the  whole  heart  to  God,  and  bars 
any  thing  else  from  engrossing  it.  But  what  strangers  are  God 
and  the  souls  of  most  men!  Though  we  have  the  knowledge  of 
him  by  creation,  yet  he  is  for  the  most  part  an  unknown  God 
in  the  relations  wherein  he  stands  to  us,  because  a  God  unde- 
lighted  in.  Hence  it  is,  as  one  observes,1  that  because  we  ob- 
serve not  the  ways  of  God's  wisdom,  conceive  not  of  him  in  his 
vast  perfections,  nor  are  stricken  with  an  admiration  of  his 
goodness,  we  have  fewer  good  sacred  poems  than  of  any 
other  kind.  The  wits  of  men  hang  the  wing  when  they  come 
to  exercise  their  reason  and  fancies  about  God.  Parts  and 
strength  are  given  us,  as  well  as  corn  and  wine  to  the  Israelites 
for  the  service  of  God:  but  those  are  consecrated  to  some  cursed 
Baal.  Hos.  ii.  S.  Like  Venus  in  the  poet,  we  forsake  heaven  to 
follow  some  Adonis. 

[2.]  In  the  greedy  pursuit  of  the  world.  When  we  pursue 
worldly  wealth  or  worldly  reputation  with  more  vehemence 
than  the  riches  of  grace,  or  the  favour  of  God.2  When  we  have 
a  foolish  imagination,  that  our  happiness  consists  in  them,  we 
prefer  earth  before  heaven,  broken  cisterns  which  can  hold  no 
water,  before  an  ever-springing  fountain  of  glory  and  bliss; 
and,  as  though  there  were  a  defect  in  God,  cannot  be  content 
with  him  as  our  portion,  without  an  addition  of  something  infe- 
rior to  him.  When  we  make  it  our  hopes,  and  say  to  the  golden 
wedge,  "Thou  art  my  confidence:"  and  rejoice  more  because 

1  Jackson,  see  book  1.  cap.  14.  p.  48. 

2  Quod  quisque  prffi  ceteris  petit,  summuin  judicat  bonum.  "  What  a  man  pur- 
sues above  all  other  things,  that  he  judges  his  chief  good."     Boet.  lib.  3.  p.  24. 


152  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

it  is  great,  and  because  our  hand  hath  gotten  much,  than  in  the 
privilege  of  communion  with  God  and  the  promise  of  an  ever- 
lasting fruition  of  him,  Job.  xxxi.  24,  25.  This  is  so  gross,  that 
Job  joins  it  with  the  idolatry  of  the  sun  and  moon,  which  he 
purgeth  himself  of,  ver.  26.  And  the  apostle,  when  he  men- 
tions covetousness  or  covetous  men,  passes  it  not  over  without 
the  title  of  idolatry  to  the  vice,  and  idolater  to  the  person.  Col. 
iii.  5.  Eph.  v.  5;  in  that  it  is  a  preferring  clay  and  dirt  as  an 
end  more  desirable  than  the  original  of  all  goodness,  in  regard 
of  affection  and  dependence. 

[3.]  In  a  strong  addictedness  to  sensual  pleasures.  Who 
make  their  belly  their  God,  Phil.  iii.  19;  subjecting  the  truths 
of  God  to  the  maintenance  of  their  luxury.  In  debasing  the 
higher  faculties  to  project  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  sensitive 
appetite  as  their  chief  happiness,  whereby  many  render  them- 
selves no  better  than  a  rout  of  sublimated  brutes  among  men, 
and  gross  atheists  to  God.  When  men's  thoughts  run  also  upon 
inventing  new  methods  to  satisfy  their  bestial  appetite,  for- 
saking the  pleasures  which  are  to  be  had  in  God,  which  are  the 
delights  of  angels,  for  the  satisfaction  of  brutes.  This  is  an  open 
and  unquestionable  refusal  of  God  for  our  end,  when  our  rest 
is  in  them,  as  if  they  were  the  chief  good,  and  not  God. 

[4.]  In  paying  a  service  upon  any  success  in  the  world,  to 
instruments  more  than  to  God  the  Sovereign  Author.  When 
they  sacrifice  to  their  net,  and  burn  incense  to  their  drag.  Hab. 
i.  16.  Not  that  the  Assyrian  did  offer  a  sacrifice  to  his  arms, 
but  ascribed  to  them  what  was  due  only  to  God,  and  appro- 
priated the  victory  to  his  forces  and  arms.  The  prophet  alludes 
to  those  that  worshipped  their  warlike  instruments,  whereby 
they  had  attained  great  victories;  and  those  artificers  who  wor- 
shipped the  tools  by  which  they  had  purchased  great  wealth,  in 
the  stead  of  God;  preferring  them  as  the  causes  of  their  happi- 
ness before  God  who  governs  the  world. 

And  are  not  our  affections,  upon  the  receiving  of  good  things, 
more  closely  fixed  to  the  instruments  of  conveyance,  than  to  the 
chief  Benefactor,  from  whose  coffers  they  are  taken  ?  Do  we 
not  more  delight  in  them,  and  hug  them  with  a  greater  endear- 
edness,  as  if  all  our  happiness  depended  on  them,  and  God 
were  no  more  than  a  bare  spectator?  Just  as  if  when  a  man 
were  warmed  by  a  beam,  he  should  adore  that,  and  not  admire 
the  sun,  that  darts  it  out  upon  him. 

[5.]  In  paying  a  respect  to  man  more  than  God.  When  in  a 
public  attendance  on  his  service,  we  will  not  laugh,  or  be  garish, 
because  men  see  us,  but  our  hearts  shall  be  in  a  ridiculous  pos- 
ture, playing  with  feathers  and  trifling  fancies,  though  God  sees 
us;  as  though  our  happiness  consisted  in  the  pleasing  of  men, 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 


153 


and  our  misery  in  a  respect  to  God.  There  is  no  fool  that  saith 
in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God,  but  he  sets  up  something  in  his 
heart  as  a  god. 

This  is,  a  debasing  of  God  in  setting  up  a  creature.  It 
speaks  God  less  amiable  than  the  creature,  short  of  those 
perfections  which  some  silly,  sordid  thing,  which  hath  en- 
grossed their  affections,  is  possessed  with:  as  if  the  cause 
of  all  being  could  be  transcended  by  his  creature,  and  a  vile 
lust  could  equal,  yea,  surmount  the  loveliness  of  God.  It 
is  to  say  to  God,  as  the  rich  to  the  poor,  "stand  thou  there, 
or  sit  here  under  my  footstool,"  James  ii.  3 :  it  is  to  sink 
him  below  the  mire  of  the  world,  to  order  him  to  come  down 
from  his  glorious  throne,  and  take  bis  place  below  a  con- 
temptible creature,  which  in  regard  of  its  infinite  distance  is 
not  to  be  compared  with  him.  It  strips  God  of  the  love  that 
is  due  to  him  by  the  right  of  his  nature,  and  the  greatness 
of  his  dignity;  and  of  the  trust  that  is  due  to  him,  as  the  first 
cause  and  the  chiefest  good,  as  though  he  were  too  feeble  and 
mean  to  be  our  blessedness.  This  is  intolerable,  to  make 
that  which  is  God's  footstool,  the  earth,  to  climb  up  into  his 
throne;  to  set  that  in  our  heart  which  God  hath  made  even 
below  ourselves,  and  put  under  our  feet;  to  make  that  which 
we  trample  upon,  to  dispose  of  the  right  which  God  has  to  our 
hearts;1  it  is  worse  than  if  a  queen  should  fall  in  love  with  the 
little  image  of  the  prince  in  the  palace,  and  slight  the  beauty 
of  his  person;  and  as  if  people  should  adore  the  footsteps  of  a 
king  in  the  dirt,  and  turn  their  backs  upon  his  presence. 

It  doth  still  more  debase  him  to  set  up  a  sin,  a  lust,  a  carnal 
affection,  as  our  chief  end.  To  steal  away  the  honour  due  to 
God,  and  appropriate  it  to  that  which  is  no  work  of  his  hands, 
to  that  which  is  loathsome  in  his  sight,  hath  disturbed  his  rest, 
and  wrung  out  his  just  breath  to  kindle  a  hell  for  its  eternal 
lodging,  a  God-dishonouring  and  a  soul-murdering  lust — is 
worse  than  to  prefer  Barabbas  before  Christ.  The  baser  the 
thing,  the  worse  is  the  injury  to  him  with  whom  we  would 
associate  it.     If  it  wei  er.ous  principle,  a  thing  useful 

to  the  world,  that  we  place  in  an  i  quality  with,  or  a  superiority 
above  him,  though  it  were  a  vile  usage,  yet  it  were  not  alto- 
gether so  criminal:  bin  to  gratify  Borne  unworthy  appetite,  with 
the  displeasure  of  (be  Creator,  something  below  the  rational 
nature  of  man, much  more  infinitely  below  •  lien t majesty 

of  God,  is  a  more  unworthy  usage  of  bin.  To  advance  one  of 
the  most  virtuous  nobles  in  .1  kingdom  as  a  mark  of  our  service 
and  subjection,  is  not  so  dishonourable  to  a  despised  prince,  as 
to  take  a  shabby  beggar,  or  a  carcass,  to  place  in  his  throne. 
Creeping  things,  abominable  beasts,  the  Egyptian  idols,  cats, 

1  Norembrrfr  He  AHorat.  p.  30. 

Vol.  I.— 'JO 


]54  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

and  crocodiles,  were  greater  abominations,  and  a  greater  despite 
done  to  God,  than  the  image  of  jealousy  at  the  gate  of  the  altar, 
Ezek.  viii.  5,  6.  10. 

And  let  not  any  excuse  themselves,  that  it  is  but  one  lust  or 
one  creature  which  is  preferred  as  the  end:  is  not  he  an  idola- 
ter that  worships  the  sun  or  moon,  or  one  idol,  as  well  as  he 
that  worships  the  whole  host  of  heaven? 

The  inordinacy  of  the  heart  to  one  lust  may  imply  a  stronger 
contempt  of  him,  than  if  a  legion  of  lusts  did  possess  the  heart. 
It  argues  a  greater  disesteem,  when  he  shall  be  slighted  for  a 
single  vanity.  The  depth  of  Esau's  profaneness  in  contemning 
his  birthright,  and  God  in  it,  is  aggravated  by  his  selling  it.  for 
one  morsel  of  meat,  Heb.  xii.  1 6,  and  that  none  of  the  daintiest, 
none  of  the  costliest,  a  mess  of  pottage;  implying,  had  he  parted 
with  it  at  a  greater  rate,  it  had  been  more  tolerable,  and  his 
profaneness  more  excusable.  And  it  is  reckoned  as  a  high 
aggravation  of  the  corruption  of  the  Israelite  judges,  that  "  they 
sold  the  poor  for  a  pair  of  shoes,"  Amos  ii.  6 ;  that  is,  that  they 
would  betray  the  cause  of  the  poor  for  a  bribe  of  no  greater 
value,  than  might  purchase  them  a  pair  of  shoes.  To  place  any 
one  thing  as  our  chief  end,  though  never  so  light,  does  not  excuse: 
he  that  will  not  stick  to  break  with  God  for  a  trifle,  a  small 
pleasure,  will  leap  the  hedge  upon  a  greater  temptation. 

Nay,  and  if  wealth,  riches,  friends,  and  the  best  thing  in  the 
world,  our  own  lives,  be  preferred  before  God,  as  our  chief 
happiness  and  end  but  one  moment,  it  is  an  infinite  wrong; 
because  the  infinite  goodness  and  excellency  of  God  is  denied. 
As  though  the  creature  or  lust  we  love,  or  our  own  life  which 
we  prefer  in  that  short  moment  before  him,  had  a  goodness  in 
itself  superior  to,  and  more  desirable  than  the  blessedness  in 
God.  And  though  it  should  be  but  one  minute,  and  a  man  in 
all  the  periods  of  his  days  both  before  and  after  that  failure, 
should  actually  and  intentionally  prefer  God  before  all  other 
things;  yet  he  does  him  an  infinite  wrong,  because  God  in 
every  moment  is  infinitely  good,  and  absolutely  desirable,  and 
can  never  cease  to  be  good,  and  cannot  have  the  least  shadow 
of  change  in  him  and  his  perfections. 

It  is  a  denying  of  God. 

"  If  I  beheld  the  sun  when  it  shined,  or  the  moon  walking 
in  brightness,  and  my  heart  hath  been  secretly  enticed,  or  my 
mouth  hath  kissed  my  hand;  this  also  were  an  iniquity  to  be 
punished  by  the  judge;  for  I  should  have  denied  the  God  that 
is  above,"  Job  xxxi.  26 — 28.  This  denial  of  God  is  not  only 
the  act  of  an  open  idolater,  but  the  consequent  of  a  secret  con- 
fidence, and  immoderate  joy  in  worldly  goods:  this  denial  of 
God  is  to  be  referred  to  ver.  24,  25.  When  a  man  saith  to  gold, 
"  Thou  art  mv  confidence, "  and  rejoices  because  his  wealth  is 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEI8M,  155 

great;  he  denies  that  God  who  is  superior  to  all  those,  and  the 
proper  object  of  trust:  both  idolatries  arc  coupled  here  to- 
gether; that  which  has  wealth,  and  that  which  has  those  glo- 
rious creatures  in  heaven  for  its  object.  And  though  some 
may  think  it  a  light  sin,  yet  the  crime  being  of  deeper  guilt,  a 
denial  of  God,  deserves  a  severer  punishment,  and  falls  under 
the  sentence  of  the  just  Judge  of  all  the  earth,  under  that  no- 
tion; which  Job  intimates  in  those  words,  "  This  also  were  an 
iniquity  to  be  punished  by  the  Judge." 

The  kissing  the  hand  to  the  sun,  moon,  or  any  idol,  was  an 
external  sign  of  religious  worship  among  those  and  other  na- 
tions. This  is  far  less  than  an  inward,  hearty  confidence,  and 
an  affectionate  trust;  if  the  motion  of  the  hand  be,  much  more 
is  the  affection  of  the  heart  to  a  creature  or  a  brutish  pleasure, 
a  denial  of  God,  and  a  kind  of  an  abjuring  of  him,  since  the 
supreme  affection  of  the  soul  is  undoubtedly  and  solely  the 
right  of  the  Sovereign  Creator,  and  not  to  be  given  in  common 
to  others,  as  the  outward  gesture  may  in  a  way  of  civil  respect. 
Nothing  that  is  an  honour  peculiar  to  God,  can  he  given  to  a 
creature,  without  a  plain  exclusion  of  God  to  be  God;  it  being 
a  disowning  the  rectitude  and  excellency  of  his  nature.  If  God 
should  command  a  creature  such  a  love,  and  such  a  confidence 
in  any  thing  inferior  to  him,  he  would  deny  to  himself  his  own 
glory.  He  would  deny  himself  to  be  the  most  excellent  being. 
Can  the  Romanists  be  free  from  this,  when  they  call  the  cross 
"  Spem  unicam,"  "  The  only  hope,"  and  say  to  the  virgin,  "  In 
te,  Domina,  speravi,"  "  In  thee,  Lady,  have  I  hoped,"  as  Bona- 
venture  has  it. 

Good  reason  therefore  have  worldlings  and  sensualists,  per- 
sons of  immoderate  fondness  to  any  thing  in  the  world,  to 
reflect  upon  themselves;  since  though  they  own  the  being  of 
a  God,  they  are  guilty  of  so  great  disrespect  to  him,  that  it 
cannot  be  excused  from  the  title  of  an  unworthy  atheism:  and 
those  that  are  renewed  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  may  here  see 
ground  of  a  daily  humiliation  for  the  frequent  and  too  common 
excursions  of  their  souls  after  creature  confidences  and  affec- 
tions, whereby  they  fall  under  the  charge  of  an  act  of  practical 
atheism,  though  they  may  be  free  from  a  habit  of  it. 

(3.)  The  third  thing  is,  man  would  make  himself  the  end  of 
all  creatures.  Man  would  sit  in  the  scat  of  God,  and  set  his 
heart  as  the  heart  of  God,  as  the  Lord  saith  of  Tyrus.  Ezek. 
xxviii.  2.  What  is  the  consequence  of  this,  but  to  be  esteem- 
ed the  chief  good  and  end  of  other  creatures?  A  thing,  that 
the  heart  of  God  cannot  be  set  upon,  it  being  an  inseparable 
right  of  the  Deity,  who  must  deny  himself,  if  he  deny  this 
affection  of  the  heart. 

Since  it  is  the  nature  of  man  derived  from  this  root,  to  desire 


156  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

to  be  equal  with  God,  it  follows  that  he  desires  no  creature 
should  be  equal  with  him,  but  subservient  to  his  ends  and  his 
glory.  He  that  would  make  himself  God,  would  have  the 
honour  proper  to  God:  he  that  thinks  himself  worthy  of  his 
own  supreme  affection,  thinks  himself  worthy  to  be  the  object 
of  the  supreme  affection  of  others:  whosoever  counts  himself 
the  chiefest  good  and  last  end,  would  have  the  same  place  in 
the  thoughts  of  others.  Nothing  is  more  natural  to  man  than 
a  desire  to  have  his  own  judgment,  the  rule  and  measure  of 
the  judgments  and  opinions  of  the  rest  of  mankind.  He  that 
sets  himself  in  the  place  of  the  prince,  does  by  that  act  chal- 
lenge all  the  prerogatives  and  dues  belonging  to  the  prince; 
and  apprehending  himself  fit  to  be  a  king,  apprehends  himself 
also  worthy  of  the  homage  and  fealty  of  the  subjects.  He  that 
loves  himself  chiefly,  and  all  other  things  and  persons  for  him- 
self, would  make  himself  the  end  of  all  creatures.  It  has  not 
been  once  or  twice  only  in  the  world  that  some  vain  princes 
have  assumed  to  themselves  the  title  of  gods,  and  caused  divine 
adorations  to  be  given  to  them,  and  altars  to  smoke  with  sacri- 
fices for  their  honour.  What  has  been  practised  by  one,  is  by 
nature  seminally  in  all:  we  would  have  all  pay  an  obedience 
to  us,  and  give  to  us  the  esteem  that  is  due  to  God. 

This  is  evident, 

[1.]  In  pride.  When  we  entertain  a  high  opinion  of  our- 
selves, and  act  for  our  own  reputes,  we  dispossess  God  from 
our  own  hearts;  and  while  we  would  have  our  fame  to  be  in 
every  man's  mouth,  and  be  admired  in  the  hearts  of  men,  we 
would  chase  God  out  of  the  hearts  of  others,  and  deny  his  glory 
a  residence  any  where  else;  that  our  glory  should  reside  more 
in  their  minds  than  the  glory  of  God;  that  their  thoughts  should 
be  filled  with  our  achievements,  more  than  the  works  and  ex- 
cellency of  God;  with  our  image,  and  not  with  the  Divine. 
Pride  would  be  paramount  with  God  in  the  affections  of  others, 
and  justle  God  out  of  their  souls;  and  by  the  same  reason  that 
man  does  thus  in  the  place  where  he  lives,  he  would  do  so  in 
the  whole  world,  and  press  the  whole  creation  from  the  service 
of  their  true  Lord  to  his  own  service.  Every  proud  man  would 
be  counted  by  others  as  he  counts  himself,  the  highest,  chiefest 
piece  of  goodness;  and  be  adored  by  others,  as  much  as  he 
adores  and  admires  himself.  No  proud  man,  in  his  self-love  and 
self-admiration,  thinks  himself  in  an  error:  and  if  he  be  worthy 
of  his  own  admiration,  he  thinks  himself  worthy  of  the  highest 
esteem  of  others;  that  they  should  value  him  above  themselves, 
and  value  themselves  only  for  him.  What  did  Nebuchadnezzar 
intend  by  setting  up  a  golden  image,  and  commanding  all  his 
subjects  to  worship  it,  upon  the  highest  penalty  he  could  inflict, 
but  that  all  should  aim  only  at  the  pleasing  his  humour? 


mn   PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  \  57 

[2.]  In  using  the  creatures  contrary  to  the  end  God  has  ap- 
pointed. God  created  the  world  and  all  things  in  it,  as  steps 
whereby  men  might  ascend  to  a  prospect  of  him,  and  the  ac- 
knowledgment of  his  glory;  and  we  would  use  them  to  dis- 
honour God  and  gratify  ourselves.  He  appointed  them  to  supply 
our  necessities,  and  support  oar  rational  delights;  and  we  use 
them  to  cherish  our  sinful  lusts.  We  wring  groans  from  the 
creature  in  diverting  them  from  their  true  scope,  to  one  of  our 
own  fixing,  when  we  use  them  not  in  his  service,  but  purely 
for  our  own,  and  turn  those  things  he  created  for  himself  to  he 
instruments  of  rebellion  against  him  to  serve  our  turns;  and 
hereby  endeavour  to  defeat  the  ends  of  God  in  them,  to  esta- 
blish our  own  ends  by  them.  This  is  a  high  dishonour  to  God, 
a  sacrilegious  undermining  of  his  glory;  to  reduce  what  God 
has  made,  to  serve  our  own  glory  and  our  own  pleasure:1  it 
perverts  the  whole  order  of  the  world,  and  directs  it  to  another 
end  than  what  God  has  constituted;  to  another  intention,  con- 
trary to  the  intention  of  God,  and  thus  man  makes  himself  a 
God  by  his  own  authority.  As  all  things  were  made  by  God, 
so  they  are  for  God:  but  while  we  aspire  to  the  end  of  the 
creation,  we  deny  and  envy  God  the  honour  of  being  Creator. 
We  cannot  make  ourselves  the  chief  end  of  the  creatures 
against  God's  order,  but  we  imply  thereby  that  we  were  their 
first  principle;  for  if  we  lived  under  a  sense  of  the  Creator  of 
them  while  we  enjoy  them  for  our  use,  we  should  return  the 
glory  to  the  right  owner. 

This  is  diabolical:  though  the  devil  for  his  first  affecting  an 
authority  in  heaven,  has  been  hurled  down  from  the  state  of 
an  angel  of  light  into  that  of  darkness,  vileness,  and  misery,  to 
be  the  most  accursed  creature  living;  yet  he  still  aspires  to 
match  God,  contrary  to  the  knowledge  of  the  impossibility  of 
success  in  it.  Neither  the  terrors  he  feels,  nor  the  future  tor- 
ments he  doth  expect,  do  a  jot  abate  his  ambition  to  be  com- 
petitor with  his  Creator.  How  often  has  lie  since  his  Bret  sin 
arrogated  to  himself  the  honour  of  a  god  from  the  blind  world, 
and  attempted  to  make  the  Son  of  God  by  a  particular  wor- 
ship, count  him  as  the  chiefest  good  and  benefactor  of  the 
world?  Matt.  iv.  .9.  Since  all  men  by  nature  are  the  devil's 
children,  the  serpent's  seed,  they  have  something  of  this  venom 
in  their  natures,  as  well  as  others  of  his  qualities.  We  sec  that 
there  may  be,  and  is  a  prodigious  atheism  lurking  under  the 
belief  of  a  God.  The  devil  knows  there  is  a  God,  but  acts  like 
an  atheist,  and  so  do  his  children. 

(4.)  Man  would  make  himself  the  end  of  God.  This  neces- 
sarily follows  upon  the  former.  Whosoever  makes  himself  his 
own  law  and  his  own  end   in   the  place  of  God,  would  make 

1  Sabundc,  'lit.  200.  |>.  352. 


J58  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

God  the  subject  in  making  himself  the  sovereign :  he  that  steps 
into  the  throne  of  a  prince,  sets  the  prince  at  his  footstool;  and 
while  he  assumes  the  prince's  prerogative,  demands  a  subjec- 
tion from  him.  The  order  of  the  creation  has  been  inverted  by 
the  entrance  of  sin.  God  implanted  an  affection  in  man  with 
a  double  aspect,  the  one  to  pitch  upon  God,  the  other  to  respect 
ourselves,  but  with  this  proviso,  that  our  affection  to  God  should 
be  infinite,  in  regard  of  the  object  and  centre  in  him  as  the 
chiefest  happiness  and  highest  end.1  Our  affections  to  ourselves 
should  be  finite,  and  refer  ultimately  to  God  as  the  original  of 
our  being;  but  sin  has  turned  man's  affections  wholly  to  him- 
self. Whereas  he  should  love  God  first,  and  himself  in  order 
to  God;  he  now  loves  himself  first,  and  God  in  order  to  him- 
self; love  to  God  is  lost,  and  love  to  self  has  usurped  the  throne. 
As  God  by  creation  put  all  things  under  the  feet  of  man,  Psal. 
viii.  6,  reserving  the  heart  for  himself;  man  by  corruption  has 
dispossessed  God  of  his  heart,  and  put  him  under  his  own  feet. 
We  often  intend  ourselves,  when  we  pretend  the  honour  of  God, 
and  make  God  and  religion  a  handle  to  some  designs  we  have  in 
hand;  our  Creator  a  tool  for  our  own  ends. 

This  is  evident, 

[1.]  In  our  loving  God,  because  of  some  self-pleasing  bene- 
fits distributed  by  him.  There  is  in  men  a  kind  of  natural  love 
to  God,  but  it  is  but  a  secondary  one,  because  God  gives  them 
the  good  things  of  this  world,  spreads  their  table,  fills  their  cup, 
stuffs  their  coffers,  and  does  them  some  good  turns  by  unex- 
pected providences.  This  is  not  an  affection  to  God  for  the 
unbounded  excellency  of  his  own  nature,  but  for  his  benefi- 
cence, as  he  opens  his  hand  for  them;  an  affection  to  themselves, 
and  those  creatures,  their  gold,  their  honour,  which  their  hearts 
are  most  fixed  upon,  without  a  strong  spiritual  inclination  that 
God  should  be  glorified  by  them  in  the  use  of  those  mercies. 
It  is  rather  a  disowning  of  God,  than  any  love  to  him;  because 
it  postpones  God  to  those  things  they  love  him  for.  This  would 
appear  to  be  no  love,  if  God  should  cease  to  be  their  benefac- 
tor, and  deal  with  them  as  a  Judge;  if  he  should  change  his 
outward  smiles  into  afflicting  frowns,  and  not  only  shut  his 
hand,  but  strip  them  of  what  he  sent  them.  The  motive  of 
their  love  being  expired,  the  affection  raised  by  it  must  cease 
for  want  of  fuel  to  feed  it:  so  that  God  is  beholden  to  sordid 
creatures,  of  no  value,  but  as  they  are  his  creatures,  for  most 
of  the  love  the  sons  of  men  pretend  to  him.  The  devil  spake 
truth  of  most  men,  though  not  of  Job,  when  he  said,  They 
love  not  God  for  nought,  Job  i.  9;  it  is  but  while  he  makes  a 
hedge  about  them  and  their  families,  whilst  he  blesses  the  works 
of  their  hands,  and  increases  their  honour  in  the  land.     It  is 

'  Pascal,  Pensees.  §  30.  p.  294. 


ON  PRACTN  A  I.  ATIIKSIM.  j^y 

like  Peter's  sharp  reproof  of  his  Master,  when  he  spake  of  the 
ill  usage,  even  to  death,  he  was  to  meet  with  at  Jerusalem; 
"This  shall  not  be  unto  thee:"  it  was  as  much  out  of  love  to 
himself,  as  zeal  for  his  Master's  interest,  knowing  Ins  Master 
could  not  be  in  such  a  storm  without  some  drops  lighting  upon 
himself.  All  the  apostasies  of  men  in  the  world  are  witnesses 
to  this.  They  fawn  whilst  they  may  have  a  prosperous  pro- 
fession, but  will  not  bear  one  chip  of  the  cross  for  the  interest 
of  God:  they  would  partake  of  his  blessings,  but  not  endure 
the  prick  of  a  lance  for  him,  as  those  that  admired  the  mira- 
cles of  our  Saviour,  and  shrunk  at  his  sufferings.  A  time  of 
trial  discovers  these  mercenary  souls  to  be  more  lovers  of  them- 
selves than  their  Maker.  This  is  a  pretended  love  of  friend- 
ship to  God,  but  a  real  love  to  a  lust,  only  to  gain  by  God.  A 
good  man's  temper  is  contrary:  "Quench  hell,  burn  heaven," 
said  a  holy  man,  "  I  will  love  and  fear  my  God." 

[2.]  It  is  evident,  in  abstinence  from  some  sins,  not  because 
they  offend  God,  but  because  they  are  against  the  interest  of 
some  other  beloved  corruption,  or  a  bar  to  something  men  hunt 
after  in  the  world:  as  when  temperance  is  cherished,  not  to 
honour  God,  but  to  preserve  a  crazy  carcass;  prodigality  for- 
saken, out  of  a  humour  of  avarice;  uncleanness  forsaken,  not 
out  of  a  hatred  of  lust,  but  love  to  their  money;  declining  a 
denial  of  the  interest  and  truth  of  God,  not  out  of  affection  to 
them,  but  an  ambitious  zeal  for  their  own  reputation.  There  is 
a  kind  of  conversion  from  sin,  when  God  is  not  made  the  term 
of  it :  "  If  thou  wilt  return,  0  Israel,  saith  the  Lord,  return  unto 
me."  Jer.  iv.  I.1  When  we  forbear  sin  as  dogs  do  the  meat 
they  love:  they  forbear  not  out  of  a  hatred  of  the  carrion,  but 
fear  of  the  cudgel ;  these  are  as  wicked  in  their  abstaining 
from  sin,  as  others  are  in  their  furious  committing  it.  Nothing 
of  the  honour  of  God  and  the  end  of  his  appointments  is  indeed 
in  all  this,  but  the  conveniences  self  gathers  from  them.  Again, 
many  of  the  motives  the  generality  of  the  world  use  to  their 
friends  and  relations  to  draw  them  from  vices,  are  drawn  from 
self,  and  used  to  prop  up  natural  or  sinful  self  in  them.  "  Come, 
reform  yourself,  take  other  courses,  you  will  stain  your  reputa- 
tion and  be  despicable;  you  will  destroy  your  estate  and  com- 
mence a  beggar;  your  family  will  be  undone,  and  you  may 
rot  in  a  prison:"  not  laying  close  to  them  the  duty  they  owe  to 
God,  the  dishonour  which  accrues  to  him  by  their  unworthy 
courses,  and  the  ingratitude  to  the  God  of  their  mercies.  Not 
that  the  other  motives  are  to  be  laid  aside  and  slighted:  mint 
and  cummin  may  be  tithed,  but  the  weightier  concerns  are  not 
to  be  omitted.  But  this  shows  that  self  is  the  bias,  not  only  of 
men  in  their  own  course,  but  in  their  dealings  with  others: 

'  Trap,  on  Gen.  p.  1  I- 


I6Q  <  >N   PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

what  should  be  subordinate  to  the  honour  of  God,  and  the  duty 
we  owe  to  him,  is  made  superior. 

[3.]  It  is  evident  in  performing  duties  merely  for  a  selfish 
interest ;  making  ourselves  the  end  of  religious  actions,  paying 
a  homage  to  that,  while  we  pretend  to  render  it  to  God:  "  Did 
ye  at  all  fast  unto  me,  even  to  me?"  Zech.  vii.  5.  Things 
ordained  by  God  may  fall  in  with  carnal  ends  affected  by  our- 
selves; and  then  religion  is  not  kept  up  by  any  interest  of  God 
in  the  conscience,  but  the  interest  of  self  in  the  heart.  We  then 
sanctify  not  the  name  of  God  in  the  duty,  but  gratify  ourselves: 
God  may  be  the  object,  self  is  the  end;  and  a  heavenly  object 
is  made  subservient  to  a  carnal  design.  Hypocrisy  passes  a 
compliment  on  God,  and  is  called  flattery.  "  They  did  flatter 
him  with  their  mouth."  Psal.  lxxviii.  36.  They  gave  him  a 
parcel  of  good  words  for  their  own  preservation.  Flattery  in 
the  old  notion  among  the  heathens,  is  a  vice  more  peculiar  to 
serve  our  own  turn,  and  purvey  for  the  belly.  They  knew 
they  could  not  subsist  without  God,  and  therefore  gave  him  a 
parcel  of  good  words,  that  he  might  spare  them,  and  make  pro- 
vision for  them.  "Israel  is  an  empty  vine,"  Hos.  x.  1;  a  vine, 
say  some,  with  large  branches  and  few  clusters,  but  "  bringeth 
forth  fruit  unto  himself."  While  they  professed  love  to  God 
with  their  lips,  it  was  that  God  should  promote  their  covetous 
designs,  and  preserve  their  wealth  and  grandeur.  Ezek  xxxiii. 
31.  In  which  respect,  a  hypocrite  may  be  well  termed  a  reli- 
gious atheist,  an  atheist  masked  with  religion.  The  chief 
arguments  which  prevail  with  many  men  to  perform  some 
duties  and  appear  religious,  are  the  same  that  Hamor  and 
Shechem  used  to  the  people  of  their  city  to  submit  to  circum- 
cision, namely,  the  engrossing  of  more  wealth:  "  If  every  male 
among  us  be  circumcised,  as  they  are  circumcised,  shall  not 
their  cattle  and  their  substance  and  every  beast  of  theirs  be 
ours?"  Gen.  xxxiv.  22,  23. 

This  is  seen,  in  unwieldiness  to  religious  duties  where  self 
is  not  concerned.  With  what  lively  thoughts  will  many  ap- 
proach to  God,  when  a  revenue  may  be  brought  in  to  sup- 
port their  own  ends!  but  when  the  concerns  of  God  only 
are  in  it,  the  duty  is  not  the  delight,  but  the  clog;  such  fee- 
ble devotions  that  warm  not  the  soul,  unless  there  be  some- 
thing of  self  to  give  strength  and  heat  to  them.  Jonah  was 
sick  of  his  work,  and  ran  from  God,  because  he  thought  he 
should  get  no  honour  by  his  message;  God's  mercy  will  dis- 
credit his  prophecy.  Jonah  iv.  2.  Thoughts  of  disadvantage 
cut  the  very  sinews  of  service.  You  may  as  well  persuade 
a  merchant  to  venture  all  his  estate  upon  the  inconstant  waves, 
without  the  hopes  of  gain,  as  prevail  with  a  natural  man 
to    be   serious    in   duty,    without   expectation  of  some   warm 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 


161 


advantage.  "What  profit  should  wc  have  if  wc  pray  unto 
him,"  is  the  natural  question,  .lob  xxi.  15.  "  What  profit  shall 
I  have,  if  I  be  cleansed  from  my  sin  ?"  Job  xxxv.  3.  I  shall 
have  more  good  by  my  sin  than  by  my  service.  It  is  lor  God 
that  I  dance  before  the  ark,  saith  David,  therefore  I  will  be 
more  vile.  2  Sam.  vi.  22.  It  is  for  self  that  I  pray,  saith  a 
natural  man,  therefore  I  will  be  more  warm  and  quick.  Ordi- 
nances of  God  are  observed  only  as  a  point  of  interest,  and 
prayer  is  often  most  fervent  when  it  is  least  godly  and  most 
selfish:  carnal  ends  and  allections  will  pour  out  lively  expres- 
sions. If  there  be  no  delight  in  the  means  that  lead  to  God, 
there  is  no  delight  in  God  himself;  because  love  is  appetitua 
unionis,  a'dcsire  of  union;  and  where  the  object  is  desirable, 
the  means  that  bring  us  to  it  would  be  delightful  too. 

In  calling  upon  God  only  in  a  time  of  necessity.  How  offi- 
cious will  men  be  in  alllietion  to  that  God  whom  they  neglect 
in  their  prosperity!  "When  he  slew  them,  then  they  sought 
him:  and  they  returned  and  inquired  early  after  God.  And 
they  remembered  that  God  was  their  rock."  Psa.  lxxviii.  34,  35. 
They  remembered  him  under  the  scourge,  and  forgat  him  under 
his  smiles.  They  visit  the  throne  of  grace,  knock  loud  at  hea- 
ven's gates,  and  give  God  no  rest  for  their  early  and  importu- 
nate devotions  when  under  distress;  but  when  their  desires  are 
answered,  and  the  rod  removed,  they  stand  aloof  from  him,  and 
rest  upon  their  own  bottom,  as  Jer.  ii.  31.  "  We  are  lords;  we 
will  come  no  more  unto  thee."  When  we  have  need  of  him, 
he  shall  find  us  clients  at  his  gate;  and  when  we  have  served 
our  turn,  he  hears  no  more  of  us:  like  Noah's  dove  sent  out  of 
the  ark,  that  returned  to  him  when  she  found  no  rest  on  the 
earth,  but  came  not  back  when  she  found  a  footing  elsewhere. 
How  often  do  men  apply  themselves  to  God,  when  they  have 
some  business  for  him  to  do  for  them!  And  then,  too,  they  are 
loth  to  put  it  solely  into  his  hand,  to  manage  it  for  his  own 
honour;  but  they  presume  to  be  his  directors,  that  he  may 
manage  it  for  their  glory.  Self  spurs  men  on  to  the  throne  of 
grace;  they  desire  to  be  furnished  with  some  mercy  they  want, 
or  to  have  the  clouds  of  some  judgments  which  they  fear,  blown 
over.  This  is  not  affection  to  God,  but  to  ourselves:  as  the 
Romans  worshipped  a  quartan  ague  as  a  goddess,  and  Timo- 
retn  ct  Pallorem,  Fear  and  Paleness,  as  gods;  not  out  of  any 
atfectiou  they  had  to  the  disease  or  the  passion,  but  for  fear 
to  receive  any  hurt  by  them. 

Again,  when  we  have  gained  the  mercy  we  need,  how  little 
do  we  warm  our  souls  with  the  consideration  of  that  God  that 
gave  it,  or  lay  out  the  mercy  in  his  service!  We  are  importu- 
nate to  have  him  our  Friend  in  our  necessities,  and  are  un- 
gratefullv  careless  of  him,  and  the  injuries  he  suffers  by  us  or 
Vol.  I.— 21 


162  oN  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

others.  When  he  has  discharged  us  from  the  rock  where  we 
stuck,  we  leave  him,  as  having  no  more  need  of  him,  and  able 
to  do  well  enough  without  him;  as  if  we  were  petty  gods  our- 
selves, and  only  wanted  a  lift  from  him  at  first.  This  is  not  to 
glorify  God  as  God,  but  as  our  servant;  not  an  honouring  of 
God,  but  a  self-seeking:  he  would  hardly  beg  at  God's  door,  if 
he  could  gratify  himself  without  him. 

In  begging  his  assistance  to  our  own  projects.  When  we  lay 
the  plot  of  our  own  affairs,  and  then  come  to  God,  not  for  coun- 
sel, but  blessing.  Self  only  shall  give  us  counsel  how  to  act; 
but  because  we  believe  that  there  is  a  God  that  governs  the 
world,  we  will  desire  him  to  contribute  success.  God  is  not  con- 
sulted with,  till  the  counsel  of  self  be  fixed;  then  God  must  be 
the  executor  of  our  will:  self  must  be  the  principal,  and  God 
the  instrument  to  hatch  what  we  have  contrived.  It  is  worse 
when  we  beg  of  God  to  favour  some  sinful  aim;  the  psalmist 
implies  this,  "  If  I  regard  iniquity  in  my  heart,  the  Lord  will 
not  hear  me."  Psa.  lxvi.  IS.  Iniquity  regarded  as  the  aim  in 
prayer,  renders  the  prayer  successless,  and  the  suppliant  an 
atheist,  in  debasing  God  to  back  his  lust  by  his  holy  provi- 
dence. 

The  disciples  had  determined  revenge;  and  because  they 
could  not  act  it  without  their  Master,  they  would  have  him  be 
their  second  in  their  vindictive  passion — call  for  fire  from 
heaven,  Luke  ix.  54. 

We  scarce  seek  God,  till  we  have  modelled  the  whole  con- 
trivance in  our  own  brains,  and  resolved  upon  the  methods  of 
performance;  as  though  there  were  not  a  fulness  of  wisdom  in 
God  to  guide  us  in  our  resolves,  as  well  as  power  to  breathe 
success  upon  them. 

In  impatience  upon  the  refusal  of  our  desires.  How  often 
do  men's  spirits  rise  against  God,  when  he  steps  not  in  with 
the  assistance  they  want !  If  the  glory  of  God  swayed  more 
with  them  than  their  private  interest,  they  would  let  God  be 
judge  of  his  own  glory,  and  rather  magnify  his  wisdom,  than 
complain  of  his  want  of  goodness.  Selfish  hearts  will  charge 
God  with  neglect  of  them,  if  he  be  not  as  quick  in  their  sup- 
plies as  they  are  in  their  desires;  like  those  in  Isa.  Iviii.  3. 
"Wherefore  have  we  fasted,  say  they,  and  thou  seest  not? 
wherefore  have  we  afflicted  our  soul,  and  thou  takest  no 
knowledge?"  When  we  aim  at  God's  glory  in  our  importu- 
nities, we  shall  fall  down  in  humble  submissions  when  he  de- 
nies us:  whereas  self  rises  up  in  bold  expostulations,  as  if  God 
were  our  servant,  and  had  neglected  the  service  he  owed  us, 
not  to  come  at  our  call.  We  overvalue  the  satisfactions  of  self 
above  the  honour  of  God.  Besides,  if  what  we  desire  be  a  sin, 
our  impatience  at  a  refusal  is  more  intolerable ;  it  is  an  anger 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  K;;{ 

that  God  will  not  lay  aside  his  holiness  to  serve  our  corrup- 
tion. 

In  the  actual  aims  men  have  in  their  duties.  In  prayer  for 
temporal  things — when  we  desire  health  tor  our  own  ease, 
wealth  for  our  own  sensuality,  strength  for  our  revenge,  chil- 
dren for  the  increase  of  our  family,  gifts  lor  our  applause,  as 
Simon  Magus  did  the  Holy  Ghost;  or,  when  some  of  those 
ends  are  aimed  at;  this  is  to  desire  God  not  to  serve  himself  of 
us,  but  to  be  a  servant  to  our  worldly  interest,  our  vain-glory, 
the  greateuing  of  our  names,  and  so  on.  In  spiritual  mercies 
begged  for;  when  pardon  of  sin  is  desired  only  for  our  own 
security  from  eternal  vengeance;  sanctification  desired  only  to 
make  us  fit  for  everlasting  blessedness;  peace  of  conscience 
only  that  we  may  lead  our  lives  more  comfortably  in  the  world; 
when  we  have  not  actual  intentions  for  the  glory  of  God,  or 
when  our  thoughts  of  God's  honour  are  overtopped  by  the 
aims  of  self-advantage.  Not  but  that,  as  God  has  pressed  us 
to  those  things  by  motives  drawn  from  the  blessedness  derived 
to  ourselves  by  them,  so  we  may  desire  them  with  a  respect  to 
ourselves;  but  this  respect  must  be  contained  within  the  due 
banks,  in  subordination  to  the  glory  of  God,  not  above  it,  nor 
in  an  equal  balance  with  it.  That  which  is  nourishing  or 
medicinal  in  the  first  or  second  degree,  is  in  the  fourth  or  fifth 
degree  mere  destructive  poison.1 

Let  us  consider  it  seriously;  though  a  duty  be  heavenly, 
does  not  some  base  end  pollute  us  in  it? 

How  is  it  with  our  confessions  of  sin?  Are  they  not  more 
to  procure  our  pardon,  than  to  shame  ourselves  before  God,  or 
to  be  freed  from  the  chains  that  hinder  us  from  bringing  him 
the  glory  for  which  we  were  created;  or  more  to  partake  of  his 
benefits,  than  to  honour  him  in  acknowledging  the  rights  of  his 
justice?  Do  we  not  bewail  sin  as  it  has  ruined  us,  not  as  it 
opposed  the  holiness  of  God?  Do  we  not  shutlle  with  God, 
and  confess  one  sin,  while  we  reserve  another;  as  if  we  would 
allure  God  by  declaring  our  dislike  of  one,  to  give  us  liberty  to 
commit  wantonness  with  another;  not  to  abhor  ourselves,  but 
to  compromise  with  God? 

Is  it  any  better  in  our  private  and  family  worship?  Are 
not  such  assemblies  frequented  by  some,  where  some  upon 
whom  they  have  a  dependence  may  eye  them,  and  have  a 
better  opinion  of  them,  and  affection  to  them?  If  God  were 
the  sole  end  of  our  hearts;  would  they  not  be  as  glowing  under 
the  sole  eye  of  God,  as  our  tongues  ot  carriages  are  seemingly 
serious  under  the  eye  of  man  ?  Are  no!  family  duties  performed 
by  some  that  their  voices  may  be  heard  and  their  reputation 
supported  among  godly  neighbours? 

1  Gurnall.  Part  3.  p.  337. 


1G4  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

Is  not  the  charity  of  many  men  tainted  with  this  end  self? 
as  the  Pharisees  were,  Matt.  vi.  I,  while  they  set  the  miserable 
object  before  them,  but  not  the  Lord;  bestowing  alms,  not  so 
much  upon  the  necessities  of  the  people,  as  the  friendship  we 
owe  them  for  some  particular  respects:  or  casting  our  bread 
upon  those  waters  which  stream  down  in  the  sight  of  the 
world,  that  our  alms  may  be  visible  to  them  and  commended 
by  them:  or  when  we  think  to  oblige  God  to  pardon  our 
transgression  ;  as  if  we  merited  it  and  heaven  too  at  his  hands, 
by  bestowing  a  few  pence  upon  indigent  persons.     And 

Is  it  not  the  same  with  the  reproofs  of  men  ?  Is  not  heat 
and  anger  carried  out  with  full  sail  when  our  worldly  interest 
is  prejudiced,  and  becalmed  in  the  concerns  of  God  ?  Do  not 
many  masters  reprove  their  servants  with  more  vehemency 
for  the  neglect  of  their  trade  and  business,  than  the  neglect  of 
divine  duties ;  and  that  upon  religious  arguments,  pretending 
the  honour  of  God,  that  they  may  mind  their  own  interest? 
But  when  they  are  negligent  in  what  they  owe  to  God,  no 
noise  is  made,  they  pass  without  rebuke.  Is  not  this  to  make 
God  and  religion  a  handle  to  their  own  ends  ?  It  is  part  of 
atheism,  not  to  regard  the  injuries  done  to  God,  as  Tiberius; x 
"  Let  God's  wrongs  be  looked  to  or  cared  for  by  himself." 

Is  it  not  thus  in  our  seeming  zeal  for  religion?  As  Demetrius 
and  the  craftsmen  at  Ephesus  cried  up  aloud  the  greatness  of 
Diana  of  the  Ephesians,  not  out  of  any  true  zeal  they  had  for 
her,  but  their  gain,  which  was  increased  by  the  confluence  of 
her  worshippers,  and  the  sale  of  her  own  shrines.  Acts  xix. 
24.  28. 

Our  performing  duties  merely  for  a  selfish  interest,  is  also 
shown — in  making  use  of  the  name  of  God  to  countenance 
our  sin;  as  when  we  set  up  an  opinion  that  is  a  friend  to  our 
lusts,  and  then  dig  deep  into  the  Scripture  to  find  crutches  to 
support  it,  and  authorize  our  practices;  when  men  will  thank 
God  for  what  they  have  got  by  unlawful  means,  fathering  the 
fruit  of  their  cheating  craft,  and  the  simplicity  of  their  chap- 
men upon  God;  crediting  their  cosenage  by  his  name,  as  men 
do  brass  money,  with  a  thin  plate  of  silver,  and  the  stamp  and 
image  of  the  prince.  The  Jews  urge  the  law  of  God  for  the 
crucifying  his  Son,  "  We  have  a  law,  and  by  that  law  he  is  to 
die,"  John  xix.  7;  and  would  make  him  a  party  in  their  pri- 
vate revenge.  Thus  often  when  we  have  faltered  in  some 
actions,  we  wipe  our  mouths,  as  if  we  sought  God  more  than 
our  own  interest,  prostituting  the  sacred  name  and  honour  of 
God,  either  to  hatch  or  defend  some  unworthy  lust  against  his 
word.2 

Is  not  all  this  a  high  degree  of  atheism? 

1  Dei  injuria  Deo  curae.  2  Sanderson's  S.  Part  2.  p.  158. 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  H;;, 

It  is  a  vilifying  of  God,  an  abuse  of  the  highest  good.  Other 
sins  subject  the  creature  and  outward  things  to  them;  but  act- 
ing in  religious  services  for  self,  subjects  not  only  the  highest 
concernments  of  men's  souls,  but  the  Creator  himself  to  the 
creature;  nay,  it  makes  God  contribute  to  that  which  is  the 
pleasure  of  the  devil.  It  is  a  greater  slight  than  to  cast  the 
gifts  of  a  prince  to  a  herd  of  nasty  swine.  It  were  more  ex- 
cusable to  serve  ourselves  of  God  upon  the  higher  accounts, 
such  as  materially  conduce  to  his  glory;  but  it  is  an  intolera- 
ble wrong  to  make  him  and  his  ordinances  caterers  for  our  own 
bellies,  as  they  did,  Hos.  viii.  13.  They  sacrificed  the  naj  of 
which  the  offerer  might  eat;  not  out  of  any  reference  to  God, 
but  love  to  their  gluttony;  not  to  please  him,  but  to  feast  them- 
selves.1 The  belly  was  truly  made  their  god,  when  God  was 
served  only  in  order  to  the  belly,  as  though  the  blessed  God 
had  his  being,  and  his  ordinances  were  enjoined,  to  gratify 
their  foolish  and  wanton  appetites:  as  though  the  work  of  God 
were  only  to  patronize  unrighteous  ends,  and  be  as  bad  as 
themselves,  and  become  a  pander  to  their  corrupt  affections. 

Because  it  is  a  vilifying  of  God,  it  is  an  undeifying  or  de- 
throning God.  It  is  an  acting  as  if  we  were  the  lords,  and  God 
our  vassal:  a  setting  up  those  secular  ends  in  the  place  of  God, 
who  ought  to  be  our  ultimate  end  in  every  action;  to  whom  a 
glory  is  as  due  as  his  mercy  to  us  is  utterly  unmerited  by  us. 
He  that  thinks  to  cheat  and  put  the  fool  upon  God  by  his  pre- 
tences, docs  not  heartily  believe  there  is  such  a  being.  He 
could  not  have  the  notion  of  a  God  without  that  of  omniscience 
and  justice;  an  eye  to  see  the  cheat,  and  an  arm  to  punish  it. 
The  notion  of  the  one  would  direct  him  in  the  manner  of  his 
services,  and  the  sense  of  the  other  would  scare  him  from  the 
cherishing  his  unworthy  ends.  He  that  serves  God  with  a  sole 
respect  to  himself,  is  prepared  for  any  idolatry;  his  religion 
shall  warp  with  the  times  and  his  interest;  he  shall  deny  thi 
true  God  for  an  idol,  when  his  worldly  interest  shall  advise  him 
to  it,  and  pay  the  same  reverence  to  the  basest  image  which  he 
pretends  now  to  pay  to  God;  as  the  Israelites  were  as  real  for 
idolatry  under  their  basest  princes  as  they  were  pretenders  to 
the  true  religion  under  those  that  were  pious. 

Before  I  come  to  the  use  of  this,  give  me  leave  to  evince  this 
practical  atheism  by  two  other  considerations. 

1.  By  our  unworthy  imaginations  of  God. 

"The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God;"  that  is, 
he  is  not  such  a  God  as  you  report  him  to  be:  tins  is  meant  by 
their  being  corrupt  in  ver.  1,  corrupt  being  taken  for  playing 
tip  idolaters.  Exod.  xxxii.  7.  We  cannot  comprehend  God; 
if  we  could,  we  should  cease  to  be  finite;  and  because  we  can- 

1  IIo».  viii.  13.     Vid.  Cocc.  in  locum. 


IQQ  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

not  comprehend  him,  we  erect  strange  images  of  him  in  our 
fancies  and  affections.  And  since  guilt  came  upon  us,  because 
we  cannot  root  out  the  notions  of  God,  we  would  debase  the 
majesty  and  nature  of  God,  that  we  may  have  some  ease  in 
our  consciences,  and  lie  down  with  some  comfort  in  the  sparks 
of  our  own  kindling. 

This  is  universal  in  men  by  nature.  "  God  is  not  in  all  his 
thoughts,"  Psa.  x.  4.  Not  in  any  of  his  thoughts  according 
to  the  excellency  of  his  nature  and  greatness  of  his  majesty.  As 
the  heathen  did  not  glorify  God  as  God,  so  neither  do  they  con- 
ceive of  God  as  God;  they  are  all  infected  with  some  one  or 
other  ill  opinion  of  him,  thinking  him  not  so  holy,  powerful, 
just,  good  as  he  is,  and  as  the  natural  force  of  a  human  under- 
standing might  arrive  to.  We  join  a  new  notion  of  God  in  our 
vain  fancies,  and  represent  him  not  as  he  is,  but  as  we  would 
have  him  to  be,  lit  for  our  own  use,  and  suited  to  our  own  plea- 
sure; we  set  that  active  power  of  imagination  on  work,  and 
there  comes  out  a  god,  (a  calf,)  whom  we  own  for  a  notion  of 
God. 

Adam  cast  him  into  so  narrow  a  mould,  as  to  think  that  him- 
self, who  had  newly  sprouted  up  by  his  Almighty  power,  was 
fit  to  be  his  co-rival  in  knowledge,  and  had  vain  hopes  to  grasp 
as  much  as  infmiteness.  If  he  in  his  first  declining  began  to 
have  such  a  conceit,  it  is  no  doubt  but  we  have  as  bad  under  a 
mass  of  corruption.  When  holy  Agur  speaks  of  God,  he  cries 
out  that  he  had  not  the  understanding  of  a  man,  nor  the  know- 
ledge of  the  holy.  Prov.  xxx.  2,  3.  He  did  not  think  rationally 
of  God  as  man  might  by  his  strength  at  his  first  creation.  There 
are  as  many  carved  images  of  God,  as  there  are  minds  of  men, 
and  as  monstrous  shapes  as  those  corruptions,  into  which  they 
would  transform  him. 

Hence  sprang, 

(1.)  Idolatry.  Vain  imaginations  first  set  afloat  and  kept  up 
this  in  the  world;  vain  imaginations  of  the  God  whose  glory 
they  changed  into  the  image  of  corruptible  man,  Rom.  i.  21.23. 
They  had  set  up  vain  images  of  him  in  their  fancy,  before 
they  set  up  idolatrous  representations  of  him  in  their  temples; 
the  likening  him  to  those  idols  of  wood  and  stone,  and  various 
metals,  was  the  fruit  of  an  idea  erected  in  their  own  minds. 
This  is  a  mighty  debasing  the  Divine  nature,  and  rendering  him 
no  better,  than  that  base  and  stupid  matter  they  make  the  visi- 
ble object  of  their  adoration;  equalling  him  with  those  base 
creatures  they  think  worthy  to  be  the  representations  of  him. 
Yet  how  far  did  this  crime  spread  itself  in  all  corners  of  the 
world,  not  only  among  the  more  barbarous  and  ignorant,  but 
the  more  polished  and  civilized  nations!  Judea  only,  where 
God  had  placed  the  ark  of  his  presence,  was  free  from  it,  in 


UN  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM  ]  (37 

some  intervals  of  time  only,  after  some  sweeping  judgment. 
And  though  they  cast  away  their  idols  under  some  sharp 
scourge,  they  took  them  again  after  the  heavens  were  cleared 
over  their  heads.  The  whole  hook  of  Judges  makes  mention 
of  it:  and  though  an  evangelical  li^rht  has  chased  that  idolatry 
away  from  a  great  part  of  the  world,  yet  the  principle  remain- 
ing, coins  more  spiritual  idols  in  the  heart,  which  arc  brought 
before  God  in  acts  of  worship. 

(2.)  Hence  all  superstition  received  its  rise  and  growth. 
When  we  make  a  god  according  to  our  own  complexion,  like 
to  us  in  mutable  and  various  passions,  soon  angry  and  soon 
appeased,  it  is  no  wonder  that  we  invent  ways  of  pleasing  him 
after  we  have  offended  him;  and  think  to  expiate  the  sin  of 
our  souls  by  some  melancholy  devotions  and  self-chastisements. 
Superstition  is  nothing  else  but  an  unscriptural  and  unreasonable 
dread  of  God.1  When  they  imagined  him  a  rigorous  and  severe 
Master,  they  cast  about  for  ways  to  mitigate  him  whom  they 
thought  so  hard  to  be  pleased;  a  very  mean  thought  of  him,  as 
if  a  slight  and  pompous  devotion  could  as  easily  bribe  and  flat- 
ter him  out  of  his  rigours,  as  a  few  good  words  or  baubling 
rattles  could  please  and  quiet  little  children;  and  that  whatso- 
ever pleased  us,  could  please  a  God  infinitely  above  us.  Such 
narrow  conceits  had  the  Philistines,  when  they  thought  to  still 
the  anger  of  the  God  of  Israel,  whom  they  thought  they  pos- 
sessed in  the  ark,  with  the  present  of  a  few  golden  mice,  1  Sam. 
vi.  3,  4.  All  the  superstition  this  day  living  in  the  world  is  built 
upon  this  foundation:  so  natural  it  is  to  man  to  pull  God  down 
to  his  own  imaginations,  rather  than  raise  his  imaginations  up 
to  God.  Hence  doth  arise  also  the  diffidence  of  his  mercy, 
though  they  repent;  measuring  God  by  the  contracted  models 
of  their  own  spirits,  as  though  his  nature  were  as  difficult  to 
pardon  their  offences  against  him,  as  they  are  to  remit  wrongs 
done  to  themselves. 

(3.)  Hence  springs  all  presumption,  the  common  disease  of 
the  world.  All  the  wickedness  in  the  world,  which  is  nothing 
else  but  presuming  upon  God,  rises  from  the  ill  interpretations 
of  the  goodness  of  God,  breaking  out  upon  them  in  the  works 
of  creation  and  providence.  The  corruption  of  man's  nature 
engendered,  by  those  notions  of  goodness,  a  monstrous  birth  of 
vain  imaginations.  Not  of  themselves  primarily,  but  of  God ; 
whence  arose  all  that  folly  and  darkness  in  their  minds  and 
conversations,  Rom.  i.  20,  21.  They  glorified  him  not  as  God, 
but  according  to  themselves,  imagined  him  good  that  themselves 
might  be  bad;  fancied  himself  so  indulgent,  as  to  neglect  his 
own  honour  for  their  sensuality.  How  doth  the  unclean  per- 
son represent  him  to  his  own  thoughts,  but  as  a  goat;  the  mur- 

1  At  lai^aifioita. 


168  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

derer,  as  a  tiger;  the  sensual  person,  as  a  swine;  while  they 
fancy  a  god  indulgent  to  their  crimes  without  their  repentance! 
As  the  image  on  the  seal  is  stamped  upon  the  wax,  so  the 
thoughts  of  the  heart  are  printed  upon  the  actions.  God's 
patience  is  apprehended  to  be  an  approbation  of  their  vices, 
and  from  the  consideration  of  his  forbearance,  they  fashion  a 
god  that  they  believe  will  smile  upon  their  crimes.  They  ima- 
gine a  god  that  plays  with  them;  and  though  he  threatens, 
doth  it  only  to  scare,  but  means  not  as  he  speaks;  a  god  they 
fancy  like  themselves,  that  would  do  as  they  would  do,  not  be 
angry  for  what  they  count,  a  light  offence;  "Thou  thoughtest  I 
was  such  a  one  as  thyself,"  Psa.  1.  21;  that  God  and  they  were 
as  exactly  alike  as  two  tallies.  "Our  wilful  misapprehensions 
of  God  are  the  cause  of  our  misbehaviour  in  all  his  worship: 
our  slovenly  and  lazy  services  tell  him  to  his  face  what  slight 
thoughts  and  apprehensions  we  have  of  him."1 

Compare  these  two  together. 

Superstition  arises  from  terrifying  misapprehensions  of 
God;  presumption  from  self-pleasing  thoughts.  One  repre- 
sents him  only  rigorous,  and  the  other  careless.  One  makes  us 
over-officious  in  serving  him  by  our  own  rules,  and  the  other 
over-bold  in  offending  him,  according  to  our  humours.  The 
want  of  a  true  notion  of  God's  justice  makes  some  men  slight 
him;  and  the  want  of  a  true  apprehension  of  his  goodness 
makes  others  too  servile  in  their  approaches  to  him.  One 
makes  us  careless  of  duties,  and  the  other  makes  us  look  on 
them  rather  as  physic  than  food;  an  insupportable  penance, 
than  a  desirable  privilege.  In  this  case,  hell  is  the  principle  of 
duty  performed  to  heaven.  The  superstitious  man  believes 
God  hath  scarce  mercy  to  pardon;  the  presumptuous  man  be- 
lieves he  hath  no  such  perfection  as  justice  to  punish.  The  one 
makes  him  insignificant  to  what  he  desires,  kindness  and  good- 
ness; the  other  renders  him  insignificant  to  what  he  fears,  his 
vindictive  justice.  What  between  the  idolater,  the  superstitious, 
the  presumptuous  person,  God  should  look  like  no  God  in  the 
world. 

These  unworthy  imaginations  of  God  are  likewise, 

A  vilifying  of  him:  debasing  the  Creator,  to  be  a  creature 
of  their  own  fancies;  putting  their  own  stamp  upon  him;  and 
fashioning  him  not  according  to  that  beautiful  image  he  im- 
pressed upon  them  by  creation,  but  the  defaced  image  they 
inherit  by  their  fall,  and  which  is  worse,  the  image  of  the  devil, 
which  spread  itself  over  them  at  their  revolt  and  apostasy. 
Were  it  possible  to  see  a  picture  of  God,  according  to  the  fan- 
cies of  men,  it  would  be  the  most  monstrous  being  ;  such  a  God 
that  never  was  nor  ever  can  be. 

'  GurnaJI,  Part  2.  p.  245,  246. 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  ]f,9 

We  honour  God  when  we  have  worthy  opinions  of  him, 
suitable  to  his  nature  ;  when  we  conceive  of  him  as  a  being  of 
unbounded  loveliness  and  perfection.  We  detract  from  him 
when  we  ascribe  to  him  such  qualities  ;is  would  be  a  horrible 
disgrace  to  a  wise  and  good  man;  as  injustice  and  impurity. 
Tims  men  debase  God  when  they  invert  his  order,  and  would 
create  him  according  to  their  image,  as  he  first  created  them 
according  to  his  own  ;  and  think  him  not  worthy  to  be  a  God, 
unless  he  fully  answer  the  mould  they  would  cast  him  into, 
and  be  what  is  unworthy  of  his  nature.  Men  do  not  conceive 
of  God  as  he  would  have  them;  but  he  must  be  what  they 
would  have  him,  one  of  their  own  shaping. 

This  is  worse  than  idolatry.  The  grossest  idolater  commits 
not  a  crime  so  heinous,  by  changing  his  glory  into  the  image  of 
creeping  things  and  senseless  creatures,  as  the  imagining  God 
to  be  as  one  of  our  sinful  selves,  and  likening  him  to  those 
iilthy  images  we  erect  in  our  fancies.  One  makes  him  an  earthly 
'_r<ul,  like  an  earthly  creature;  the  other  fancies  him  an  unjust 
and  impure  god,  like  a  wicked  creature;  one  sets  up  an  image 
of  him  in  the  earth,  which  is  his  footstool ;  the  other  sets  up  an 
image  of  him  in  the  heart,  which  ought  to  be  his  throne. 

It  is  worse  than  absolute  atheism,  or  a  denial  of  God.  Dig- 
nius  credimus  11011  esse,  quodcunqtee  non  Ha  fuerit,  ut  esse  de- 
beret,  was  the  opinion  of  Tertulliun;  "  it  is  more  commendable 
to  think  him  not  to  be,  than  to  think  him  such  a  one  as  is  in- 
consistent with  his  nature."1  Better  to  deny  his  existence,  than 
deny  his  perfection.  No  wise  man  but  would  rather  have  his 
memory  rot,  than  be  accounted  infamous;  and  would  be  more 
obliged  to  him  that  should  deny  that  ever  he  had  a  being  in  the 
world,  than  to  say  he  did  indeed  live,  but  he  was  a  sot,  a  de- 
bauched person,  and  a  man  not  to  be  trusted.  When  we 
apprehend  God  deceitful  in  his  promises,  unrighteous  in  his 
threatenings,  unwilling  to  pardon  upon  repentance, or  resolved 
to  pardon  notwithstanding  impenitency;  these  are  things  either 
unworthy  of  the  nature  of  God,  or  contrary  to  that  revelation 
he  hath  given  of  himself.  Better  for  a  man  never  to  have  been 
born,  than  be  for  ever  miserable;  so  better  to  be  thought  no 
God,  than  represented  impotent  or  negligent,  unjust  or  deceit- 
ful; which  are  more  contrary  to  the  nature  of  God,  than  hell 
can  be  to  the  greatest  criminal.  In  this  sense  perhaps  the  apos- 
tle affirms  the  gentiles  to  be  such  as  are  without  God  in  the 
world,  Eph.  ii.  12;  as  being  more  atheists  in  adoring  God 
under  such  notions,  as  they  commonly  did,  than  if  they  had 
acknowledged  no  God  at  all. 

By  our  natural  desire  to  be  distant  from  him,  and  unwilling- 
ness to  have  any  acquaintance  with  him.     Sin  set  us  first  at  a 
1  Turtul.  cant.  Maxim,  lib.  1.  cap.  2. 

Vol.  I.— 22 


170  0N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

distance  from  God,  and  every  new  act  of  gross  sin  estranges 
us  more  from  him,  and  indisposes  us  more  for  him;  it  makes 
us  both  afraid  and  ashamed  to  be  near  him.  Sensual  men  were 
of  this  frame  that  Job  discourses  of.  Job  xxi.  7 — 9.  14,  15. 
Where  grace  reigns,  the  nearer  to  God,  the  more  vigorous  the 
motion.  The  nearer  any  tiling  approaches  to  us,  tiiat  is  the 
object  of  our  desires,  the  more  eagerly  do  we  press  forward  to 
it;  but  our  blood  rises  at  the  approaches  of  any  thing  to  which 
we  have  an  aversion.  We  have  naturally  a  loathing  of  God's 
coming  to  us,  or  our  return  to  him:  we  seek  not  after  him  as 
our  happiness;  and  when  he  offers  himself,  we  like  it  not,  but 
put  a  disgrace  upon  him  in  choosing  other  things  before  him. 
God  and  we  are  naturally  at  as  great  a  distance  as  light  and 
darkness,  life  and  death,  heaven  and  hell.  The  stronger  im- 
pression of  God  any  thing  has,  the  more  we  fly  from  it.  The 
glory  of  God  in  reflection  upon  Moses's  face  scared  the  Israel- 
ites; they  who  had  desired  God  to  speak  to  them  by  Moses, 
when  they  saw  a  signal  impression  of  God  upon  his  counte- 
nance, were  afraid  to  come  near  him,  as  they  were  before  un- 
willing to  come  near  to  God,  Exod.  xxxiv.  30:  not  that  the 
blessed  God  is  in  his  own  nature  a  frightful  object,  but  our  own 
guilt  renders  him  so  to  us,  and  ourselves  indisposed  to  converse 
with  him.  As  the  light  of  the  sun  is  as  irksome  to  a  distem- 
pered eye,  as  it  is  in  its  own  nature  desirable  to  a  sound  one. 
The  saints  themselves  have  had  so  much  frailty,  that  they  have 
cried  out  that  they  were  undone,  if  they  had  any  more  than 
ordinary  discoveries  of  God  made  unto  them,  as  if  they  wished 
him  more  remote  from  them.  Vileness  cannot  endure  the  splen- 
dour of  majesty,  nor  guilt  the  glory  of  a  judge. 

We  have  naturally  no  desire  of  remembrance  of  him — or 
converse  with  him — or  thorough  return  to  him — or  close  imi- 
tation of  him;  as  if  there  were  not  any  such  being  as  God  in 
the  world,  or  as  if  we  wished  there  were  none  at  all,  so  feeble 
and  spiritless  are  our  thoughts  of  the  being  of  a  God. 

No  desire  for  the  remembrance  of  him.  How  delightful  are 
other  things  in  our  minds!  how  burdensome  the  memorials  of 
God,  from  whom  we  have  our  being!  With  what  pleasure  do 
we  contemplate  the  nature  of  creatures,  even  of  flies  and  toads, 
while  our  minds  tire  in  the  search  of  him  who  has  bestowed 
upon  us  our  knowing  and  meditating  faculties!  Though  God 
shows  himself  to  us  in  every  creature,  in  the  meanest  weed,  as 
well  as  the  highest  heavens,  and  is  more  apparent  in  them  to 
our  reason  than  themselves  can  be  to  our  sense,  yet  though  we 
see  them,  we  will  not  behold  God  in  them.  We  will  view 
them  to  please  our  sense,  to  improve  our  reason,  in  their  natu- 
ral perfections,  but  pass  by  the  consideration  of  God's  perfec- 
tions so  visibly  beaming  from  them.     Thus  we  play  the  beasts 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  |7| 

and  atheists  in  the  very  exercise  of  reason,  and  neglect  our 
Creator  to  gratify  our  sense;  as  though  the  pleasure  of  that  were 
more  desirable  than  the  knowledge  of  God.  The  desire  of  our 
soul  is  not  towards  his  name  and  the  remembrance  of  him, 
Isa.  xxvi.  8,  when  we  set  not  ourselves  in  a  posture  to  feast 
our  souls  with  deep  and  serious  meditations  of  him;  have  a 
thought  of  him  only  by  the  by  and  away,  as  if  we  were  afraid 
of  too  intimate  acquaintance  with  him. 

Are  not  the  thoughts  of  God  rather  our  invaders  than  our 
guests,  seldom  invited  to  reside  and  take  up  their  home  in  our 
hearts?  Have  we  not,  when  they  have  broken  in  upon  us,  bid 
them  depart  from  us,  Job  xxii.  17,  and  warned  them  to  come 
no  more  upon  our  ground;  sent  them  packing  as  soon  as  we 
could,  and  were  glad  when  they  were  gone?  And  when  they 
have  departed,  have  we  not  often  been  afraid  they  should  re- 
turn again  upon  us,  and  therefore  looked  about  for  other 
inmates,  things  not  good,  or  if  good,  infinitely  below  God,  to 
possess  the  room  of  our  hearts  before  any  thoughts  of  him 
should  appear  again?  Have  we  not  often  been  glad  of  excuses 
to  shake  off  present  thoughts  of  him;  and  when  we  have 
wanted  real  ones,  found  out  pretences  to  keep  God  and  our 
hearts  at  a  distance?  Is  not  tins  a  part  of  atheism,  to  be  so  un- 
willing to  employ  our  faculties  about  the  Giver  of  them,  to 
refuse  to  exercise  them  in  a  way  of  grateful  remembrance  of 
him,  as  though  they  were  none  of  his  gift,  but  our  own  acqui- 
sition; as  though  the  God  that  truly  gave  them  had  no  right  to 
them;  and  he  that  thinks  on  us  every  day  in  a  way  of  provi- 
dence, were  not  worthy  to  be  thought  on  by  us  in  a  way  of 
special  remembrance? 

Do  not  the  best,  that  love  the  remembrance  of  him,  and  abhor 
this  natural  averseness,  find,  that  when  they  would  think  of 
God,  many  things  tempt  them  and  turn  them  to  think  else- 
where? Do  they  not  find  their  apprehensions  too  feeble,  their 
motions  too  dull,  and  their  impressions  too  slight?  This  natural 
atheism  is  spread  over  human  nature. 

No  desire  of  converse  with  him.  The  word  "remember" 
in  the  command  for  keeping  holy  the  Sabbath  day,  including 
all  the  duties  of  the  day,  and  the  choicest  of  our  lives,  implies 
our  natural  unwillingness  to  them,  and  forgetfulness  of  them. 
God's  pressing  this  command  with  more  reasons  than  the  rest, 
manifests  that  man  has  no  heart  for  spiritual  duties.  No  spi- 
ritual duty,  which  sets  us  immediately  face  to  face  with  God, 
but  in  the  attempts  of  it,  we  find  naturally  a  resistance  from 
some  powerful  principle;  so  that  every  one  may  subscribe  to 
the  speech  of  the  apostle,  that  when  we  would  do  good,  evil  is 
present  with  us.  No  reason  of  this  can  be  rendered,  but  the 
natural  temper  of  our  souls,  and  an  affecting  a  distance  from 


|72  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

God  under  any  consideration.  For  though  our  guilt  first  made 
the  breach,  yet  this  aversion  to  a  converse  with  him  steps  up 
without  any  actual  reflections  upon  our  guilt,  which  may  ren- 
der God  terrible  to  us  as  an  offended  Judge.  Are  we  not  often 
also,  in  our  attendance  upon  him,  more  pleased  with  the  modes 
of  worship  which  gratify  our  fancy,  than  to  have  our  souls 
inwardly  delighted  with  the  object  of  worship  himself? 

This  is  a  part  of  our  natural  atheism.  To  cast  such  duties  off 
by  total  neglect,  or  in  part,  by  affecting  a  coldness  in  them,  is 
to  cast  off  the  fear  of  the  Lord.  Job.  xv.  4.  Not  to  call  upon 
God,  and  not  to  know  him,  are  one  and  the  same  thing.  Jer. 
x.  25.  Either  we  think  there  is  no  such  being  in  the  world,  or 
that  he  is  so  slight  a  one,  that  he  deserves  not  the  respect  he 
calls  for;  or  so  impotent  and  poor,  that  he  cannot  supply  what 
our  necessities  require. 

No  desire  of  a  thorough  return  to  him.  The  first  man  fled 
from  him  after  his  defection,  though  he  had  no  refuge  to  fly  to 
but  the  grace  of  his  Creator.  Cain  went  from  his  presence, 
would  be  a  fugitive  from  God,  rather  than  a  supplicant  to  him; 
when  by  faith  in,  and  application  of  the  promised  Redeemer,  he 
might  have  escaped  the  wrath  to  come  for  his  brother's  blood, 
and  mitigated  the  sorrows  he  was  justly  sentenced  to  bear  in 
the  world.  Nothing  will  separate  prodigal  man  from  common- 
ing  with  swine,  and  make  him  return  to  his  Father,  but  an 
empty  trough:  have  we  but  husks  to  feed  on,  we  shall  never 
think  of  a  Father's  presence.  It  were  well  if  our  sores  and 
indigence  would  drive  us  to  him;  but  when  our  strength  is 
devoured,  we  will  not  return  to  the  Lord  our  God,  nor  seek 
him  for  all  this.  Hos.  vii.  10.  Not  his  drawn  sword  as  a  God 
of  judgment,  nor  his  mighty  power  as  a  Lord,  nor  his  open 
arms  as  the  Lord  their  God,  could  move  them  to  turn  their  eyes 
and  their  hearts  towards  him.  The  more  he  invites  us  to  partake 
of  his  grace,  the  further  we  run  from  him  to  provoke  his  wrath: 
the  louder  God  called  them  by  his  prophets,  the  closer  they 
stuck  to  their  Baal.  Hos.  xi.  2.  We  turn  our  backs  when  he 
stretches  out  his  hand,  stop  our  ears  when  he  lifts  up  his  voice; 
we  fly  from  him  when  he  courts  us,  and  shelter  ourselves  in  any 
bush  from  his  merciful  hand,  that  would  lay  hold  upon  us;  nor 
will  we  set  our  faces  towards  him,  till  our  way  be  hedged  up 
with  thorns,  and  not  a  gap  left  to  creep  out  any  by-way.  Hos. 
ii.  6,  7.  Whosoever  is  brought  to  a  return,  puts  the  Holy  Ghost 
to  the  pain  of  striving;  he  is  not  easily  brought  to  a  spiritual 
subjection  to  God,  nor  persuaded  to  surrender  at  a  summons, 
but  sweetly  overpowered  by  storm,  and  victoriously  drawn  into 
the  arms  of  God.  God  stands  ready,  but  the  heart  stands  off; 
grace  is  full  of  entreaties,  and  the  soul  full  of  excuses;  Divine 
love  offers,  and  carnal  self-love  rejects.     Nothing  so  pleases  us, 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  |^3 

as  when  we  are  furthest  from  him;  as  if  any  thing  were  more 
amiable,  any  thing  more  desirable  than  himself. 

No  desire  of  any  close  imitation  of  him.  When  our  Saviour 
was  to  come  as  a  refiner's  fire  to  purify  the  sons  of  Levi,  the 
cry  is,  "  Who  shall  abide  the  day  of  his  coming  ?"  Mai.  iii.  2,  3. 
Suite  we  are  alienated  from  the  life  of  God,  we  desire  no  more 
naturally  to  live  the  life  of  God,  than  a  toad  or  any  other  ani- 
mal desires  to  live  the  life  of  a  man.  No  heart  that  knows  God, 
hut  has  a  holy  ambition  to  imitate  him;  no  soul  that  refuses 
him  for  a  copy,  but  is  ignorant  of  his  excellency,  and  of  this 
temper  is  all  mankind  naturally.  Man  in  corruption  is  as  loth 
to  be  like  God  in  holiness,  as  Adam  after  his  creation  was  de- 
sirous to  be  like  God  in  knowledge;  his  posterity  are  like  their 
father,  who  soon  turned  his  back  upon  his  original  copy. 

What  can  be  worse  than  this?  Can  the  denial  of  his  being 
be  a  greater  injury  than  this  contempt  of  him;  as  if  he  had  not 
goodness  to  deserve  our  remembrance,  nor  amiableness  fit  for 
our  converse;  as  if  he  were  not  a  Lord  fit  for  our  subjection, 
nor  had  a  holiness  that  deserved  our  imitation? 
For  the  use  of  this. 
Use  1.  It  serves  for  information. 

(1.)  It  gives  us  occasion  to  admire  the  wonderful  patience 
and  mercy  of  God.  How  many  millions  of  practical  atheists 
breathe  every  clay  in  his  air,  and  live  upon  his  bounty,  who 
deserve  to  be  inhabitants  in  hell,  rather  than  possessors  of  the 
earth?  An  infinite  holiness  is  offended,  an  infinite  justice  is 
provoked;  yet  an  infinite  patience  forbears  the  punishment, 
and  an  infinite  goodness  relieves  our  wants.  The  more  we  had 
merited  his  justice  and  forfeited  his  favour,  the  more  is  his 
affection  enhanced,  which  makes  his  hand  so  liberal  to  us. 

At  the  first  invasion  of  his  rights,  he  mitigates  the  terror  of  the 
threatening  which  was  set  to  defend  his  law,  with  the  grace  of  a 
promise  to  relieve  and  recover  his  rebellious  creature,  Gen.  iii. 
15.  Who  would  have  looked  for  any  thing  but  tearing  thunders, 
sweeping  judgments,  to  rase  up  the  foundations  of  the  apos- 
tate world?  But  0,  how  great  are  his  bowels  to  his  aspiring 
competitors!  Have  we  not  experienced  his  contrivances  for 
our  good,  though  we  have  refused  him  for  our  happiness?  Has 
he  not  opened  his  arms,  when  we  spurned  with  our  feet;  held 
out  his  alluring  mercy,  when  we  have  brandished  against  him 
a  rebellious  sword?  Has  he  not  entreated  us  while  we  have 
invaded  him,  as  if  he  were  unwilling  to  lose  us,  who  are  ambi- 
tious to  destroy  ourselves?  Has  he  yet  denied  us  the  care  of 
his  providence,  while  we  have  denied  him  the  rights  of  his 
honour,  and  would  appropriate  them  to  ourselves?  Has  his 
sun  forborne  shining  upon  us,  though  we  have  shot  our  arrows 
against  him?     Have  not  our  beings  been   supported   by  his 


174  0N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

goodness,  while  we  have  endeavoured  to  climb  up  to  his 
throne;  and  his  mercies  continued  to  charm  us,  while  we  have 
used  them  as  weapons  to  injure  him?  Our  own  necessities 
might  excite  us  to  own  him  as  our  happiness,  but  he  adds  his 
invitations  to  the  voice  of  our  wants.  Has  he  not  promised  a 
kingdom  to  those  that  would  strip  him  of  his  crown,  and  pro- 
claimed pardon  upon  repentance  to  those  that  would  take  away 
his  glory?  and  has  so  twisted  together  his  own  end,  which 
is  his  honour,  and  man's  true  end,  which  is  his  salvation,  that  a 
man  cannot  truly  mind  himself  and  his  own  salvation,  but  he 
must  mind  God's  glory;  and  cannot  be  intent  upon  God's 
honour,  but  by  the  same  act  he  promotes  himself  and  his  own 
happiness;  so  loth  is  God  to  give  any  just  occasion  of  dissatis- 
faction to  his  creature,  as  well  as  dishonour  himself.  All  those 
wonders  of  his  mercy  are  enhanced  by  the  heinousness  of  our 
atheism;  a  multitude  of  gracious  thoughts  from  him  above  the 
multitude  of  contempts  from  us,  Psal.  cvi.  7.  What  rebels  in 
actual  arms  against  their  prince  aiming  at  his  life,  ever  found 
that  favour  from  him,  to  have  all  their  necessaries  richly  afforded 
them,  without  which  they  would  starve,  and  without  which 
they  would  be  unable  to  manage  their  attempts,  as  we  have 
received  from  God  ?  Had  not  God  had  riches  of  goodness,  for- 
bearance, and  long-suffering,  and  infinite  riches  too ;  the  des- 
pite the  world  has  done  him  in  refusing  him  as  their  rule, 
happiness,  and  end,  would  have  emptied  him  long  ago,  Rom. 
ii.  4. 

(2.)  It  brings  in  a  justification  of  the  exercise  of  his  justice. 
If  it  gives  us  occasion  loudly  to  praise  his  patience,  it  also  stops 
our  mouths  from  accusing  any  acts  of  his  vengeance.  What 
can  be  too  sharp  a  recompense  for  the  despising  and  disgracing 
so  great  a  Being  ?  The  highest  contempt  merits  the  greatest 
anger;  and  when  we  will  not  own  him  for  our  happiness,  it  is 
fit  we  should  feel  the  misery  of  separation  from  him.  If  he 
that  is  guilty  of  treason  deserves  to  lose  his  life,  what  punish- 
ment can  be  thought  great  enough  for  him  that  is  so  disinge- 
nuous as  to  prefer  himself  before  a  God  so  infinitely  good,  and  is 
so  foolish  as  to  invade  the  rights  of  one  infinitely  powerful  ?  It 
is  no  injustice  for  a  creature  to  be  for  ever  left  to  himself,  to  see 
what  advantage  he  can  make  of  that  self  he  was  so  busily  em- 
ployed to  set  up  in  the  place  of  his  Creator.  The  soul  of  man 
deserves  an  infinite  punishment  for  despising  an  infinite  good: 
and  it  is  not  unequitable,  that  that  self,  which  man  makes  his 
rule  and  happiness  above  God,  should  become  his  torment  and 
misery  by  the  righteousness  of  that  God  whom  he  despised. 

(3.)  Hence  arises  a  necessity  of  a  new  state  and  frame  of 
soul,  to  alter  an  atheistical  nature.  We  forget  God;  think  of 
him  with  reluctancy;  have  no  respect  to  God  in  our  course 


OX  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  I75 

and  acts:  this  cannot  be  our  original  state.  God  being  infi- 
nitely good,  never  let  man  come  out  of  his  hands  with  this 
actual  unwillingness  to  acknowledge  and  serve  him;  he  never 
intended  to  dethrone  himself  for  the  work  of  his  hands,  or  that 
the  creature  should  have  any  other  end  than  that  of  his  Crea- 
tor. As  the  apostle  saith  in  the  case  of  the  Galatians'  error, 
u  'This  persuasion  came  not  of  him  that  called  you,"  Gal.  v.  8; 
so  this  frame  comes  not  from  him  that  created  you.  How  much 
therefore  do  we  need  a  restoring  principle  in  us!  Instead  of 
ordering  ourselves  according  to  the  will  of  God,  we  are  desi- 
rous to  fulfil  the  wills  of  the  flesh,  Eph.  ii.  3.  There  is  a  ne- 
cessity of  some  other  principle  in  us  to  make  us  fulfil  the  will 
of  God,  since  we  were  created  for  God,  not  for  the  flesh. 

We  can  no  more  be  voluntarily  serviceable  to  God,  while 
our  serpentine  nature  and  devilish  habits  remain  in  us,  than 
we  can  suppose  the  devil  can  be  willing  to  glorify  God,  while 
the  nature  he  contracted  by  his  fall  abides  powerfully  in  him. 
Our  nature  and  will  must  be  changed,  that  our  actions  may 
regard  God  as  our  end,  that  we  may  delightfully  meditate  on 
him,  and  draw  the  motives  of  our  obedience  from  him.  Since 
this  atheism  is  seated  in  nature,  the  change  must  be  in  our 
nature;  since  our  first  aspirings  to  the  rights  of  God  were  the 
fruits  of  the  serpent's  breath,  which  tainted  our  nature,  there 
must  be  a  removal  of  this  taint,  whereby  our  natures  may  be 
on  the  side  of  God  against  Satan,  as  they  were  before  on  the 
side  of  Satan  against  God.  There  must  be  a  supernatural  prin- 
ciple before  we  can  live  a  supernatural  life,  that  is,  we  must 
live  to  God,  since  we  are  naturally  alienated  from  the  life  of 
God.  The  aversion  of  our  natures  from  God,  is  as  strong  as 
our  inclinations  to  evil;  we  are  disgusted  with  one,  and  pressed 
with  the  other;  we  have  no  will,  no  heart,  to  come  to  God  in 
any  service.  This  nature  must  be  broken  in  pieces  and  new 
moulded,  before  we  can  make  God  our  rule  and  our  end. 
While  men's  deeds  are  evil,  they  cannot  comply  with  God, 
John  iii.  19,20;  much  less  while  their  natures  are  evil.  Till 
this  be  done,  all  the  service  a  man  performs  rises  from  some 
evil  imagination  of  the  heart,  which  is  evil,  only  evil,  and  that 
continually,  Gen.  vi.  5;  from  wrong  notions  of  God,  wrong 
notions  of  duty,  or  corrupt  motives.  All  the  pretensions  of 
devotion  to  God  are  but  the  adoration  of  some  golden  image. 
Prayers  to  God  for  the  ends  of  self,  are  like  those  of  the  devil 
to  our  Saviour,  when  he  asked  leave  to  go  into  the  herd  of 
swine.  The  object  was  right,  Christ;  the  end  was  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  swine,  and  the  satisfaction  of  malice  to  the  owners. 
Then'  is  a  necessity  then  that  depraved  ends  should  be  removed, 
that  that  which  was  God's  end  in  our  framing,  may  be  our  end 
in  our  acting,  namely,  his  glory,  which  cannot  be  without  a 


176  0N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

change  of  nature.  We  can  never  honour  him  supremely  whom 
we  do  not  supremely  love.  Till  this  be,  we  cannot  glorify  God 
as  God,  though  we  do  things  by  his  command  and  order;  no 
more  than  when  God  employed  the  devil  in  afflicting  Job,  Job 
i. ;  his  performance  cannot  be  said  to  be  good,  because  his  end 
was  not  the  same  with  God's;  he  acted  out  of  malice,  what 
God  commanded  out  of  sovereignty,  and  for  gracious  designs. 
Had  God  employed  a  holy  angel  in  his  design  upon  Job,  the 
action  had  been  good  in  the  affliction,  because  his  nature  was 
holy,  and  therefore  his  ends  holy;  but  bad  in  the  devil,  because 
his  ends  were  base  and  unworthy. 

(4.)  We  may  gather  from  hence  the  difficulty  of  conversion, 
and  mortification  to  follow  thereupon.  What  is  the  reason  men 
receive  no  more  impression  from  the  voice  of  God  and  the  light 
of  his  truth,  than  a  dead  man  in  the  grave  does  from  the  roar- 
ing thunder,  or  a  blind  mole  from  the  light  of  the  sun?  It  is 
because  our  atheism  is  as  great  as  the  deadness  of  the  one,  or 
the  blindness  of  the  other.  The  principle  in  the  heart  is  strong 
to  shut  the  door  both  of  the  thoughts  and  affections  against 
God.  If  a  friend  oblige  us,  we  shall  act  for  him  as  for  our- 
selves: we  are  won  by  entreaties,  soft  words  overcome  us,  but 
our  hearts  are  as  deaf  as  the  hardest  rock  at  the  call  of  God. 
Neither  the  joys  of  heaven  proposed  by  him  can  allure  us,  nor 
the  flashing  terrors  of  hell  affright  us  to  him,  as  if  we  conceived 
God  unable  to  bestow  the  one,  or  execute  the  other.  The  true 
reason  is,  God  and  self  contest  for  the  deity ;  the  law  of  sin  is, 
God  must  be  at  the  footstool;  the  law  of  God  is,  sin  must  be 
utterly  deposed:  now  it  is  difficult  to  leave  a  law  beloved,  for 
a  law  long  ago  discarded.  The  mind  of  man  will  hunt  after 
any  thing;  the  will  of  man  embrace  any  thing;  upon  the  pro- 
posal of  mean  objects  the  spirit  of  man  spreads  its  wings,  flies 
to  catch  them,  becomes  one  with  them;  but  attempt  to  bring  it 
under  the  power  of  God,  the  wings  flag,  the  creature  looks  life- 
less, as  though  there  were  no  spring  of  motion  in  it.  It  is  as 
much  crucified  to  God  as  the  holy  apostle  was  to  the  world: 
the  sin  of  the  heart  discovers  its  strength,  the  more  God  disco- 
vers the  holiness  of  his  will.  Rom.  vii.  9 — 12.  The  love  of 
sin  has  been  predominant  in  our  nature,  and  has  quashed  a 
love  to  God,  if  not  extinguished  it. 

Hence  also  is  the  difficulty  of  mortification.  This  is  a  work 
tending  to  the  honour  of  God,  the  abasing  of  that  inordinately 
aspiring  humour  in  ourselves.  If  the  nature  of  man  be  inclined 
to  sin,  as  it  is,  it  must  needs  be  bent  against  any  thing  that  op- 
poses it.  It  is  impossible  to  strike  any  true  blow  at  any  lust, 
till  the  true  sense  of  God  be  re-entertained  in  the  soil  where  it 
ought  to  grow.  Who  can  be  naturally  willing  to  crucify  what 
is  incorporated  with  him,  his  flesh;  what  is  dearest  to  him, 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM  |  77 

himself?  Is  it  an  easy  thing  for  man,  the  competitor  wall  God, 
to  turn  his  arms  against  himself;  that  self  should  overthrow  its 
own  empire;  lay  aside  all  its  pretensions  to,  and  designs  for  a 
God-head;  to  hew  off  its  own  members,  and  subdue  its  own 
affections?  It  is  the  nature  of  man  to  cover  his  sin,  to  hide  it  in 
his  bosom;"'  not  to  destroy  it,  and  as  unwillingly  part  with  his 
carnal  affections,  as  the  legion  of  devils  were  with  the  man  that 
had  been  long  possessed.  And  when  he  is  forced  and  fired  from 
one,  he  will  endeavour  to  espouse  some  other  lust,  as  those 
devils  desired  to  possess  swine,  when  they  were  chased  from 
their  possession  of  that  man. 

(5.)  Here  we  see  the  reason  of  unbelief.  That  which  has 
most  of  God  in  it,  meets  with  most  aversion  from  us  ;  that  which 
has  least  of  God,  finds  better  and  stronger  inclinations  in  us. 
What  is  the  reason  that  the  heart  of  man  is  more  unwilling  to 
embrace  the  gospel,  than  acknowledge  the  equity  of  the  law? 
Because  there  is  more  of  God's  nature  and  perfection  evident 
in  the  gospel  than  in  the  law.  Besides,  there  is  more  reliance 
on  God  and  distance  from  self  commanded  in  the  gospel.  The 
law  puts  a  man  upon  his  own  strength;  the  gospel  takes  him 
off  from  his  own  bottom:  the  law  acknowledges  him  to  have  a 
power  in  himself,  and  to  act  for  his  own  reward;  the  gospel 
strips  him  of  all  his  proud  and  towering  thoughts,  2  Cor.  x.  5; 
brings  him  to  his  due  place,  the  foot  of  God;  orders  him  to  deny 
himself  as  his  own  rule,  righteousness,  and  end;  and  henceforth 
not  to  live  to  himself.  2  Cor.  v.  15.  This  is  the  true  reason 
why  men  are  more  against  the  gospel  than  against  the  law; 
because  it  doth  more  deify  God,  and  debase  man.  Hence  it  is 
easier  to  reduce  men  to  some  moral  virtue,  than  to  faith ;  to 
make  men  blush  at  their  outward  vices,  but  not  at  the  inward 
impurity  of  their  natures.  Hence  it  is  observed  that  those  that 
asserted,  that  all  happiness  did  arise  from  something  in  a  man's 
self,  as  the  Stoics  and  Epicureans  did,  and  that  a  wise  man  was 
equal  with  God,  were  greater  enemies  to  the  truths  of  the  gos- 
pel than  others,  Acts  xvii.  18,  because  it  lays  the  axe  to  the  root 
of  their  principal  opinion;  takes  the  one  from  their  self-suffi- 
ciency, and  the  other  from  their  self-gratification;  opposes  the 
brutish  principle  of  the  one,  which  placed  happiness  111  the  plea- 
sures of  the  body,  and  the  more  noble  principle  of  the  other, 
which  placed  happiness  in  the  virtue  of  the  mind.  The  one  was 
for  a  sensual,  the  other  for  a  moral  self;  both  disowned  by  the 
doctrine  of  the  gospel. 

(6.)  It  informs  us  consequently,  who  can  be  the  Author  of 
grace  and  conversion,  and  every  other  good  work.  No  practical 
atheist  ever  yet  turned  to  God,  but  was  turned  by  God;  and  not 
to  acknowledge  it  to  God,  is  a  part  of  this  atheism,  sine*  it  is  a 

1  "If  I  covpt  mv  1rfin<!£rrr<:M'>n<'  :i<:  AHam,"  .T"V>  vsvi    33. 

Vot..  [.—23 


178  oN  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

robbing  God  of  the  honour  of  one  of  his  most  glorious  works. 
If  this  practical  atheism  be  natural  to  man  ever  since  the  first 
taint  of  nature  in  paradise,  what  can  be  expected  from  it  but  a 
resisting  of  the  work  of  God,  and  setting  up  all  the  forces  of 
nature  against  the  operations  of  grace,  till  a  day  of  power  dawn 
and  clear  up  upon  the  soul,  Psa.  ex.  3.  Not  all  the  angels  in 
heaven,  or  men  upon  earth,  can  be  imagined  to  be  able  to  per- 
suade a  man  to  fall  out  with  himself.  Nothing  can  turn  the  tide 
of  nature,  but  a  power  above  nature.  God  took  away  the  sanc- 
tifying Spirit  from  man,  as  a  penalty  for  the  first  sin:  who  can 
regain  it  but  by  his  will  and  pleasure?  who  can  restore  it  but 
he  that  removed  it?  Since  every  man  hath  the  same  fundamen- 
tal atheism  in  him  by  nature,  and  would  be  a  rule  to  himself, 
and  his  own  end;  he  is  so  far  from  dethroning  himself,  that  all 
the  strength  of  his  corrupted  nature  is  alarmed  up  to  stand  to 
its  arms,  upon  any  attempt  God  makes  to  regain  the  fort.  The 
will  is  so  strong  against  God,  that  it  is  like  many  wills  twisted 
together;  "  wills  of  the  flesh,"  Eph.  ii.  3;  we  translate  it,  "the 
desires  of  the  flesh;"  like  many  threads  twisted  in  a  cable, 
never  to  be  snapped  asunder  by  a  human  arm :  a  power  and 
will  above  ours  can  alone  untwist  so  many  wills  in  a  knot. 
Man  cannot  rise  to  an  acknowledgment  of  God,  without  God: 
hell  may  as  well  become  heaven,  the  devil  be  changed  into  an 
angel  of  light.  The  devil  cannot  but  desire  happiness  ;  he  knows 
the  misery  into  which  he  is  fallen  ;  he  cannot  be  desirous  of 
that  punishment  he  knows  is  reserved  for  him.  Why  does  he 
not  sanctify  God  and  glorify  his  Creator,  wherein  there  is  abun- 
dantly more  pleasure  than  in  his  malicious  course?  why  does 
he  not  petition  to  recover  his  ancient  standing?  He  will  not; 
there  are  chains  of  darkness  upon  his  faculties;  he  will  not  be 
otherwise  than  he  is:  his  desire  to  be  god  of  the  world,  sways 
him  against  his  own  interest,  and  out  of  love  to  his  malice,  he 
will  not  sin  at  a  less  rate  to  make  a  diminution  of  his  punish- 
ment. Man,  if  God  utterly  refuseth  to  work  upon  him,  is  no 
better,  and  to  maintain  his  atheism,  would  venture  a  hell.  How 
is  it  possible  for  a  man  to  turn  himself  to  that  God,  against 
whom  he  has  a  quarrel  in  his  nature ;  the  most  rooted  and 
settled  habit  in  him  being  to  set  himself  in  the  place  of  God. 
An  atheist  by  nature  can  no  more  alter  his  own  temper,  and 
engrave  in  himself  the  Divine  nature,  than  a  rock  can  carve 
itself  into  the  statue  of  a  man,  or  a  serpent,  that  is  an  enemy  to 
man,  could  or  would  raise  itself  to  the  nobility  of  the  human 
nature.  That  soul  that  by  nature  would  strip  God  of  his  rights, 
cannot  without  a  Divine  power  be  made  conformable  to  him, 
and  acknowledge  sincerely  and  cordially  the  rights  and  glory  of 
God. 

(7.)  We  may  here  see  the  reason  why  there  can  be  no  justi- 


ON    PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 


i?y 


fication  by  the  best  and  strongest  works  of  nature.  Can  that 
which  has  atheism  at  the  root,  justify  either  the  action  or  per- 
son? What  strength  can  those  works  have  which  have  neither 

God's  law  for  their  rule,  nor  his  glory  for  their  end;  that  are 
not  wrought  by  any  spiritual  strength  from  him,  nor  tend  with 
any  spiritual  affection  to  him?  Can  these  be  a  foundation  for 
the  most  holy  God  to  pronounce  a  creature  righteous?  They 
will  justify  his  justice  in  condemning,  but  cannot  sway  his  jus- 
tice to  an  absolution.  Every  natural  man  in  his  works  picks 
and  chooses;  he  owns  the  will  of  God  no  further  than  he  can 
wring  it  to  suit  the  law  of  his  members,  and  minds  not  the 
honour  of  God,  but  as  it  justles  not  with  his  own  glory  and 
secular  ends.  Can  he  be  righteous  that  prefers  his  own  will 
and  his  own  honour,  before  the  will  and  honour  of  the  Crea- 
tor? However  men's  actions  may  be  beneficial  to  others,  what 
reason  has  God  to  esteem  them,  wherein  there  is  no  respect  to 
him,  but  themselves,  whereby  they  dethrone  him  in  their 
thoughts,  while  they  seem  to  own  him  in  their  religious  works? 
Every  day  reproves  us  with  something  different  from  the  rule; 
thousands  of  wanderings  offer  themselves  to  our  eyes.  Can 
justification  be  expected  from  that  which  in  itself  is  matter  of 
despair? 

(S.)  See  here  the  cause  of  all  the  apostasy  in  the  world. 
Practical  atheism  was  never  conquered  in  such:  they  are  still 
alienated  from  the  life  of  God,  and  will  not  live  to  God,  as  he 
lives  to  himself  and  his  own  honour,  Eph.  iv.  17, 18.  They  loathe 
his  rule,  and  distaste  his  glory;  are  loath  to  step  out  of  them- 
selves to  promote  the  ends  of  another,  find  not  the  satisfaction 
in  him  that  they  do  in  themselves:  they  will  be  judges  of  what 
is  good  for  them  and  righteous  in  itself,  rather  than  admit  of 
God  to  judge  for  them.  When  men  draw  back  from  truth  to 
error,  it  is  to  such  opinions  which  may  serve  more  to  foment 
and  cherish  their  ambition,  covetousness,  or  some  beloved  lust 
that  disputes  with  God  for  precedency,  and  is  designed  to  be 
served  before  him.  "They  loved  the  praise  of  men  more  than 
the  praise  of  God."  John  xii.  42,  43.  A  preferring  man  before 
God  was  the  reason  they  would  not  confess  Christ,  and  God  in 
him. 

(9.)  This  shows  us  the  excellency  of  the  gospel  and  Chris- 
tian religion.  It  sets  man  in  his  due  place,  and  gives  to  God 
what  the  excellency  of  his  nature  requires.  It  lays  man  in  the 
dust  from  whence  he  was  taken,  and  sets  God  upon  that  throne 
where  he  ought  to  sit.  Man  by  nature  would  annihilate  God 
and  deify  himself;  the  gospel  glorifies  God  and  annihilates 
man.  In  our  first  revolt  we  would  be  like  him  in  knowledge; 
in  the  means  he  has  provided  for  our  recovery,  he  designs  to 
make  us  like  him  in  grace.     The  gospel  shows  ourselves  to  be 


180  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

an  object  of  humiliation,  and  God  to  be  a  glorious  object  for 
our  imitation.  The  light  of  nature  tells  us  there  is  a  God;  the 
gospel  gives  us  a  more  magnificent  report  of  him:  the  light  of 
nature  condemns  gross  atheism,  and  that  of  the  gospel  con- 
demns and  conquers  spiritual  atheism  in  the  hearts  of  men. 

Use  2.  Of  exhortation. 

(1.)  Let  us  labour  to  be  sensible  of  this  atheism  in  our  na- 
ture, and  be  humbled  for  it.  How  should  we  lie  in  the  dust, 
and  go  bowing  under  the  humbling  thoughts  of  it  all  our  days! 
Shall  we  not  be  sensible  of  that  whereby  we  spill  the  blood  of 
our  souls,  and  give  a  stab  to  the  heart  of  our  own  salvation? 
Shall  we  be  worse  than  any  creature,  not  to  bewail  that  which 
tends  to  our  destruction?  He  that  does  not  lament  it,  cannot 
challenge  the  character  of  a  Christian,  has  nothing  of  the  divine 
life  and  love  planted  in  his  soul.  Not  a  man  but  shall  one  day 
be  sensible,  when  the  eternal  God  shall  call  him  out  to  exami- 
nation, and  charge  his  conscience  to  discover  every  crime,  which 
will  then  own  the  authority  whereby  it  acted;  when  the  heart 
shall  be  torn  open,  and  the  secrets  of  it  brought  to  public  view, 
and  the  world  and  man  himself  shall  see  what  a  viperous  brood 
of  corrupt  principles  and  ends  nestled  in  his  heart.  Let  us 
therefore  be  truly  sensible  of  it,  till  the  consideration  draw  tears 
from  our  eyes  and  sorrow  from  our  souls.  Let  us  urge  the 
thoughts  of  it  upon  our  hearts,  till  the  core  of  that  pride  be 
eaten  out,  and  our  stubbornness  changed  into  humility  ;  till  our 
heads  become  waters,  and  our  eyes  fountains  of  tears,  and  be 
a  spring  of  prayer  to  God  to  change  the  heart  and  mortify  the 
atheism  in  it.  And  consider  what  a  sad  thing  it  is  to  be  a 
practical  atheist,  and  who  is  not  so  by  nature? 

Let  us  be  sensible  of  it  in  ourselves.  Have  any  of  our  hearts 
been  a  soil  wherein  the  fear  and  reverence  of  God  has  natu- 
rally grown?  have  we  a  desire  to  know  him,  or  a  will  to  em- 
brace him?  do  we  delight  in  his  will,  and  love  the  remembrance 
of  his  name?  are  our  respects  to  him  as  God  equal  to  the  specu- 
lative knowledge  we  have  of  his  nature?  is  the  heart,  wherein 
he  has  stamped  his  image,  reserved  for  his  residence?  is  not 
the  world  more  affected  than  the  Creator  of  the  world,  as  though 
that  could  contribute  to  us  a  greater  happiness  than  the  Author 
of  it?  have  not  creatures  as  much  of  our  love,  fear,  trust;  nay, 
more  than  God,  that  framed  both  them  and  us?  have  we  not 
too  often  relied  upon  our  own  strength,  and  made  a  calf  of  our 
own  wisdom,  and  said  of  God  as  the  Israelites  of  Moses,  "  As 
for  this  Moses,  we  wot  not  what  is  become  of  him,  Exod. 
xxxii.  1;  and  oftcner  given  the  glory  of  our  good  success  to 
our  drag  and  our  net,  to  our  craft  and  our  industry,  than  to  the 
wisdom  and  blessing  of  God?  Are  we  then  free  from  this  sort 
of  atheism?  It  is  as  impossible  to  have  two  gods  at  one  time 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM.  jyj 

ill  one  heart,  as  to  have  two  kings  at  one  Ume  in  hill  power  in 
one  kingdom.1  Have  there  not  been  frequent  neglects  of  God? 
have  we  not  been  deaf  whilst  he  has  knocked  at  onr  doors, 
slept  when  he  lias  sounded  in  our  ears,  as  if  their  had  been  no 
such  being  as  a  God  in  the  world?  How  many  stragglings  have 
been  against  our  approaches  to  him!  Has  not  folly  often  been 
committed  with  vain  imaginations,  starting  up  in  the  time  of 
religious  service,  which  we  would  scarce  vouchsafe  a  look  to 
at  another  time,  and  in  another  business,  but  would  have  thrust 
them  away  with  indignation?  Had  they  stept  in  to  interrupt 
our  worldly  affairs,  they  would  have  been  troublesome  intru- 
ders, but  while  we  are  with  God  they  are  acceptable  guests! 
How  unwilling  have  our  hearts  been  to  fortify  themselves  with 
strong  and  influencing  considerations  of  God,  before  we  ad- 
dressed him!  Is  it  not  too  often  that  our  lifelessness  in  prayer 
proceeds  from  this  atheism;  a  neglect  of  seeing  what  argu- 
ments and  pleas  may  be  drawn  from  the  divine  perfections,  to 
second  our  suit  in  hand,  and  quicken  our  hearts  in  the  service? 
Whence  are  those  indispositions  to  any  spiritual  duty,  but  be- 
cause we  have  not  due  thoughts  of  the  majesty,  holiness,  good- 
ness, and  excellency  of  God?  Is  there  any  duty  which  leads  to 
a  more  particular  inquiry  after  him,  or  a  more  clear  vision  of 
him,  but  our  hearts  have  been  ready  to  rise  up  and  call  it 
cursed  rather  than  blessed?  Are  not  our  minds  bemisted  with 
an  ignorance  of  him,  our  wills  drawn  by  aversion  from  him, 
our  affections  rising  in  distaste  of  him;  more  willing  to  know 
any  thing  than  his  nature,  and  more  industrious  to  do  any  thing 
than  his  will?  Do  we  not  all  fall  under  some  one  or  other  of 
these  considerations?  Is  it  not  fit  then  that  we  should  have  a 
sense  of  them?  It  is  to  be  bewailed  by  us  that  so  little  of  God 
is  in  our  hearts,  when  so  many  evidences  of  the  love  of  God 
are  in  the  creatures;  that  God  should  be  so  little  our  end.  who 
has  been  so  much  our  benefactor;  that  he  should  be  so  little  in 
our  thoughts,  who  sparkles  in  every  thing  which  presents  itself 
to  our  eyes. 

Let  us  be  sensible  of  it  in  others.  We  ought  to  have  a  just 
execration  of  the  too  open  iniquity  in  the  midst  of  us,  and  imi- 
tate holy  David,  whose  tears  plentifully  gushed  out,  because 
men  kept  not  God's  law,  Psal.  cxix.  136.  And  is  it  not  a  time 
to  exercise  this  pious  lamentation?  Has  the  wicked  atheism  of 
any  age  been  greater,  or  can  you  find  worse  in  hell  than  we 
may  hear  of  and  behold  on  earth?  How  is  the  excellent  ma- 
jesty of  God,  adored  by  the  angels  in  heaven,  despised  and 
reproached  by  men  on  earth;  as  if  his  name  were  published  to 
be  matter  of  their  sport!  What  a  gasping  thing  is  a  natural 
sense  of  God  among  men  in  the  world!  Is  not  the  law  of  God, 

1   Lawgon's  Body  of  Divinity,  p.  15.3,  154. 


jy2  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

accompanied  with  such  dreadful  threatenings  and  curses,  made 
light  of;  as  if  men  would  place  their  honour  in  being  above  or 
beyond  any  sense  of  that  glorious  Majesty?  How  many  wal- 
low in  pleasures  as  if  they  had  been  made  men  only  to  turn 
brutes,  and  their  souls  given  them  only  for  salt  to  keep  their 
bodies  from  putrefying!  It  is  as  well  a.  part  of  atheism  not  to 
be  sensible  of  the  abuses  of  God's  name  and  laws  by  others, 
as  to  violate  them  ourselves.  What  is  the  language  of  a  stupid 
senselessness  of  them,  but  that  there  is  no  God  in  the  world, 
whose  glory  is  worth  a  vindication  and  deserves  our  regards? 

That  we  may  be  sensible  of  the  unworthiness  of  neglecting 
God  as  our  rule  and  end;  consider, 

[1.]  The  unreasonableness  of  it  as  it  concerns  God. 

It  is  a  high  contempt  of  God.  It  is  an  inverting  the  order  of 
things;  a  making  God,  the  highest,  to  become  the  lowest,  and 
self,  the  lowest,  to  become  the  highest.  To  be  guided  by  every 
base  companion,  some  idle  vanity,  some  carnal  interest,  is  to 
acknowledge  an  excellency  abounding  in  them  which  is  want- 
ing in  God;  an  equity  in  their  orders,  and  none  in  God's  pre- 
cepts; a  goodness  in  their  promises,  and  a  falsity  in  God's:  as 
if  infinite  excellency  were  a  mere  vanity,  and  to  act  for  God 
were  the  debasement  of  our  reason;  to  act  for  self,  or  some  piti- 
ful creature  or  sordid  lust,  were  the  glory  and  advancement  of 
it.  To  prefer  any  one  sin  before  the  honour  of  God,  is  as  if 
that  sin  had  been  our  creator  and  benefactor,  as  if  it  were  the 
original  cause  of  our  being  and  support.  Do  not  men  pay  as 
great  a  homage  to  that  as  they  do  to  God?  do  not  their  minds 
eagerly  pursue  it?  are  not  the  revolvings  of  it  in  their  fancies 
as  delightful  to  them,  as  the  remembrance  of  God  to  a  holy 
soul?  Do  any  obey  the  commands  of  God  with  more  readi- 
ness than  they  do  the  orders  of  their  base  affections?  Did  Peter 
leap  more  readily  into  the  sea  to  meet  his  Master,  than  many 
into  the  jaws  of  hell  to  meet  their  Delilahs?  How  cheerfully 
did  the  Israelites  part  with  their  ornaments  for  the  sake  of  an 
idol,  who  would  not  have  spared  a  moiety  for  the  honour  of 
their  deliverer!  r  If  to  make  God  our  end  is  the  principal  duty 
in  nature,  then  to  make  ourselves  or  any  thing  else  our  end  is 
the  greatest  vice  in  the  rank  of  evils. 

It  is  a  contempt  of  God  as  the  most  amiable  object.  God  is 
infinitely  excellent  and  desirable.  "  How  great  is  his  goodness, 
and  how  great  is  his  beauty!"  Zech.  ix.  17.  There  is  nothing 
in  him  but  what  may  ravish  our  affections;  none  that  know  him 
but  find  attractives  to  keep  them  with  him;  he  has  nothing  in 
him  which  can  be  a  proper  object  of  contempt,  no  defects  or 
shadow  of  evil;  there  is  infinite  excellency  to  charm  us,  and 
infinite  goodness  to  allure  us;  he  is  the  Author  of  our  beings, 

1  All  the  people  brake  off  the  golden  ear-rings.   Exod.  xxxii.  3. 


<)N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM  |  33 

the  Benefactor  of  our  lives.  Why  then  should  man,  who  is 
his  image,  be  so  base  as  to  slight  the  beautiful  Original  which 
stamped  it  on  him?  Ho  is  the  most  lovely  object;  therefore 
to  be  studied,  therefore  to  be  honoured,  therefore  to  be  follow- 
ed: in  regard  of  his  perfection  he  has  the  highest  right  to  our 
thoughts.  All  other  beings  were  eminently  contained  in  his 
essence,  and  were  produced  by  his  infinite  power:  the  creature 
has  nothing  but  what  it  has  from  God.  And  is  it  not  un- 
worthy to  prefer  the  copy  before  the  original,  to  fall  in  love 
with  a  picture  instead  of  the  beauty  it  represents?  The  crea- 
ture, which  we  advance  to  be  our  rule  and  end,  can  no  more 
report  to  us  the  true  amiableness  of  God,  than  a  few  colours, 
mixed  and  suited  together  upon  a  piece  of  cloth,  can  the  moral 
and  intellectual  loveliness  of  the  soul  of  man.  To  contemn 
God  one  moment  is  more  base,  than  if  all  creatures  were  con- 
temned by  us  for  ever;  because  the  excellency  of  creatures  is 
to  God,  like  that  of  a  drop  to  the  sea,  or  a  spark  to  the  glory  of 
inconceivable  millions  of  suns.  As  much  as  the  excellency  of 
God  is  above  our  conceptions,  so  much  does  the  debasing  of 
him  admit  of  inexpressible  aggravations. 

[2.]  Consider  the  ingratitude  in  it;  that  we  should  resist  that 
God  with  our  hearts,  who  made  us  the  work  of  his  hands,  and 
count  him  as  nothing,  from  whom  we  derive  all  the  good  that 
we  are  or  have!  There  is  no  contempt  of  man  but  steps  in 
here  to  aggravate  our  slighting  of  God,  because  there  is  no 
relation  one  man  can  stand  in  to  another,  whereiti  God  does 
not  more  highly  appear  to  man.  If  we  abhor  the  unworthy 
carriage  of  a  child  to  a  tender  father,  a  servant  to  an  indulgent 
master,  a  man  to  his  obliging  friend  ;  why  do  men  daily  act 
that  towards  God,  which  they  cannot  speak  of  without  abhor- 
rence, if  acted  by  another  against  man?  Is  God  a  being  less 
to  be  regarded  than  man,  and  more  worthy  of  contempt  than 
a  creature?  "  It  would  be  strange  if  a  benefactor  should  live 
in  the  same  town,  in  the  same  house  with  us,  and  we  never 
exchange  a  word  with  him;  yet  this  is  our  case,  who  have  the 
works  of  God  in  our  eyes,  the  goodness  of  God  in  our  being, 
the  mercy  of  God  in  our  daily  food,"1  yet  think  so  little  of  him, 
converse  so  little  with  him,  serve  every  thing  before  him,  and 
prefer  every  thing  above  him.  Whence  have  we  our  mercies, 
but  from  his  hand?  Who,  besides  him,  maintains  our  breath 
this  moment?  Should  he  call  lor  our  spirits  this  moment,  they 
must  depart  from  us  to  attend  his  command.  There  is  not  a 
moment  wherein  our  unworthy  carriage  is  not  aggravated, 
because  there  is  not  a  moment  wherein  he  is  not  our  guardian, 
and  gives  us  not  tastes  of  a  fresh  bounty.  And  it  is  no  lismt 
aggravation  of  our  crime,  that  we  injure  him,  without  whose 

1  Reynolds. 


IQ4  ON   PHACTIOAL  ATHEISM. 

bounty  in  giving  us  our  being  we  had  not  been  capable  of 
casting  contempt  upon  him.  Alas!  that  he  that  has  the  great- 
est stamp  of  his  image,  man,  should  deserve  the  character  of 
the  worst  of  his  rebels;  that  he,  who  hath  only  reason  by  the 
gift  of  God  to  judge  of  the  equity  of  the  laws  of  God,  should 
swell  against  them  as  grievous,  and  the  government  of  the 
Lawgiver  as  burdensome!  Can  it  lessen  the  crime,  to  use  the 
principle  wherein  we  excel  the  beasts,  to  the  disadvantage  of 
God,  who  endowed  us  with  that  principle  above  the  beasts? 

It  is  a  debasing  of  God  beyond  what  the  devil  does  at  pre- 
sent. He  is  more  excusable  in  his  present  state  of  acting,  than 
man  is  in  his  present  refusing  God  for  his  rule  and  end.  He 
strives  against  a  God  that  exercises  upon  him  a  vindictive  jus- 
tice; we  debase  a  God  that  loads  us  with  his  daily  mercies. 
The  despairing  devils  are  excluded  from  any  mercy  or  Divine 
patience :  but  we  are  not  only  under  the  long-suffering  of  his 
patience,  but  the  large  expressions  of  his  bounty.  He  would 
not  be  governed  by  him  when  he  was  only  his  bountiful  Crea- 
tor: we  refuse  to  be  guided  by  him  after  he  hath  given  us  the 
blessing  of  creation  from  his  own  hand,  and  the  more  obliging 
blessings  of  redemption  by  the  hand  and  blood  of  his  Son. 

It  cannot  be  imagined  that  the  devils  and  the  damned  should 
ever  make  God  their  end,  since  he  has  assured  them  he  will 
not  be  their  happiness,  and  shut  up  all  his  perfections  from 
their  experimental  notice,  but  those  of  his  power  to  preserve 
them,  and  his  justice  to  punish  them.  They  have  no  grant 
from  God  of  ever  having  a  heart  to  comply  with  his  will,  or 
ever  having  the  honour  to  be  actively  employed  for  his  glory. 
They  have  some  plea  for  their  present  contempt  of  God;  not 
in  regard  of  his  nature,  for  he  is  infinitely  amiable,  excellent, 
and  lovely;  but  in  regard  of  his  administration  towards  them: 
but  what  plea  can  man  have  for  his  practical  atheism,  who 
lives  by  his  power,  is  sustained  by  his  bounty,  and  solicited  by 
his  Spirit?  What  an  ungrateful  thing  is  it  to  put  off  the  nature 
of  man  for  that  of  devils;  and  dishonour  God  under  mercy,  as 
the  devils  do  under  his  wrathful  anger? 

It  is  an  ungrateful  contempt  of  God,  who  cannot  be  injurious 
to  us.  He  cannot  do  us  wrong,  because  he  cannot  be  unjust. 
"  Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right?"  Gen  xviii.  25. 
His  nature  doth  as  much  abhor  unrighteousness,  as  love  a  com- 
municative goodness:  he  never  commanded  any  thing,  but  what 
was  highly  conducive  to  the  happiness  of  man.  Infinite  good- 
ness can  no  more  injure  man,  than  it  can  dishonour  itself:  it 
lays  out  itself  in  additions  of  kindness,  and  whilst  we  bebase 
him,  he  continues  to  benefit  us.  And  is  it  not  an  unparalleled 
ingratitude  to  turn  our  backs  upon  an  object  so  lovely,  an 
object  so  loving,  in  the  midst  of  varieties  of  allurements  from 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM  jg5 

him?  God  did  create  intellectual  creatures,  angels  and  nun, 
that  he  might  communicate  more  of  himself,  and  his  own  good- 
ness and  holiness  to  man,  than  creatures  of  a  lower  rank  were 
capable  of.  What  do  we  do  by  rejecting  him  as  our  rule  and 
end,  but  cross,  as  much  as  in  ns  lies,  God's  end  in  our  crea- 
tion, and  shut  our  souls  against  the  communications  of  those 
perfections  he  was  so  willing  to  bestow?  We  use  him  as  if 
he  intended  us  the  greatest  wrong,  when  it  is  impossible  for 
him  to  do  wrong  to  any  of  his  creatures. 

Consider  the  misery  which  will  attend  such  a  temper  if  it 
continue  predominant.  Those  that  thrust  God  away  as  their 
happiness  and  end,  can  expect  no  other,  but  to  be  thrust  away 
by  him  as  to  any  relief  and  compassion.  A  distance  from  God 
here  can  look  for  nothing  but  a  remoteness  from  God  hereafter. 
When  the  devil,  a  creature  of  vast  endowments,  would  advance 
himself  above  God,  and  instruct  man  to  commit  the  same  sin, 
he  is  cursed  above  all  creatures,  Gen.  iii.  14.  When  we  will 
not  acknowledge  him  a  God  of  all  glory,  we  shall  be  separated 
from  him  as  a  God  of  all  comfort:  all  they  that  are  afar  off 
shall  perish,  Psal.  lxxiii.  27.  This  is  the  spring  of  all  woe. 
What  the  prodigal  suffered,  was  because  he  would  leave  his 
father  and  live  of  himself.  Whosoever  is  ambitious  to  be  his 
own  heaven,  will  at  last  find  his  soul  to  become  his  own  hell. 
As  it  loved  all  things  for  itself,  so  it  shall  be  grieved  with  all 
things  for  itself.  As  it  would  be  its  own  God  against  the  right 
of  God,  it  shall  then  be  its  own  tormentor  by  the  justice  of 
God. 

(2.)  Watch  against  this  atheism,  and  be  daily  employed  in 
the  mortification  of  it.  In  every  action  we  should  make  the 
inquiry.  What  is  the  rule  1  observe?  Is  it  God's  will  or  my 
own?  whether  do  my  intentions  tend  to  setup  God  or  self?  As 
much  as  we  destroy  this,  we  abate  the  power  of  sin.  These  two 
things  are  the  head  of  the  serpent  in  us,  which  we  must  bruise 
by  the  power  of  the  cross.  Sin  is  nothing  else  but  a  turning 
from  God,  and  centring  in  self,  and  most  in  the  inferior  part  of 
self.  If  we  bend  our  force  against  these  two,  self-will  and  self- 
ends,  we  shall  intercept  atheism  at  the  spring  head,  take  away 
that  which  doth  constitute  and  animate  all  sin:  the  sparks  must 
vanish,  if  the  fire  be  cpaenched  which  affords  them  fuel.  They 
are  but  two  short  things  to  ask  in  every  undertaking;  is  God 
my  rule  in  regard  of  his  will?  is  God  my  end  in  regard  of  his 
glory?  All  sin  lies  in  the  neglect  of  these;  all  grace  lies  in  the 
practice  of  them. 

Without  some  degree  of  the  mortification  of  these,  we  cannot 

make  profitable  and  comfortable  approaches  to  God.  When  we 

come  with  idols  in  our  hearts,  we  shall  be  answered  according 

to  the  multitude  and  the  baseness  of  them  too,  Ezek.  xiv.  4. 

Vol.  I.— 24 


186  0N  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

What  expectation  of  a  good  look  from  him  can  we  have,  when 
we  come  before  him  with  undeifying  thoughts  of  him;  a  peti- 
tion in  our  mouths,  and  a  sword  in  our  hearts  to  stab  his 
honour? 

To  this  purpose, 

[1.]  Be  often  in  the  views  of  the  excellencies  of  God.  When 
we  have  no  intercourse  with  God  by  delightful  meditations,  we 
begin  to  be  estranged  from  him,  and  prepare  ourselves  to  live 
without  God  in  the  world.  Strangeness  is  the  mother  and  nurse 
of  disaffection.  We  slight  men  sometimes  because  we  know 
them  not.  The  very  beasts  delight  in  the  company  of  men, 
when  being  tamed  and  familiar,  they  become  acquainted  with 
their  disposition.  A  daily  converse  with  God  would  discover 
so  much  of  loveliness  in  his  nature,  so  much  of  sweetness  in  his 
ways,  that  our  injurious  thoughts  of  God  would  wear  off,  and 
we  should  count  it  our  honour  to  contemn  ourselves  and  mag- 
nify him.  By  this  means  a  slavish  fear,  which  is  both  a  dis- 
honour to  God  and  a  torment  to  the  soul,  1  John  iv.  18,  and  the 
root  of  atheism,  will  be  cast  out,  and  an  ingenuous  fear  of  him 
wrought  in  the  heart.  Exercised  thoughts  on  him  would  issue 
out  in  affections  to  him,  which  would  engage  our  hearts  to 
make  him  both  our  rule  and  our  end.  This  course  would  stifle 
any  temptations  to  gross  atheism,  wherewith  good  souls  are 
sometimes  haunted,  by  confirming  us  more  in  the  belief  of  a 
God;  and  discourage  any  attempts  to  a  deliberate  practical 
atheism.  We  are  not  like  to  espouse  any  principle  which  is  con- 
futed by  the  delightful  converse  we  daily  have  with  him.  The 
more  we  thus  enter  into  the  presence-chamber  of  God,  the  more 
we  cling  about  him  with  our  affections;  the  more  vigorous  and 
lively  will  the  true  notion  of  God  grow  up  in  us,  and  be  able 
to  prevent  any  thing  which  may  dishonour  him  and  debase  our 
souls. 

Let  us  therefore  consider  him  as  the  only  happiness ;  set  up 
the  true  God  in  our  understandings;  possess  our  hearts  with  a 
deep  sense  of  his  desirable  excellency  above  all  other  things. 
This  is  the  main  thing  we  are  to  do  in  order  to  our  great  busi- 
ness. All  the  directions  in  the  world,  with  the  neglect  of  this, 
will  be  insignificant  ciphers.  The  neglect  of  this  is  common, 
and  is  the  basis  of  all  the  mischiefs  which  happen  to  the  souls 
of  men. 

[2.]  To  this  purpose,  prize  and  study  the  Scriptures.  We 
can  have  no  delight  in  meditation  on  him,  unless  we  know  him; 
and  we  cannot  know  him  but  by  the  means  of  his  own  revela- 
tion. When  the  revelation  is  despised,  the  revealer  will  be  of 
little  esteem.  Men  do  not  throw  off  God  from  being  their  rule, 
till  they  throw  off  Scripture  from  being  their  guide;  and  God 
must  needs  be  cast  off  from  being  an  end,  when  the  Scripture 


ON  PRACTICAL  ATHESIM.  1Q7 

is  rejected  from  being  a  rule.  Those  that  do  not  care  to  know 
his  will,  that  love  to  be  ignorant  of  his  nature,  can  never  be 
well  affected  to  his  honour.  Let  therefore  the  subtleties  of 
reason  submit  to  the  doctrine  of  faith,  and  the  humour  of  the 
will  to  the  command  of  the  word. 

[3.]  Take  heed  of  sensual  pleasures,  and  be  very  watchful 
and  cautious  in  the  use  of  those  comforts  God  allows  us.  Job 
was  afraid  when  his  sons  feasted,  that  they  should  curse  God 
in  their  hearts.  Job.  i.  5.  It  was  not  without  cause  that  the 
apostle  Peter  joined  sobriety  with  watchfulness  and  prayer: 
"  The  end  of  all  things  is  at  hand:  be  ye  therefore  sober,  and 
watch  unto  prayer,"  1  Pet.  iv.  7.  Use  moderately  worldly 
comforts.  Prayer  is  the  great  acknowledgment  of  God,  and  too 
much  sensuality  is  a  hinderance  of  this,  and  a  step  to  atheism. 
Belshazzar's  lifting  himself  up  against  the  Lord,  and  not  glori- 
fying of  God,  is  charged  upon  his  sensuality,  Dan.  v.  23. 
Nothing  is  more  apt  to  quench  the  notions  of  God,  and  root  out 
the  conscience  of  him,  than  an  addictedness  to  sensual  pleasures. 
Therefore  take  heed  of  that  snare. 

[4.]  Take  heed  of  sins  against  knowledge.  The  more  sins 
against  knowledge  are  committed,  the  more  careless  we  are, 
and  the  more  careless  we  shall  be  of  God  and  his  honour.  We 
shall  more  fear  his  judicial  power,  and  the  more  we  fear  that, 
the  more  we  shall  disalfect  that  God  in  whose  hands  vengeance 
is,  and  to  whom  it  doth  belong.  Atheism  in  conduct  proceeds 
to  atheism  in  affection,  and  that  will  endeavour  to  sink  into 
atheism  in  opinion  and  judgment. 

THE   SUM  OF  THE   WHOLE. 

And  now  consider  in  the  whole  what  has  been  spoken. 

Man  icon  Id  set  himself  up  as  his  own  rule.  He  disowns 
the  rule  of  God,  is  unwilling  to  have  any  acquaintance  with 
the  rule  God  sets  him,  is  negligent  in  using  the  means  for  the 
knowledge  of  his  will,  and  endeavours  to  shake  it  oil  when  any 
notices  of  it  break  in  upon  him.  When  he  cannot  expel  it,  he 
has  no  pleasure  in  the  consideration  of  it,  and  the  heart  swells 
against  it.  When  the  notions  of  the  will  of  God  are  entertained, 
it  is  on  some  other  consideration,  or  with  wavering  and  unset- 
tled affections.  Many  times  men  design  to  improve  sonic  lust 
by  his  truth.  This  unwillingness  respects  truth  as  it  is  most 
spiritual  and  holy;  as  it  most  relates  and  leads  to  God;  as  it  is 
most  contrary  to  self.  He  is  guilty  of  contempt  of  the  will  of 
God,  which  is  seen  in  every  presumptuous  breach  of  his  law. 
In  the  natural  aversion  to  the  declaration  of  his  will  and  mind 
which  way  soever  he  turns.  In  slighting  that  part  of  his  will 
which  is  most  for  his  honour.     In  the  awkwardness  of  the 


]88  ON  PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

heart,  when  it  is  to  pay  God  a  service.  A  constraint  in  the 
first  engagement;  slightness  in  the  service  in  regard  of  the 
matter;  in  regard  of  the  frame,  without  a  natural  vigour. 
Many  distractions,  much  weariness;  in  deserting  the  rule  of 
God,  when  our  expectations  are  not  answered  upon  our  ser- 
vice ;  in  breaking  promises  with  God. 

Man  naturally  owns  any  other  rule,  rather  than  that  of  God's 
prescribing:  the  rule  of  Satan,  the  will  of  man;  in  complying 
more  with  the  dictates  of  men  than  the  will  of  God  ;  in  obser- 
ving that  which  is  materially  so,  not  because  it  is  his  will,  but 
the  injunctions  of  men;  in  obeying  the  will  of  man,  when  it  is 
contrary  to  the  will  of  God.  This  man  doth  in  order  to  the 
setting  up  himself.  This  is  natural  to  man  as  he  is  corrupted. 
Men  are  dissatisfied  with  their  own  consciences  when  they 
contradict  the  desires  of  self.  Most  actions  in  the  world  are 
done,  more  because  they  are  agreeable  to  self,  than  as  they  are 
honourable  to  God;  as  they  are  agreeable  to  natural  and  moral 
self,  or  sinful  self.  It  is  evident  in  neglect  of  taking  God's 
directions  upon  emergent  occasions.  In  counting  the  actions 
of  others  to  be  good  or  bad,  as  they  suit  with  or  spurn  against 
our  fancies  and  humours.  Man  would  make  himself  the  rule 
of  God,  and  give  laws  to  his  Creator:  in  striving  against  his 
law;  disapproving  of  his  methods  of  government  in  the  world; 
in  impatience  in  our  particular  concerns;  envying  the  gifts  and 
prosperity  of  others ;  corrupt  matter  or  ends  of  prayer  or 
praise;  bold  interpretations  of  the  judgments  of  God  in  the 
world;  mixing  rules  in  the  worship  of  God  with  those  which 
have  been  ordained  by  him;  suiting  interpretations  of  Scripture 
with  our  own  minds  and  humours;  falling  off  from  God  after 
some  fair  compliances,  when  his  will  grates  upon  us  and 
crosseth  ours. 

Man  would  be  his  own  end.  This  is  natural  and  universal. 
This  is  seen  in  frequent  self-applauses,  and  inward  overween- 
ing reflections;  in  ascribing  the  glory  of  what  we  do  or  have 
to  ourselves;  in  desire  of  self-pleasing  doctrines;  in  being 
highly  concerned  in  injuries  done  to  ourselves,  and  little  or  not 
at  all  concerned  for  injuries  done  to  God ;  in  trusting  in  our- 
selves; in  working  for  carnal  self  against  the  light  of  our  own 
consciences,  which  is  a  usurping  God's  prerogative,  vilifying 
God,  destroying  God.  Man  would  make  any  thing  his  end  or 
happiness  rather  than  God.  This  appears  in  the  fewer  thoughts 
we  have  of  him  than  of  any  thing  else;  in  the  greedy  pursuit 
of  the  world;  in  the  strong  addictedness  to  sensual  pleasures; 
in  paying  a  service  upon  any  success  in  the  world  to  instru- 
ments more  than  to  God.  This  is  a  debasing  God  in  setting  up 
a  creature;  but  more  in  setting  up  a  base  lust:  it  is  a  denying 
of  God.     Man  would  make  himself  the  end  of  all  creatures.  In 


ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 


js<> 


pride;  using  the  creatures  contrary  to  the  end  God  hath 
appointed.  This  is  to  dishonour  God;  and  it  is  diabolical. 
Man  would  make  himself  the  end  of  God.  In  loving  God 
because  of  some  self-pleasing  benefits  distributed  by  him;  in 
abstinence  from  some  sins,  because  they  are  against  the  interest 
of  some  other  beloved  corruption;  in  performing  duties  merely 
for  a  selfish  interest,  which  is  evident  in  unwieldiness  in  reli- 
gious duties  where  self  is  not  concerned;  in  calling  upon  God 
only  in  a  time  of  neccessity;  in  begging  his  assistance  to  our 
own  projects,  after  we  have  by  our  own  craft  laid  the  plot;  in 
impatience  upon  a  refusal  of  our  desires;  in  selfish  aims  we 
have  in  our  duties.  This  is  a  vilifying  God,  a  dethroning  him. 
In  unworthy  imaginations  of  God,  universal  in  man  by  nature. 
Hence  springs  idolatry,  superstition,  presumption,  the  common 
diseases  of  the  world.  This  is  a  vilifying  God;  worse  than 
idolatry,  worse  than  absolute  atheism.  Natural  desires  to  be 
distant  from  him.  No  desires  for  the  remembrance  of  him.  No 
desires  of  converse  with  him.  No  desires  of  a  thorough  return 
to  him.     No  desire  of  any  close  imitation  of  him. 


DISCOURSE  III. 
on  god's    being    a    spirit. 

John  iv.  24. — God  is  a  Spirit:  and  tliey  that  worship  him  must  worship  him  in 
spirit  and  in  truth. 

The  words  are  part  of  the  dialogue  between  our  Saviour  and 
the  Samaritan  woman.  Christ  intending  to  return  from  Judea 
to  Galilee,  passed  through  the  country  of  Samaria,  a  place  in- 
habited not  by  Jews,  but  a  mixed  company  of  several  nations, 
and  some  remainders  of  the  posterity  of  Israel,  who  escaped 
the  captivity,  and  were  returned  from  Assyria;1  and  being 
weary  with  his  journey,  arrived  about  the  sixth  hour,  or  noon, 
(according  to  the  Jews'  reckoning  the  time  of  the  day.)  at  the 
well  that  Jacob  had  digged,  which  was  of  great  account  among 
the  inhabitants  for  the  antiquity  of  it,  as  well  as  the  usefulness 
of  it  in  supplying  their  necessities.  He  being  thirsty,  and 
having  none  to  furnish  him  wherewith  to  draw  water,  at  last 
comes  a  woman  from  the  city,  whom  he  desires  to  give  him 
some  water  to  drink.  The  woman  perceiving  him  by  his  lan- 
guage or  habit  to  be  a  Jew,  wonders  at  the  question,  since  the 
hatred  the  Jews  bore  the  Samaritans  was  so  great  that  they 

1  Amyraut.     Paraph,  sur  Jean. 


190  ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 

would  not  vouchsafe  to  have  any  commerce  with  them,  not 
only  in  religious  but  civil  affairs,  and  common  offices  belonging 
to  mankind.  Hence  our  Saviour  takes  occasion  to  publish  to 
her  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel,  and  excuses  her  rnde  answer 
by  her  ignorance  of  him;  and  tells  her,  that  if  she  had  asked 
him  a  greater  matter,  even  that  which  concerned  her  eternal 
salvation,  he  would  readily  have  granted  it,  notwithstanding 
the  rooted  hatred  between  the  Jews  and  Samaritans;  and  be- 
stowed a  water  of  a  greater  virtue,  the  water  of  life,1  ver.  10. 
The  woman  is  no  less  astonished  at  his  reply,  than  she  was  at 
his  first  demand.  It  was  strange  to  hear  a  man  speak  of  giving 
living  water,  to  one  of  whom  he  had  begged  the  water  of  that 
spring,  and  had  no  vessel  to  draw  any  to  quench  his  own  thirst. 
She  therefore  demands  whence  he  could  have  this  water  that 
he  speaks  of,  ver.  11,  since  she  conceived  him  not  greater 
than  Jacob,  who  had  digged  that  well  and  drunk  of  it.  Onr 
Saviour,  desirous  to  make  a  progress  in  that  work  he  had  be- 
gun, extols  the  water  he  spake  of  above  this  of  the  well,  from  its 
particular  virtue,  fully  to  refresh  those  that  drank  of  it,  and  be  as 
a  cooling  and  comforting  fountain  within  them,  of  more  efficacy 
than  that  without,  ver.  13,  14.  The  woman  conceiving  a  good 
opinion  of  our  Saviour,  desires  to  partake  of  this  water  to  save 
her  pains  in  coming  daily  to  the  well,  not  apprehending  the 
spirituality  of  Christ's  discourse  to  her,  ver.  15.  Christ  finding 
her  to  take  some  pleasure  in  his  discourse,  partly  to  bring  her 
to  a  sense  of  her  sin,  before  he  did  communicate  the  excellency 
of  his  grace,  bids  her  return  back  to  the  city  and  bring  her 
husband  with  her  to  him,  ver.  16.  She  freely  acknowledges 
that  she  had  no  husband,  whether  having  some  check  of  con- 
science at  present  for  the  unclean  life  she  led,  or  loth  to  lose  so 
much  time  in  the  gaining  this  water  so  much  desired  by  her, 
ver.  17.  .  Our  Saviour  takes  an  occasion  from  this  to  lay  open 
her  sin  before  her,  and  to  make  her  sensible  of  her  own  wicked 
life,  and  the  prophetic  excellency  of  himself;  and  tells  her  she 
had  had  five  husbands  to  whom  she  had  been  false,  and  by  whom 
she  was  divorced,  a*nd  the  person  she  now  dwelt  with  was  not 
her  lawful  husband,  and  in  living  with  him  she  violated  the 
rights  of  marriage,  and  increased  guilt  upon  her  conscience, 
ver.  18.  The  woman  being  affected  with  this  discourse,  and 
knowing  him  to  be  a  stranger,  that  could  not  be  certified  of 
those  things  but  in  an  extraordinary  way,  begins  to  have  a 
high  esteem  of  him  as  a  prophet,  ver.  19.  And  upon  this  opin- 
ion she  esteems  him  able  to  decide  a  question  which  had  been 
canvassed  between  them  and  the  Jews  about  the  place  of  wor- 
ship, ver.  20.  Their  fathers'  worshipping  in  that  mountain,  and 
the  Jews  alfirming  Jerusalem  to  be  a  place  of  worship,  she 

1  Or,  living  water. 


ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT.  1Q1 

pleads  the  antiquity  of  the  worship  in  this  place;  Abraham, 
too,  having  built  an  altar  there,  Gen.  xii.  7;  and  Jacob,  upon 
his  return  from  Syria.  And  surely  had  the  place  been  capable 
of  an  exception,  such  persons  as  they,  and  so  well  acquainted 
with  the  will  of  God,  would  not  have  pitched  upon  that  place 
to  celebrate  their  worship. 

Antiquity  has  too,  too  often  bewitched  the  minds  of  men, 
and  drawn  them  from  the  revealed  will  of  God.  Men  are 
more  willing  to  imitate  the  outward  actions  of  their  famous 
ancestors  than  conform  themselves  to  the  revealed  will  of  their 
Creator.  The  Samaritans  would  imitate  the  patriarchs  in  the 
place  of  worship,  but  not  in  the  faith  of  the  worshippers. 

Christ  answers  her,  that  this  question  would  quickly  be  re- 
solved by  a  new  state  of  the  church  which  was  near  at  hand; 
and  neither  Jerusalem,  which  had  not  the  precedency,  nor  that 
mountain,  should  be  of  any  more  value  in  that  concern  than 
any  other  place  in  the  world,  ver.  21.  But  yet  to  make  her 
sensible  of  her  sin,  and  that  of  her  countrymen,  tells  her  that 
their  worship  in  that  mountain  was  not  according  to  the  will 
of  God,  he  having,  long  after  the  altars  built  in  this  place, 
fixed  Jerusalem  as  the  place  of  sacrifices;  besides,  they  had 
not  the  knowledge  of  that  God  who  ought  to  be  worshipped 
by  them,  but  the  Jews  had  the  true  object  of  worship  and  the 
true  manner  of  worship,  according  to  the  declaration  God  had 
made  of  himself  to  them,  ver.  22.  But  all  that  service  shall 
vanish,  the  veil  of  the  temple  shall  be  rent  in  twain,  and  that 
carnal  worship  give  place  to  one  more  spiritual;  shadows  shall 
fly  before  substance,  and  truth  advance  itself  above  figures, 
and  the  worship  of  God  shall  be  with  the  strength  of  the 
Spirit ;  such  a  worship  and  such  worshippers  does  the  Father 
seek,  ver.  23;  for  "God  is  a  Spirit;  and  they  that  worship 
him  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth."  The  design  of 
our  Saviour  is  to  declare,  that  God  is  not  taken  with  external 
worship  invented  by  men,  no,  nor  commanded  by  himself;  and 
that  upon  this  reason,  because  he  is  a  spiritual  essence,  infi- 
nitely above  gross  and  corporeal  matter,  and  is  not  taken 
with  that  pomp  which  is  a  pleasure  to  our  earthly  imagina- 
tions. 

iiviZna  o  Qsii-  Some  translate  it  just  as  the  words  lie — Spirit 
is  God:1  but  it  is  not  unusual  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment languages,  to  put  the  predicate  before  the  subject,  as  Psal. 
v.  9,  "Their  throat  is  an  open  sepulchre;"  in  the  Hebrew, 
"A  sepulchre  open,  their  throat."  So  Psal.  cxi.  3,  "His  work  is 
honourable  and  glorious;  in  the  Hebrew,  "  Honour  and  glory 
his  work."  And  there  wants  not  one  example  in  the  same 
evangelist,  John  i.  1.  "  And  the  word  was  God;  in  the  Greek, 

1  Vulgar  Latin.  Illyric.  Clav. 


192  0N  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 

"  And  God  was  the  Word."     In  all,  the  predicate,  or  what  is 
ascribed,  is  put  before  the  subject  to  which  it  is  ascribed. 

One  tells  us,  and  he  a  head  of  a  party  that  has  made  a  dis- 
turbance in  the  church  of  God,1  that  this  place  is  not  aptly 
brought  to  prove  God  to  be  a  Spirit:  and  that  the  reason  of 
Christ  runs  not  thus,  God  is  of  a  spiritual  essence,  and  there- 
fore must  be  worshipped  with  a  spiritual  worship;  for  the 
essence  of  God  is  not  the  foundation  of  his  worship,  but  his 
will;  for  then  we  were  not  to  worship  him  with  a  corporeal 
worship,  because  he  is  not  a  body :  but  with  an  invisible  and 
eternal  worship,  because  he  is  invisible  and  eternal. 

But  the  nature  of  God  is  the  foundation  of  worship,  the  will 
of  God  is  the  rule  of  worship;  the  matter  and  manner  is  to  be 
performed  according  to  the  will  of  God.  But  is  the  nature  of 
the  object  of  worship  to  be  excluded  ?  No,  as  the  object  is,  so 
ought  our  devotion  to  be  spiritual,  as  he  is  spiritual.  God  in 
his  commands  for  worship  respected  the  discovery  of  his  own 
nature ;  in  the  law  he  respected  the  discovery  of  his  mercy  and 
justice,  and  therefore  commanded  a  worship  by  sacrifices.  A 
spiritual  worship  without  those  institutions  would  not  have 
declared  those  attributes,  which  was  God's  end  to  display  to 
the  world  in  Christ.  And  though  the  nature  of  God  is  to  be 
respected  in  worship,  yet  the  obligations  of  the  creature  are 
also  to  be  considered.  God  is  a  Spirit,  therefore  must  have  a 
spiritual  worship:  the  creature  has  a  body  as  well  as  a  soul, 
and  both  from  God;  and  therefore  ought  to  worship  God  with 
the  one  as  well  as  the  other,  since  one  as  well  as  the  other  is 
freely  bestowed  upon  him. 

The  spirituality  of  God  was  the  foundation  of  the  change 
from  the  Judaical  carnal  worship  to  a  more  spiritual  and  evan- 
gelical. 

"  God  is  a  Spirit."  That  is,  he  hath  nothing  corporeal,  no 
mixture  of  matter,  not  a  visible  substance,  a  bodily  form.2  He 
is  a  Spirit,  not  a  bare  spiritual  substance;  but  an  understanding, 
willing,  Spirit,  holy,  wise,  good,  and  just.  Before  Christ  spake 
of  the  Father,  verse  23,  the  first  person  in  the  Trinity:  now  he 
speaks  of  God  essentially.  The  word  Father  is  personal,  the 
word  God  essential.  So  that  our  Saviour  woulcl  render  a  rea- 
son, not  from  any  one  person  in  the  blessed  Trinity,  but  from 
the  Divine  nature,  why  we  should  worship  in  Spirit,  and  there- 
fore makes  use  of  the  word  God,  the  being  a  Spirit  being  com- 
mon to  the  other  persons  with  the  Father. 

This  is  the  reason  of  the  proposition,  verse  23.  "  Of  a  spirit- 
ual worship."  Every  nature  delights  in  that  which  is  like  it, 
and  distastes  that  which  is  most  different  from  it.  If  God  were 
corporeal,  he  might  be  pleased  with  the  victims  of  beasts,  and 

1  Episcop.     Institut.  lib.  4.  cap.  3.  2  Melancthon. 


ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT.  j  93 

the  beautiful  magnificence  of  temples,  and  the  noise  of  music. 
But  being  a  Spirit,  he  cannot  be  gratified  with  carnal  things: 
he  demands  something  better  and  greater  than  all  those,  that 
soul  which  he  made,  that  soul  which  he  hath  endowed,  a  spirit 
of  a  frame  suitable  to  his  nature.  He,  indeed,  appointed  sacri- 
fices and  a  temple,  as  shadows  of  those  things  which  were  to 
be  most  acceptable  to  him  in  the  Messiah,  but  they  were  im- 
posed only  till  the  time  of  reformation,  Heb.  ix.  10. 

"  Must  worship  him."  Not,  they  may,  or  it  would  be  more 
agreeable  to  God  to  have  such  a  manner  of  worship;  but  they 
mu.s/.  It  is  not  exclusive  of  bodily  worship;  for  this  were  to 
exclude  all  public  worship  in  societies,  which  cannot  be  per- 
formed without  reverential  postures  of  the  body.  The  gestures 
of  the  body  are  helps  to  worship  and  declarations  of  spiritual 
acts.1  We  can  scarcely  worship  God  with  our  spirits,  without 
some  tincture  upon  the  outward  man.  But  he  excludes  all 
acts  merely  corporeal,  all  resting  upon  an  external  service  and 
devotion,  which  was  the  crime  of  the  Pharisees,  and  the  general 
persuasion  of  the  Jews  as  well  as  heathens,  who  used  the  out- 
ward ceremonies,  not  as  signs  of  better  things,  but  as  if  they 
did  of  themselves  please  God,  and  render  the  worshippers  ac- 
cepted with  him,  without  any  suitable  frame  of  the  inward  man. 
It  is  as  if  he  had  said,  now  you  must  separate  yourselves  from 
all  carnal  modes  to  which  the  service  of  God  is  now  tied,  and 
render  a  worship  chiefly  consisting  in  the  affectionate  motions 
of  the  heart,  and  accommodated  more  exactly  to  the  condition 
of  the  object,  who  is  a  Spirit.2 

"  In  spirit  and  truth."  The  evangelical  service  now  requir- 
ed, has  the  advantage  of  the  former;  that  was  a  shadow  and 
figure,  this  the  body  and  truth.3  Spirit,  say  some,  is  here  op- 
posed to  the  legal  ceremonies;4  truth,  to  hypocritical  services; 
or  rather  truth  is  opposed  to  shadows,  and  an  opinion  of  worth 
in  the  outward  action;5  it  is  principally  opposed  to  external 
rites,  because  our  Saviour  saith,  "  The  hour  conieth,  and  now 
is,  when  the  true  worshippers  shall  worship  the  Father  in  spirit 
and  in  truth:  for  the  Father  seeketh  such  to  worship  him," 
verse  23.  Had  it  been  opposed  to  hypocrisy,  Christ  had  said 
no  new  thing:  for  God  always  required  truth  in  the  inward 
parts,  and  all  true  worshippers  had  served  him  with  a  sincere 
conscience  and  single  heart.  The  old  patriarchs  did  worship 
God  in  spirit  and  truth,  as  taken  for  sincerity:  such  a  worship 
was  always,  and  is  perpetually  due  to  God;  because  he  always 
was,  and  eternally  will  be  a  Spirit.  And  it  is  said,  "  the  Father 
seeks  such  to  worship  him;"0  not,  shall  seek:  he  always  sought 
it;  it  always  was  performed  to  him  by  one  or  other  in  the 

»  Tcrniti.  1  Amyraldus  in  loc.  3  Ibid. 

4  Muscul.  « Chemnit.  6  Muscul. 

Vol.  I.— 25 


194  ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 

world  :  and  the  prophets  had  always  rebuked  them,  for  resting 
upon  their  outward  solemnities,  Isa.  lviii.  5;  Micah  vi.  6,  7. 
But  a  worship  without  legal  rites  was  proper  to  an  evangelical 
state  and  the  times  of  the  gospel ;  God  having  then  exhibited 
Christ,  and  brought  into  the  world  the  substance  of  those  sha- 
dows, and  the  end  of  those  institutions.  There  was  no  more 
need  to  continue  them,  when  the  true  reason  of  them  was  ceased. 
All  laws  do  naturally  expire,  when  the  true  reason  upon  which 
they  were  first  framed  is  changed. 

Or  by  spirit  may  be  meant,  such  a  worship  as  is  kindled  in 
the  heart  by  the  breath  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Since  we  are  dead 
in  sin,  a  spiritual  light  and  flame  in  the  heart  suitable  to  the 
nature  of  the  object  of  our  worship,  cannot  be  raised  in  us 
without  the  operation  of  a  supernatural  grace:  and  though  the 
fathers  could  not  worship  God  without  the  Spirit,  yet  in  the 
gospel  times,  there  being  a  fuller  effusion  of  the  Spirit,  the  evan- 
gelical state  is  called  the  administration  of  the  Spirit,  and  the 
newness  of  the  Spirit,  in  opposition  to  the  legal  economy,  enti- 
tled the  oldness  of  the  letter,  2  Cor.  hi.  8;  Rom.  vii.  6.  The 
evangelical  state  is  more  suited  to  the  nature  of  God  than  any 
other:  such  a  worship  God  must  have,  whereby  he  is  acknow- 
ledged to  be  the  true  sanctifier  and  quickener  of  the  soul.  The 
nearer  God  doth  approach  to  us,  and  the  more  full  his  mani- 
festations are,  the  more  spiritual  is  the  worship  we  return  to 
God.  The  gospel  pares  off  the  rugged  parts  of  the  law,  and 
heaven  shall  remove  what  is  material  in  the  gospel,  and  change 
the  ordinances  of  worship  into  that  of  a  spiritual  praise. 

In  the  words  there  is, 

I.  A  proposition,  "  God  is  a  Spirit,"  the  foundation  of  all 
religion.  II.  An  inference,  "  They  that  worship  him  must  wor- 
ship him  in  spirit  and  in  truth."  As  God,  a  worship  belongs  to 
him;  as  a  Spirit,  a  spiritual  worship  is  due  to  him.  In  the  infer- 
ence we  have — The  manner  of  worship,  "in  spirit  and  in 
truth" — The  necessity  of  such  a  worship,  "  must."  The  pro- 
position declares  the  nature  of  God;  the  inference  the  duty  of 
man. 

The  observations  we  have  to  make  lie  plain. — God  is  a  pure 
spiritual  Being,  he  "  is  a  Spirit."  The  worship  due  from  the 
creature  to  God,  must  be  agreable  to  the  nature  of  God,  and 
purely  spiritual.  The  evangelical  state  is  suited  to  the  nature 
of  God. 

Observation  1.  God  isa  pure  spiritual  Being. 

It  is  the  observation  of  one,1  that  the  plain  assertion  of  God's 

being  a  Spirit  is  found  but  once  in  the  whole  Bible,  and  that  is 

in  this  place;  which  may  well  be  wondered  at;  because  God  is 

so  often  described  with  hands,  feet,  eyes,  and  ears,  in  the  form 

1  Episcop.  Institut.  1. 4.  c.  3. 


ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT.  ]Q5 

and  figure  of  a  man.  The  spiritual  nature  of  God  is  deducible 
from  many  places:  but  not  anywhere,  as  I  remember,  asserted 
totiilem  verbis,  in  so  many  words,  but  in  this  text.  Some  allege 
that  place,  "  the  Lord  is  that  Spirit,"  2  Cor.  iii.  17,  for  the  proof 
of  it;  but  that  seems  to  have  a  dillerent  sense.  In  the  text  the 
nature  of  God  is  described  ;  in  that  place,  the  operations  of  God 
in  the  gospel.  "  It  is  not  the  ministry  of  Moses,  or  that  old 
covenant,  which  communicates  to  you  that  spirit  it  speaks  of; 
but  it  is  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel  delivered 
to  him  whereby  this  spirit  and  liberty  is  dispensed  to  you:  he 
opposes  here  the  liberty  of  the  gospel  to  the  servitude  of  the 
law."  '  It  is  from  Christ,  that  a  Divine  virtue  ditfuseth  itself 
by  the  gospel:  it  is  by  him,  not  by  the  law,  that  we  partake  of 
that  Spirit. 

The  spirituality  of  God,  is  as  evident  as  his  being.2  If  we 
grant  that  God  is,  we  must  necessarily  grant  that  he  cannot  be 
corporeal;  because  a  body  is  of  an  imperfect  nature.  It  will 
appeal  incredible  to  any  that  acknowledge  God  the  first  Being 
ami  Creator  of  all  things,  that  he  should  be  a  massy,  heavy 
body,  and  have  eyes  and  ears,  feet  and  hands,  as  we  have.  For 
the  explication  of  it; 

(1.)  Spirit  is  taken  various  ways  in  Scripture.  It  signifies 
sometimes  an  aerial  substance,  as  Psa.  xi.  G,  a  "  horrible  tem- 
pest;" Hebrew,  "  a  spirit  of  tempest."  Sometimes  the  breath, 
which  is  a  thin  substance,  Gen.  vi.  17,  "  all  flesh,  wherein  is  the 
breath  of  life;"  Hebrew,  "spirit  of  life."  A  thin  substance, 
though  it  be  material  and  corporeal,  is  called  spirit:  and  in  the 
bodies  of  living  creatures,  that  which  is  the  principle  of  their 
actions  is  called  spirit — the  animal  and  vital  spirits,  and  the 
finer  parts  extracted  from  plants  and  minerals  we  call  spirits, 
those  volatile  parts  separated  from  that  gross  matter  wherein 
they  were  immersed,  because  they  come  nearest  to  the  nature 
of  an  incorporeal  substance.  And  from  this  notion  of  the  word, 
it  is  translated  to  signify  those  substances  that  are  purely  imma- 
terial, as  angels,  and  the  souls  of  men.  Angels  are  called 
spirits.  "  Who  maketh  his  angels  spirits,"  Psa.  civ.  4.  Heb.  i. 
14:  and  not  only  good  angels  are  so  called,  but  evil  angels. 
Mark  i.  27.  Souls  of  men  are  called  spirits,  Eccl.  xii;  and  the 
soul  of  Christ  is  called  so,  John  xix.  30.  Whence  God  is  called 
"the  God  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh,"  Numb,  xxvii.  16:  and 
spirit  is  opposed  to  flesh.  Isa.  xxxi.  3.  The  Egyptians  are 
"  llesh  and  not  spirit."  And  our  Saviour  gives  us  the  notion  of 
a  spirit  to  be  something  above  the  nature  of  a  body,  Luke  xxiv. 
39;  not  having  llesh  and  bones,  extended  parts,  loads  of  gross 
matter.  It  is  also  taken  for  those  things  which  are  active  and 
efficacious:  because  activity  is  of  the  nature  of  a  spirit.     Caleb 

1  Amyraldus  in  loco.  *  Suarez.  dc  Deo,  vol.  1 . 


196  ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 

had  another  spirit,  Numb.  xiv.  24,  an  active  affection.  The 
vehement  motions  of  sin  are  called  spirit,  Hos.  iv.  12.  "The 
spirit  of  whoredoms"  is  used  in  that  sense.  "  A  fool  uttereth  all 
his  mind,"  all  his  spirit,  Pro  v.  xxix.  11 ;  he  knows  not  how  to 
restrain  the  vehement  motions  of  his  mind.  So  that  the  notion 
of  a  spirit  is,  that  it  is  a  fine  immaterial  substance,  an  active 
being,  that  actuates  itself  and  other  things.  A  mere  body  cannot 
actuate  itself;  as  the  body  of  man  cannot  move  without  the  soul, 
no  more  than  a  ship  can  move  itself  without  wind  and  waves. 

So  God  is  called  a  Spirit,  as  being  not  a  body,  not  having 
the  greatness,  figure,  thickness,  or  length  of  a  body,  wholly 
separate  from  any  thing  of  flesh  and  matter.  We  find  a  prin- 
ciple within  us  nobler  than  that  of  our  bodies ;  and  therefore 
we  conceive  the  nature  of  God,  according  to  that  which  is  more 
worthy  in  us,  and  not  according  to  that  which  is  the  vilest  part 
of  our  natures.  God  is  a  most  spiritual  Spirit,  more  spiritual 
than  all  angels,  all  souls:1  as  he  exceeds  all  in  the  nature  of 
being,  so  he  exceeds  all  in  the  nature  of  spirit :  he  hath  nothing 
gross,  heavy,  material  in  his  essence. 

(2.)  When  we  say  God  is  a  Spirit,  it  is  to  be  understood  by 
way  of  negation.  There  are  two  ways  of  knowing  or  describing 
God:  the  one  by  way  of  affirmation,  affirming  that  of  him  in 
a  way  of  eminency,  which  is  excellent  in  the  creature ;  as 
when  we  say,  God  is  wise,  good :  the  other  by  way  of  nega- 
tion, when  we  remove  from  God  in  our  conceptions  what  is 
tainted  with  imperfections  in  the  creature.  The  first  ascribes 
to  him  whatsoever  is  excellent  ;2  the  other  separates  from  him 
whatsoever  is  imperfect.  The  first  is  like  a  limning,  which 
adds  one  colour  to  another  to  make  a  comely  picture  ;  the  other 
is  like  a  carving,  which  pares  and  cuts  away  whatsoever  is 
superfluous,  to  make  a  complete  statue.  This  way  of  negation 
is  more  easy;  we  better  understand  what  God  is  not,  than  what 
he  is;  and  most  of  our  knowledge  of  God  is  by  this  way:  as 
when  we  say,  God  is  infinite,  immense,  immutable,  they  are 
negatives:  he  hath  no  limits,  is  confined  to  no  place,  admits  of 
no  change.  When  we  remove  from  him  what  is  inconsistent 
with  his  being,  we  do  more  strongly  assert  his  being,  and  know 
more  of  him  when  we  elevate  him  above  all,  and  above  our 
own  capacity.3  And  when  we  say  God  is  a  Spirit,  it  is  a  nega- 
tion ;  he  is  not  a  body ;  he  consists  not  of  various  parts,  extended 
one  without  and  beyond  another.  He  is  not  such  a  spirit  as  our 
souls  are,  to  be  the  form  of  any  body;  a  spirit,  not  as  angels 
and  souls  are,  but  infinitely  higher:  we  call  him  so,  because, 
in  regard  of  our  weakness,  we  have  not  any  other  term  of  ex- 
cellency to  express  or  conceive  of  him  by;  we  transfer  it  to 

i  Gerhard,  /uovoi'porfcoj.  2  Gamachcus,  torn.  1.  q.  3.  cap.  1.  p.  42. 

3  Coccei.  Sum.  Theol.cap.  8, 


ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT.  I97 

God  in  honour,  because  spirit  is  the  highest  excellency  in  onr 
nature.  Yet  we  must  apprehend  God  above  any  spirit,  since 
his  nature  is  so  great,  that  he  cannot  be  declared  by  human 
speech,  perceived  by  human  sense,  or  conceived  by  human 
understanding. 

Some  among  the  heathens  imagined  God  to  have  a  body; 
some  thought  him  to  have  a  body  of  air,  some  a  heavenly  body, 
some  a  human  body.1  And  many  of  them  ascribed  bodies  to 
their  gods;  but  bodies  without  blood,  without  corruption; 
bodies  made  up  of  the  finest  a«d  thinnest  atoms;  such  bodies, 
which  if  compared  with  ours,  were  as  no  bodies.2  The  Saddu- 
cees  also,  who  denied  all  spirits,  and  yet  acknowledged  a  God, 
must  conclude  him  to  be  a  body  and  no  spirit.  Some  among 
Christians  have  been  of  that  opinion.  Tcrtullian  is  charged  by 
some,  and  excused  by  others  :  and  some  monks  of  Egypt  were 
so  fierce  for  this  error,  that  they  attempted  to  kill  one  Theophi- 
lua  a  bishop,  for  not  being  of  that  judgment. 

But  the  wiser  heathens  were  of  another  mind,  and  esteemed 
it  an  unholy  thing  to  have  such  imaginations  of  God.3  And 
some  Christians  have  thought  God  only  to  be  free  from  any 
thing  of  body,  because  he  is  omnipresent,  immutable,  he  is 
only  incorporeal  and  spiritual;4  all  things  else,  even  the  angels, 
are  clothed  with  bodies,  though  of  a  finer  matter  and  a  more 
active  frame  than  ours:  a  pure  spiritual  nature  they  allowed 
to  no  being  but  God.  Scripture  and  reason  meet  together  to 
assert  the  spirituality  of  God.  Had  God  had  the  lineaments 
of  a  body,  the  gentiles  had  not  fallen  under  that  accusation  of 
changing  his  glory  into  that  of  a  corruptible  man,  Rom.  i.  23. 

This  is  signified  by  the  name  God  gives  himself,  Exod.  iii. 
11,  "  I  am  that  I  am,"  a  simple,  pure,  uncompounded  being, 
without  any  created  mixture;  as  infinitely  above  the  being  of 
creatures  as  above  the  conceptions  of  creatures:  "Touching 
the  Almighty,  we  cannot  find  him  out,"  Job  xxxvii.  23.  He 
is  so  much  a  Spirit  that  he  is  the  Father  of  spirits,  Heb.  xii.  0. 
The  Almighty  Father  is  not  of  a  nature  inferior  to  his  children. 
The  soul  is  a  spirit;  it  could  not  else  exert  actions  without  the 
assistance  of  the  body,  as  the  act  of  understanding  itself  and 
its  own  nature,  the  act  of  willing,  and  willing  things  against 
the  incitements  and  interest  of  the  body;  it  could  not  else  con- 
ceive of  God,  angels,  and  immaterial  substances;  it  could  not 
else  be  so  active,  as  with  one  glance  to  fetch  a  compass  from 
earth  to  heaven,  and  by  a  sudden  motion,  to  elevate  the  under- 
standing from  an  earthly  thought,  to  the  thinking  of  things  as 

1  Thcs.  Sedan,  part  2.  p.  1000. 

2  Vossius,  Idolol.  lib.  2.  cap.  1.     Forbes,  Instrument,  1.  1.  c.  36. 

3  Plutarch.  'Ovx  oaiov.  ' 
*  Incorporalis  ratio  divinus  spiritus.    Seneca. 


198  ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 

high  as  the  highest  heavens.  If  we  have  this  opinion  of  our 
souls,  which  in  the  nobleness  of  their  acts  surmount  the  body, 
without  which  the  body  is  but  a  dull,  inactive  piece  of  clay; 
we  must  needs  have  a  higher  conception  of  God,  than  to  clog 
him  with  any  matter,  though  of  a  finer  temper  than  ours.  We 
must  conceive  of  him  by  the  perfections  of  our  souls,  without 
the  vileness  of  our  bodies.  If  God  made  man  according  to  his 
image,  we  must  raise  our  thoughts  of  God  according  to  the 
noblest  part  of  that  image,  and  imagine  the  exemplar  or  copy, 
not  to  come  short,  but  to  excedd  the  thing  copied  by  it.  God 
were  not  the  most  excellent  substance,  if  he  were  not  a  Spirit. 
Spiritual  substances  are  more  excellent  than  bodily;  the  soul 
of  man  more  excellent  than  other  animals;  angels  more  excel- 
lent than  men:  they  contain  in  their  own  nature  whatsoever 
dignity  there  is  in  the  inferior  creatures.  God  must  have  there- 
fore an  excellency  above  all  those,  and  therefore  is  entirely  re- 
mote from  the  conditions  of  a  body. 

It  is  a  gross  conceit,  therefore,  to  think  that  God  is  such  a 
Spirit  as  the  air  is:1  for  that  is  to  be  a  body  as  the  air  is,  though 
it  be  a  thin  one;  and  if  God  were  no  more  a  Spirit  than  that 
or  than  angels,  lie  would  not  be  the  most  simple  Being.  Yet 
some  think  that  the  spiritual  Deity  was  represented  by  the  air 
in  the  ark  of  the  testament.2  It  was  unlawful  to  represent  him 
by  any  image;  that  God  had  prohibited.  Every  thing  about 
the  ark  had  a  particular  signification:  the  gold  and  other  orna- 
ments about  it  signified  something  of  Christ,  but  were  unfit  to 
represent  the  nature  of  God.  A  thing  purely  invisible,  and 
falling  under  nothing  of  sense,  could  not  represent  him  to  the 
mind  of  man:  the  air  in  the  ark  was  the  fittest,  it  represented 
the  invisibility  of  God,  air  being  imperceptible  to  our  eyes. 
Air  diffuses  itself  through  all  parts  of  the  world,  it  glides 
through  secret  passages  into  all  creatures,  it  fills  the  space  be- 
tween heaven  and  earth;  there  is  no  place  wherein  God  is  not 
present. 

To  evidence  this, 

[1.]  If  God  were  not  a  Spirit,  he  could  not  be  Creator.  All 
multitude  begins  in  and  is  reduced  to  unity.  As  above  multi- 
tude there  is  an  absolute  unity,  so  above  mixed  creatures  there 
is  an  absolute  simplicity.  You  cannot  conceive  number  with- 
out conceiving  the  beginning  of  it  in  that  which  was  not  num- 
ber, namely,  a  unit:  you  cannot  conceive  any  mixture,  but  you 
must  conceive  some  simple  thing  to  be  the  original  and  basis  of 
it.  The  works  of  art,  done  by  rational  creatures,  have  their 
foundation  in  something  spiritual.  Every  artificer,  watchmaker, 
carpenter,  has  a  model  in  his  own  mind  of  the  work  he  designs 

i  Talov.  Socin.  Proflig.  p.  129,  130. 
2  Amyrald  Sup.  Heb.  9.  p.  146,  &c. 


ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT.  J9Q 

to  frame:  the  material  and  outward  fabric  is  squared  according 
to  an  inward  and  spiritual  idea.  A  spiritual  idea  speaks  a 
spiritual  faculty  as  the  subject  of  it.  God  could  not  have  an 
idea  of  that  vast  number  of  creatures  he  brought  into  being, 
if  he  had  not  a  spiritual  nature.  The  wisdom  whereby  the 
world  was  created  could  never  be  the  fruit  of  a  corporeal  na- 
ture; such  natures  are  not  capable  of  understanding  and  com- 
prehending the  things  which  are  within  the  compass  of  their 
nature,  much  less  of  producing  them.1  And  therefore  beasts, 
which  have  only  corporeal  faculties,  move  to  objects  by  the 
force  of  their  sense,  and  have  no  knowledge  of  things  as  they 
are  comprehended  by  the  understanding  of  man.  All  acts  of 
wisdom  speak  an  intelligent  and  spiritual  agent.  The  effects 
of  wisdom,  goodness,  power,  are  so  great  and  admirable,  that 
they  bespeak  him  a  more  perfect  and  eminent  Being  than  can 
possibly  be  beheld  under  a  bodily  shape.  Can  a  corporeal 
substance  put  "  wisdom  in  the  inward  parts,"  and  give  "  un- 
derstanding to  the  heart?"  Job  xxxviii.  3G. 

[2.]  If  God  were  not  a  pure  Spirit,  he  could  not  be  one.  If 
God  had  a  body  consisting  of  distinct  members,  as  ours,  or  all 
of  one  nature,  as  the  water  and  air  are,  yet  he  were  then  capa- 
ble of  division,  and  therefore  could  not  be  entirely  one.  Either 
those  parts  would  be  finite  or  infinite:  if  finite,  they  are  not 
parts  of  God;  for  to  be  God  and  finite  is  a  contradiction:  if  infi- 
nite, then  there  are  as  many  infinities  as  distinct  members,  and 
therefore  as  many  deities.  Suppose  this  body  had  all  parts  of 
the  same  nature  as  air  and  water  have,  every  little  part  of  air 
is  as  much  air  as  the  greatest,  and  every  little  part  of  water  is 
as  much  water  as  the  ocean;  so  every  little  part  of  God  would 
be  as  much  God  as  the  whole;  as  many  particular  deities  to 
make  up  God,  as  little  atoms  to  compose  a  body.  What  can  be 
more  absurd?  If  God  had  a  body  like  a  human  body,  and  were 
compounded  of  body  and  soul,  of  substance  and  quality,  he 
could  not  be  the  most  perfect  unity;  he  would  be  made  up  of 
distinct  parts,  and  those  of  a  distinct  nature,  as  the  members  of 
a  human  body  are.  Where  there  is  the  greatest  unity,  there 
must  be  the  greatest  simplicity;  but  God  is  one.  As  he  is  free 
from  any  change,  so  he  is  void  of  any  multitude.  "The  Lord 
our  God  is  one  Lord."  Deut.  vi.  4. 

[3.]  If  God  had  a  body  as  we  have,  he  would  not  be  invisi- 
ble. Every  material  thing  is  not  visible;  the  air  is  a  body  yet 
invisible,  but  it  is  sensible ;  the  cooling  quality  of  it  is  felt  by  us 
at  every  breath,  and  we  know  it  by  our  touch,  which  is  the 
most  material  sense.  Every  body  that  hath  members  like  to 
bodies,  is  visible;  but  God  is  invisible. 2  The  apostle  reckons  it 
amongst  his  other  perfections,  "  Now  unto  the  King,  eternal, 

1  Amyraldus,  Moral,  torn.  1.  p.  282.  2  Daille  in  Tim. 


200  0N  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 

immortal,  invisible,"  1  Tim.  i.  17.  He  is  invisible  to  our  sense, 
which  beholds  nothing  but  material  and  coloured  things;  and 
incomprehensible  to  our  understanding,  that  conceives  nothing 
but  what  is  finite.  God  is  therefore  a  Spirit  incapable  of  being 
seen,  and  infinitely  incapable  of  being  understood.  If  he  be  in- 
visible, he  is  also  spiritual.  If  he  had  a  body,  and  hid  it  from 
our  eyes,  he  might  be  said  not  to  be  seen,  but  could  not  be  said 
to  be  invisible.  When  we  say  a  thing  is  visible,  we  understand 
that  it  has  such  qualities  as  are  the  object  of  sense,  though 
we  may  never  see  that  which  in  its  own  nature  is  to  be  seen. 
God  has  no  such  qualities  as  fall  under  the  perception  of  our 
senses.  His  works  are  visible  to  us,  but  not  his  Godhead.  Rom. 
i.  20.  The  nature  of  a  human  body  is  to  be  seen  and  handled. 
Christ  gives  us  such  a  description  of  it,  Luke  xxiv.  39.  "Handle 
me  and  see ;  for  a  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones,  as  ye  see  me 
have:"  but  man  has  been  so  far  from  seeing  God,  that  it  is 
impossible  he  can  see  him,  1  Tim.  vi.  16.  There  is  such  a  dis- 
proportion between  an  infinite  object  and  a  finite  sense  and 
understanding,  that  it  is  utterly  impossible  either  to  behold  or 
comprehend  him.  But  if  God  had  a  body  more  luminous  and 
glorious  than  that  of  the  sun,  he  would  be  as  well  visible  to  us 
as  the  sun,  though  the  immensity  of  that  light  would  dazzle 
our  eyes,  and  forbid  any  close  inspection  into  him  by  the  virtue 
of  our  sense.  We  have  seen  the  shape  and  figure  of  the  sun, 
but  no  man  hath  ever  seen  the  shape  of  God,  John  v.  37.  If 
God  had  a  body  he  were  visible,  though  he  might  not  perfectly 
and  fully  be  seen  by  us:1  as  we  see  the  heavens,  though  we 
see  not  the  extension,  latitude,  and  greatness  of  them.  Though 
God  has  manifested  himself  in  a  bodily  shape,  Gen.  xviii.  1, 
and  elsewhere,  Jehovah  appeared  to  Abraham;  yet  the  sub- 
stance of  God  was  not  seen,  no  more  than  the  substance  of 
angels  was  seen  in  their  apparitions  to  men.  A  body  was 
formed  to  be  made  visible  by  them,  and  such  actions  done  in 
that  body,  that  spake  the  person  that  did  them  to  be  of  a  higher 
eminency  than  a  bare  corporeal  creature.  Sometimes  a  repre- 
sentation is  made  to  the  inward  sense  and  imagination,  as  to 
Micaiah,  1  Kings  xxii.  19;  and  to  Isaiah,  chap.  vi.  1.  But 
they  saw  not  the  essence  of  God,  but  some  images  and  figures 
of  him  proportioned  to  their  sense  or  imagination.  The  essence 
of  God  no  man  ever  saw,  nor  can  see,  John  i.  18. 

Nor  does  it  follow  that  God  has  a  body,  because  Jacob  is 
said  to  see  God  face  to  face,2  Gen.  xxxii.  30.  And  Moses  had 
the  like  privilege,  Deut.  xxxiv.  10.  This  only  signifies  a  fuller 
and  clearer  manifestation  of  God,  by  some  representations 
offered  to  the  bodily  sense,  or  rather  to  the  inward  spirit:  for 
God  tells  Moses  he  could  not  see  his  face,  Exod.  xxxiii.  20; 

'  Goulart.  de  Dieu.  p.  94.  2  ibid  p.  95,  96. 


ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT.  j, ,  j 

and  that  none  ever  saw  the  similitude  of  God,  Dent.  i\\  15. 
Were  God  a  corporeal  substance,  lie  might,  in  some  measure, 
be  seen  by  corporeal  eyes. 

[4.]  If  God  were  not  a  Spirit,  he  could  not  be  infinite.  All 
bodies  are  of  a  finite  nature:  everybody  is  material,  and  every 
material  thing  is  terminated.  The  sun,  a  vast  body,  has  a 
bounded  greatness:  the  heavens,  of  a  mighty  bulk,  yet  have 
their  limits.  If  God  had  a  body,  he  must  consist  of  parts;  those 
parts  would  be  bounded  and  limited,  and  whatsoever  is  limited 
is  of  a  finite  virtue,  and  therefore  below  an  infinite  nature. 
Reason  therefore  tells  us,  that  the  most  excellent  nature,  as 
God  is,  cannot  be  of  a  corporeal  condition;  because  of  the 
limitation  and  other  actions  which  belong  to  every  body.  God 
is  infinite,  for  "the  heaven  of  heavens  cannot  contain  him," 
2  Chron.  ii.  6.  The  largest  heavens,  and  those  imaginary 
spaces  beyond  the  world,  are  no  bounds  to  him.  He  has  an 
essence  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  world,  and  cannot  be  included 
in  the  vastness  of  the  heavens.  If  God  be  infinite,  then  he  can 
have  no  parts  in  him;  if  he  had,  they  must  be  finite,  or  infinite: 
finite  parts  can  never  make  up  ail  infinite  being.  A  vessel  of 
gold  of  a  pound  weight  cannot  be  made  of  the  quantity  of  an 
ounce.  Infinite  parts  they  cannot  be,  because  then  every  part 
would  be  equal  to  the  whole,  as  infinite  as  the  whole,  which  is 
contradictory.  We  see  in  all  things  every  part  is  less  than  the 
whole  bulk  that  is  composed  of  it;  as  every  member  of  a  man 
is  less  than  the  whole  body  of  man.  If  all  the  parts  were  finite, 
then  God  in  his  essence  were  finite;  and  a  finite  God  is  not 
more  excellent  than  a  creature:  so  that  if  God  were  not  a  Spirit, 
he  could  not  be  infinite. 

[5.]  If  God  were  not  a  Spirit,  lie  could  not  be  an  indepen- 
dent Being.  Whatsoever  is  compounded  of  many  parts,  de- 
pends either  essentially  or  integrally  upon  those  parts;  as  the 
essence  of  a  man  depends  upon  the  conjunction  and  union  of 
his  two  main  parts,  his  soul  and  body:  when  they  are  separat- 
ed, the  essence  of  a  man  ceaseth;  and  the  perfection  of  a  man 
depends  upon  every  member  of  the  body;  so  that  if  one  be 
wanting,  the  perfection  of  the  whole  is  wanting.  As  if  a  man 
has  lost  a  limb,  you  call  him  not  a  perfect  man;  because  that 
part  is  gone  upon  which  his  perfection,  as  an  entire  man,  did 
depend.  If  God,  therefore,  had  a  body,  the  perfection  of  the 
Deity  would  depend  upon  every  part  of  that  body:  and  the 
more  parts  he  were  compounded  of,  the  more  his  dependency 
would  be  multiplied  according  to  the  number  of  those  parts  of 
the  body:  for  that  which  is  compounded  of  many  parts,  is  more 
dependent  than  that  which  is  compounded  of  fewer. 

And  because  God  would  be  a  dependent  being  if  he  had  a 
body,  he  could  not  be  the  first  being;  for  the  compounding 
Vol.  I.— 26 


202  ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 

parts  are  in  order  of  nature,  before  that  which  is  compounded 
by  them;  as  the  soul  and  body  are  before  the  man  which 
results  from  the  union  of  them.  If  God  had  parts  and  bodily 
members  as  we  have,  or  any  composition,  the  essence  of  God 
would  result  from  those  parts,  and  those  parts  be  supposed  to 
be  before  God.  For  that  which  is  a  part,  is  before  that  whose 
part  it  is.  As  in  artificial  things,  you  may  conceive  it;  all  the 
parts  of  a  watch  or  clock,  are  in  time  before  that  watch  which 
is  made  by  setting  those  parts  together.  In  natural  things,  you 
must  suppose  the  members  of  a  body  framed,  before  you  can 
call  it  a  man;  so  that  the  parts  of  this  body  are  before  that 
which  is  constituted  by  them.  We  can  conceive  no  other  of 
God,  if  he  were  not  a  pure,  entire,  unmixed  Spirit:  if  he  had 
distinct  parts,  he  would  depend  upon  them;  those  parts  would 
be  before  him;  his  essence  would  be  the  effect  of  those  distinct 
parts,  and  so  he  would  not  be  absolutely  and  entirely  the  first 
being.  But  he  is  so:  "I  am  the  first  and  I  am  the  last,"  Isa. 
xliv.  6.  He  is  the  first;  nothing  is  before  him:  whereas  if  he 
had  bodily  parts,  and  those  finite,  it  would  follow,  God  is  made 
up  of  those  parts  which  are  not  God,  and  that  which  is  not 
God,  is  in  order  of  nature  before  that  which  is  God.  So  that 
we  see  if  God  were  not  a  Spirit,  he  could  not  be  independent. 

[6.]  If  God  were  not  a  Spirit,  he  were  not  immutable  and 
unchangeable.  His  immutability  depends  upon  his  simplicity. 
He  is  unchangeable  in  his  essence,  because  he  is  a  pure  and 
unmixed  spiritual  being.  Whatsoever  is  compounded  of  parts, 
may  be  divided  into  those  parts,  and  resolved  into  those  distinct 
parts  which  make  up  and  constitute  the  nature.  Whatsoever 
is  compounded,  is  changeable  in  its  own  nature,  though  it 
should  never  be  changed.  Adam,  who  was  constituted  of  body 
and  soul,  had  he  stood  in  innocence,  had  not  died ;  there  had 
been  no  separation  made  between  his  soul  and  body,  whereof 
he  was  constituted,  and  his  body  had  not  been  resolved  into 
those  principles  of  dust  from  whence  it  was  extracted.  Yet  in 
his  own  nature  he  was  dissoluble  into  those  distinct  parts 
whereof  he  was  compounded.  And  so  the  glorified  saints  in 
heaven,  after  the  resurrection,  and  the  happy  meeting  of  their 
souls  and  bodies  in  a  new  marriage  knot,  shall  never  be  dis- 
solved; yet  in  their  own  nature  they  are  mutable  and  dissolu- 
ble, and  cannot  be  otherwise,  because  they  are  made  up  of  such 
distinct  parts  that  may  be  separated  in  their  own  nature,  unless 
sustained  by  the  grace  of  God :  they  are  immutable  by  will,  the 
will  of  God,  not  by  nature.  God  is  immutable  by  nature,  as 
well  as  will:  as  he  has  a  necessary  existence,  so  he  has  a  ne- 
cessary unchangeableness.  "  I  am  the  Lord,  I  change  not," 
Mai.  iii.  6.  He  is  as  unchangeable  in  his  essence,  as  in  his 
veracity  and  faithfulness:  they  are  perfections  belonging  to  his 


ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT.  203 

nature.  But  if  he  were  not  a  pure  Spirit,  he  could  not  be 
immutable  by  nature. 

[7.]  If  God  were  not  a  pure  Spirit,  he  could  not  be  omni- 
present. He  is  in  heaven  above,  and  the  earth  below,  Deut. 
iv.  39.  He  fills  heaven  and  earth,  Jer.  xxiii.  21.  The  Divine 
essence  is  at  once  in  heaven  and  earth:  but  it  is  impossible  a 
body  can  be  in  two  places  at  one  and  the  same  time.  Since 
God  is  every  where,  he  must  be  spiritual.  Had  he  a  body,  he 
could  not  penetrate  all  things;  he  would  be  circumscribed  in 
place.  He  could  not  be  every  where  but  in  parts,  not  in  the 
whole;  one  member  in  one  place,  and  another  in  another;  for 
to  be  confined  to  a  particular  place,  is  the  property  of  a  body; 
but  since  he  is  diffused  through  the  whole  world,  higher  than 
heaven,  deeper  than  hell,  longer  than  the  earth,  broader  than 
the  sea,  Job  xi.  8,  9;  he  has  not  any  corporeal  matter.  If  he 
had  a  body  wherewith  to  fill  heaven  and  earth,  there  could  be 
no  body  besides  his  own.  It  is  the  nature  of  bodies  to  bound 
one  another,  and  hinder  the  extending  of  one  another.  Two 
bodies  cannot  be  in  the  same  place  in  the  same  point  of  earth; 
one  excludes  the  other:  and  it  will  follow  hence,  that  we  are 
nothing,  no  substances,  mere  illusions;  there  could  be  no  place 
for  any  body  else.1  If  his  body  were  as  big  as  the  world;  as  it 
must  be,  if  with  that  he  filled  heaven  and  earth,  there  would 
not  be  room  for  him  to  move  a  hand  or  a  foot,  or  extend  a  fin- 
ger; for  there  would  be  no  place  remaining  for  the  motion. 

[8.]  If  God  were  not  a  Spirit,  he  could  not  be  the  most  per- 
fect being.  The  more  perfect  any  thing  is  in  the  rank  of  crea- 
tures, the  more  spiritual  and  simple  it  is;  as  gold  is  the  more 
pure  and  perfect  that  has  least  mixture  of  other  metals.  If 
God  were  not  a  spirit,  there  would  be  creatures  of  a  more  ex- 
cellent nature  than  God;  as  angels  and  souls,  which  the  Scrip- 
ture calls  spirits,  in  opposition  to  bodies.  There  is  more  of  per- 
fection in  the  first  notion  of  a  spirit,  than  in  the  notion  of  a 
body.  God  cannot  be  less  perfect  than  his  creatures,  and  con- 
tribute an  excellency  of  being  to  them  which  he  wants  himself. 
If  angels  and  souls  possess  such  an  excellency,  and  God  want 
that  excellency;  he  would  be  less  than  his  creatures,  and  ex- 
cellency of  the  effect  would  exceed  the  excellency  of  the  cause. 
But  every  creature,  even  the  highest  creature,  is  infinitely  short 
of  the  perfection  of  God  ;  for  whatsoever  excellency  they  have, 
is  finite  and  limited  ;  it  is  but  a  spark  from  the  sun,  a  drop  from 
the  ocean;  but  God  is  unboundedly  perfect  in  the  highest  man- 
ner, without  any  limitation;  and  therefore  above  spirits, angels, 
the  highest  creatures  that  were  made  by  him;  an  infinite  sub- 
limity, a  pure  act,  to  which  nothing  can  be  added,  from  which 
nothing  can  be  taken.     In  him  there  is  light,  and  no  darkness, 

1  Gamachcus  Thcol.  torn.  1.  Qucs.  3.  C.  1. 


204  ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 

1  John  i.  5;  spirituality  without  any  matter,  perfection  without 
any  shadow  or  taint  of  imperfection.  Light  pierces  into  all 
things,  preserves  its  own  purity,  and  admits  of  no  mixture  of 
any  thing  else  with  it. 

Question.  It  may  be  said,  If  God  be  a  Spirit,  and  it  is  im- 
possible he  can  be  otherwise  than  a  Spirit;  how  comes  God  so 
often  to  have  such  members  as  we  have  in  our  bodies  ascribed 
to  him;  not  only  a  soul,  but  particular  bodily  parts;  as  heart, 
arms,  hands,  eyes,  ears,  face,  and  back-parts?  And  how  is  it 
that  he  is  never  called  a  Spirit  in  plain  words,  but  in  this  text 
by  our  Saviour? 

It  is  true,  many  parts  of  the  body,  and  natural  affections  of 
the  human  nature,  are  reported  of  God  in  Scripture.  Head, 
Dan.  vii.  9;  eyes  and  eye-lids,  Psal.  xi.  4;  apple  of  the  eye, 
mouth,  and  so  on;  our  affections  also,  grief,  joy,  anger.  But 
it  is  to  be  considered, 

Answer  1.  That  this  is  in  condescension  to  our  weakness. 
God  being  desirous  to  make  himself  known  to  man,  whom  he 
created  for  his  glory,  humbles  as  it  were  his  own  nature  to  such 
representations,  as  may  suit  and  assist  the  capacity  of  the  crea- 
ture. 1  Since  by  the  condition  of  our  nature  nothing  erects  a 
notion  of  itself  in  our  understanding,  but  as  it  is  conducted  in 
by  our  sense.  God  has  served  himself  of  those  things  which 
are  most  exposed  to  our  senses,  most  obvious  to  our  understand- 
ings, to  give  us  some  acquaintance  with  his  own  nature,  and 
those  things  which  otherwise  we  were  not  capable  of  having 
any  notion  of.  As  our  souls  are  linked  with  our  bodies,  so  our 
knowledge  is  linked  with  our  senses;  that  we  can  scarce  ima- 
gine any  thing  at  first  but  under  a  corporeal  form  and  figure, 
till  we  come  by  great  attention  to  the  object,  to  make  up  the 
help  of  reason,  a  separation  of  the  spiritual  substance  from  the 
corporeal  fancy,  and  consider  it  in  its  own  nature.  We  are  not 
able  to  conceive  a  spirit,  without  some  kind  of  resemblance  to 
something  below  it ;  nor  understand  the  actions  of  a  spirit, 
without  considering  the  operations  of  a  human  body  in  its  seve- 
ral members.  As  the  glories  of  another  life  are  signified  to  us 
by  the  pleasures  of  this ;  so  the  nature  of  God,  by  a  gracious 
condescension  to  our  capacities,  is  signified  to  us  by  a  likeness 
to  our  own.  The  more  familiar  the  things  are  to  us  which  God 
uses  to  this  purpose,  the  more  proper  they  are  to  teach  us  what 
he  intends  by  them. 

Answer  2.  All  such  representations  are  to  signify  the  acts  of 
God,  as  they  bear  some  likeness  to  those  which  we  perform  by 
those  members  he  ascribes  to  himself.  So  that  those  members 
ascribed  to  him,  rather  note  his  visible  operations  to  us,  than  his 

1  "The  law  speaks  after  the  manner  of  men."  Loquitur  lex  secundum  lingam 
filiorum  hominum. 


ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT.  205 

invisible  nature,  and  signify  that  God  does  some  works  like  to 
those  which  men  do,  by  the  assistance  of  those  organs  of  their 
bodies.  So  the  wisdom  of  God  is  railed  his  eye,  because  he 
knows  that  with  his  mind  which  we  see  with  our  eyes.1  The 
efficiency  of  God  is  called  his  hand  and  arm;  because  as  we 
act  with  our  hands,  so  does  God  with  his  power.  The  Divine 
efficacies  are  thus  signified:  by  his  eyes  and  ears,  we  under- 
stand his  omniscience;  by  his  lace,  the  manifestation  of  his 
favour;  by  his  mouth,  the  revelation  of  his  will;  by  his  nos- 
trils, the  acceptation  of  our  prayers;  by  his  bowels,  the  tender- 
ness of  his  compassion;  by  his  heart,  the  sincerity  of  his  affec- 
tions; by  his  hand,  the  strength  of  his  power;  by  his  feet,  the 
ubiquity  of  his  presence.  And  in  this,  he  intends  instruction 
and  comfort;  by  his  eyes  he  signifies  his  watchfulness  over  us; 
by  his  ears,  his  readiness  to  hear  the  cries  of  the  oppressed, 
Psa.  xxxiv.  15;  by  his  arm,  his  power,  an  arm  to  destroy  his 
enemies,  and  an  arm  to  relieve  his  people,  Isa.  li.  0.  All  those 
are  attributed  to  God  to  signify  divine  actions,  which  he  does 
without  bodily  organs,  as  we  do  with  them. 

.  Inswer  3.  Consider  also,  that  only  those  members  which  are 
the  instruments  of  the  noblest  actions,  and  under  that  conside- 
ration, are  used  by  him  to  represent  a  notion  of  him  to  our 
minds.  Whatsoever  is  perfect  and  excellent,  is  ascribed  to  him, 
but  nothing  that  savours  of  imperfection.  The  heart  is  ascribed 
to  him,  it  being  the  principle  of  vital  actions,  to  signify  the  life 
that  he  has  in  himself: 2  watchful  and  discerning  eyes,  not 
sleepy  and  lazy  ones:  a  mouth  to  reveal  his  will,  not  to  take  in 
food.  To  eat  and  sleep  are  never  ascribed  to  him,  nor  those 
parts  that  belong  to  the  preparing  or  transmitting  nourishment 
to  tin;  several  parts  of  the  body,  as  stomach,  liver,  reins,  nor 
bowels,  under  that  consideration,  but  as  they  are  significant  of 
compassion  :  but  only  those  parts  arc  ascribed  to  him  whereby 
we  acquire  knowledge,  as  eyes  and  ears,  the  organs  of  learning 
and  wisdom;  or  to  communicate  it  to  others,  as  the  mouth,  lips, 
tongue,  as  they  are  instruments  of  speaking,  not  of  tasting:  or 
those  parts  which  signify  strength  and  power,  or  whereby  we 
perform  the  actions  of  charity  for  the  relief  of  others.  Taste  and 
touch,  senses  that  extend  no  further  than  to  corporeal  things, 
and  are  the  grossest  of  all  the  senses,  are  never  ascribed  to  him. 

It  were  worth  consideration,  whether  this  describing  God  by 
the  members  of  a  human  body  were  so  much  figuratively  to  be 
understood,  as  with  respect  to  the  incarnation  of  our  Saviour, 
who  was  to  assume  the  human  nature  and  all  the  members  of 
a  human  body.3 

Asaph  speaking  in  the  person  of  God,  "I  will  open  my 

'  Amyral.  dc  Trin.  p.  218,  219.  :  Episcop.  institut.  1.  4.  $  3.  c.  3. 

3  It  is  Zanchic's  observation,  torn.  2.  dc  Natuni  Dei,  lib.  1.  cap.  4.  thes.  'J. 


206  0N  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 

mouth  in  a  parable,"  Psa.  lxxviii.  2 ;  in  regard  of  God,  it  is  to 
be  understood  figuratively,  but  in  regard  of  Christ  literally,  to 
whom  it  is  applied,  Matt.  xiii.  34,  35.  And  that  apparition,  Isa. 
vi.,  which  was  the  appearance  of  Jehovah,  is  applied  to  Christ, 
John  xii.  40,  41. 

After  the  report  of  the  creation,  and  the  forming  of  man,  we 
read  of  God's  speaking  to  him,  but  not  of  God's  appearing  to 
him  in  any  visible  shape.1  A  voice  might  be  formed  in  the  air 
to  give  man  notice  of  his  duty ;  some  way  of  information  he 
must  have,  what  positive  laws  he  was  to  observe,  besides  that 
law  which  was  engraven  in  his  nature,  which  we  call  the  law 
of  nature ;  and  without  a  voice  the  knowledge  of  the  Divine 
will  could  not  be  so  conveniently  communicated  to  man. 
Though  God  was  heard  in  a  voice,  he  was  not  seen  in  a  shape  : 
but  after  the  fall  we  several  times  read  of  his  appearing  in  such 
a  form.  Though  we  read  of  his  speaking  before  man's  com- 
mitting of  sin,  yet  not  of  his  walking,  which  is  more  corporeal, 
till  afterwards,  Gen.  iii.  8.  "  Though  God  would  not  have 
man  believe  him  to  be  corporeal,  yet  he  judged  it  expedient  to 
give  some  pre-notices  of  that  Divine  incarnation  which  he  had 
promised.2 

Jlnswer  4.  Therefore  we  must  not  conceive  of  the  visible 
Deity  according  to  the  letter  of  such  expressions,  but  the  true 
intent  of  them.  Though  the  Scripture  speaks  of  his  eyes  and 
arms,  yet  it  denies  them  to  be  arms  of  flesh,  Job.  x.  4;  2  Chron. 
xxxii.  8.  We  must  not  conceive  of  God  according  to  the  letter, 
but  the  design  of  the  metaphor.  When  we  hear  things  de- 
scribed by  metaphorical  expressions  for  the  clearing  them  up 
to  our  fancy,  we  conceive  not  of  them  under  that  garb,  but  re- 
move the  veil  by  an  act  of  our  reason.  When  Christ  is  called 
a  sun,  a  vine,  bread,  is  any  so  stupid  as  to  conceive  him  to  be 
a  vine  with  material  branches  and  clusters ;  or  to  be  of  the 
same  nature  with  a  loaf?  But  the  things  designed  by  such 
metaphors  are  obvious  to  the  conception  of  a  mean  understand- 
ing. If  we  would  conceive  God  to  have  a  body  like  a  man, 
because  he  describes  himself  so,  we  may  conceit  him  to  be  like 
a  bird,  because  he  is  mentioned  with  wings,  Psal.  xxxvi.  7;  or 
like  a  lion,  or  leopard,  because  he  likens  himself  to  them  in  the 
acts  of  his  strength  and  fury,  Hos.  xiii.  7,  8.  He  is  called  a 
rock,  a  horn,  fire,  to  note  his  strength  and  wrath  :  if  any  be  so 
stupid  as  to  think  God  to  be  really  such,  they  would  make  him 
not  only  a  man,  but  worse  than  a  monster. 

Onkelos,  the  Chaldee  paraphrast  upon  parts  of  the  Scripture, 
was  so  tender  of  expressing  the  notion  of  any  corporeity  in 
God,  that  when  he  meets  with  any  expressions  of  that  nature, 
he  translates  them  according  to  the  true  intent  of  them;  as  when 

1  Amyrald.  Moral,  torn.  1.  p.  293,  294.  2  Amyrald. 


ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT.  0(fj 

God  is  said  to  descend,  Gen.  xi.  5,  which  implies  a  local  motion, 
a  motion  from  one  place  to  another,  he  translates  it,  "  and  God 
revealed  himself."1  We  should  conceive  of  God  according  to 
the  design  of  the  expressions.  When  we  read  of  his  eyes,  we 
should  conceive  his  omniscience;  of  his  hand,  his  power;  of 
his  sitting,  his  immutability;  of  his  throne,  his  majesty;  and 
conceive  of  him  as  surmounting,  not  only  the  grossness  of 
bodies,  but  the  spiritual  excellency  of  the  most  dignified  crea- 
tures; something  so  perfect,  great,  spiritual,  as  nothing  can  be 
conceived  higher  and  purer. 

Christ,  saith  one,  is  truly  Dens  figuratus;  and  for  his  sake, 
was  it  more  easily  permitted  to  the  Jews  to  think  of  God  in  the 
shape  of  a  man.2 

Use  1.  If  God  be  a  pure  spiritual  being,  then  man  is  not  the 
image  of  God,  according  to  his  external  bodily  form  and 
figure.  The  image  of  God  in  man  consisted  not  in  what  is 
seen,  but  in  what  is  not  seen;  not  in  the  conformation  of  the 
members,  but  rather  in  the  spiritual  faculties  of  the  soul; 
or  most  of  all  in  the  holy  endowments  of  those  faculties. 
"  That  ye  put  on  the  new  man  which  after  God  is  created  in 
righteousness  and  true  holiness,"  Eph.  iv.  24;  Col.  iii.  10.  The 
image  which  is  restored  by  redeeming  grace,  was  the  image  of 
God  by  original  nature.  The  image  of  God  cannot  be  in  that 
part  which  is  common  to  us  with  beasts,  but  rather  in  that 
wherein  we  excel  all  living  creatures,  in  reason,  understanding, 
and  an  immortal  spirit.  God  expressly  saith,  that  no  one  saw  a 
similitude  of  him,  Deut.  iv.  15,  16;  which  had  not  been  true, 
if  man  in  regard  of  his  body  had  been  the  image  and  similitude 
of  God;  for  then  a  figure  of  God  had  been  seen  every  day,  as 
often  as  we  saw  a  man  or  beheld  ourselves.  Nor  would  the 
apostle's  argument  stand  good,  that  the  Godhead  is  not  like  to 
stone  graven  by  art,  Acts  xvii.  29,  if  we  were  not  the  offspring 
of  God,  and  bore  the  stamp  of  his  nature  in  our  spirits  rather 
than  our  bodies.  It  was  a  fancy  of  Fugubinus,  that  when  God 
set  upon  the  actual  creation  of  man,  he  took  a  bodily  form  for 
an  exemplar  of  that  which  he  would  express  in  his  work,  and 
therefore  that  the  words  of  Moses,  Gen.  i.  26,  are  to  be  under- 
stood of  the  body  of  man;  because  there  was  in  man  such  a 
shape  which  God  had  then  assumed.3  To  let  alone  God's  form- 
ing himself  a  body  for  that  work  as  a  groundless  fancy;  man 
can  in  nowise  be  said  to  be  the  image  of  God,  in  regard  of  the 
substance  of  his  body;  but  beasts  may  as  well  be  said  to  be 
made  in  the  image  of  God,  whose  bodies  have  the  same  mem- 
bers as  the  body  of  man  for  the  most  part,  and  excel  men  m  the 

1  Maimon.  More  Ncvoc.  par.  1.  cap.  27. 
3  More's  Conjectura  Cabalistica,  p.  122. 
»  Petav.  Theol.  Dog.  torn.  1.  lib.  2.  cap.  1.  p.  104. 


208  ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 

acuteness  of  the  senses  and  swiftness  of  their  motion,  agility  of 
body,  greatness  of  strength,  and  in  some  kind  of  ingenuities 
also,  wherein  man  has  been  a  scholar  to  the  brutes,  and  be- 
holden to  their  skill.  The  soul  comes  nearest  the  nature  of 
God,  as  being  a  spiritual  substance;  yet  considered  singly  in 
regard  of  its  spiritual  substance,  cannot  well  be  said  to  be  the 
image  of  God.  A  beast,  because  of  its  corporeity,  may  as  well 
be  called  the  image  of  a  man;  for  there  is  a  greater  similitude 
between  a  man  and  a  brute  in  the  rank  of  bodies,  than  there 
can  be  between  God  and  the  highest  angels  in  the  rank  of 
spirits.  If  it  does  not  consist  in  the  substance  of  the  soul,  much 
less  can  it  in  any  similitude  of  the  body.  This  image  consisted 
partly  in  the  state  of  man,  as  he  had  dominion  over  the  crea- 
tures; partly  in  the  nature  of  man,  as  he  was  an  intelligent 
being,  and  thereby  was  capable  of  having  a  grant  of  that  do- 
minion ;  but  principally  in  the  conformity  of  the  soul  with  God 
in  the  frame  of  his  spirit  and  the  holiness  of  his  actions.  Not 
at  all  in  the  figure  and  form  of  his  body  physically,  though 
morally  there  might  be,  as  there  was  a  rectitude  in  the  body, 
as  an  instrument  to  conform  to  the  holy  motions  of  the  soul, 
as  the  holiness  of  the  soul  sparkled  in  the  actions  and  members 
of  the  body.  If  man  were  like  God  because  he  has  a  body, 
whatsoever  has  a  body  has  some  resemblance  to  God,  and 
may  be  said  to  be  in  part  his  image.  But  the  truth  is,  the 
essence  of  all  creatures  cannot  be  an  image  of  the  immense 
essence  of  God. 

Use  2.  If  God  be  a  pure  Spirit,  it  is  unreasonable  to  frame  any 
image  or  picture  of  God.  •  Some  heathens  have  been  wiser  in  this 
than  some  Christians.  Pythagoras  forbade  his  scholars  to  en- 
grave any  shape  of  God  upon  a  ring,  because  he  was  not  to  be 
comprehended  by  sense,  but  conceived  only  in  our  minds;  our 
hands  are  as  unable  to  fashion  him  as  our  eyes  to  see  him.  The 
ancient  Romans  worshipped  their  gods  one  hundred  and  seventy 
years  before  any  material  representations  of  them;2  and  the 
ancient  idolatrous  Germans  thought  it  a  wicked  thing  to  repre- 
sent God  in  a  human  shape.3  Yet  some,  and  those  no  Roman- 
ists, labour  to  defend  the  making  images  of  God  in  the  resem- 
blance of  man;  because  he  is  so  represented  in  Scripture,  "he 
may  be,"  saith  one,4  "  conceived  so  in  our  minds  and  figured 
so  to  our  sense."  If  this  were  a  good  reason,  why  may  he 
not  be  pictured  as  a  lion,  horn,  eagle,  rock,  since  he  is  under 
such  metaphors  shadowed  to  us?  The  same  ground  there  is  for 
the  one  as  for  the  other.  What  though  man  be  a  nobler  crea- 
ture, God  has  no  more  the  body  of  a  man  than  that  of  an  eagle; 

i  Jamblicus,  Protrcpt.  cap.  21.  symb.  24. 

2  Austin  dc  Civitat.  Dei,  lib.  4.  cap.  31.  out  of  Varro.  3  Tacitus. 

4  Gerhard  loc.  Cornmun.  vol.  4.  Exegesis  de  Natura  Dei,  cap.  8.  §  1. 


ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT.  £09 

and  some  perfections  in  other  creatures  represent  sonic  excel- 
lencies in  his  nature  and  actions,  which  cannot  be  figured  by  ;i 
human  shape,  as  strength  by  the  lion,  swiftness  and  readiness 
by  the  wings  of  the  bird.  But  God  has  absolutely  prohibited 
the  making  any  image  whatsoever  of  him,  and  that  with  terri- 
ble thrcatenings,  "I  the  Lord  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the 
iniquities  of  the  fathers  upon  their  children,"  Exod.  xx.  5,  and 
Dent.  v.  S,  9.  After  God  had  given  the  Israelites  the  com- 
mandment wherein  he  forbade  them  to  have  any  other  gods 
before  him,  he  forbids  all  figuring  of  him  by  the  hand  of  man; 
not  only  images,  but  any  likeness  of  him  cither  by  things  in 
heaven,  in  the  earth,  or  in  the  water.  How  often  does  he  dis- 
cover his  indignation  by  the  prophets,  against  them  that  oiler 
to  mould  him  in  a  creature  form  !  This  law  was  not  to  serve 
a  particular  dispensation,  or  to  endure  a  particular  time,  but  it 
was  a  declaration  of  his  will,  invariable  in  all  places  and  all 
times,  being  founded  upon  the  immutable  nature  of  his  being, 
and  therefore  agreeable  to  the  law  of  nature,  otherwise  not 
chargeable  upon  the  heathens.  And  therefore  when  God  had 
declared  his  nature  and  his  works  in  a  stately  and  majestic  elo- 
quence, he  demands  of  them,  to  whom  they  would  liken  him, 
or  what  likeness  they  would  compare  unto  him?  Isa.  xl.  18. 
Where  they  could  find  any  thing  that  would  be  a  lively  image 
and  resemblance  of  his  infinite  excellence — founding  it  upon 
the  infiniteness  of  his  nature,  which  necessarily  implies  the 
spirituality  of  it.  God  is  infinitely  above  any  statue;  and  those 
that  think  to  draw  God  by  a  stroke  of  a  pencil,  or  form  him  by 
the  engravings  of  art,  are  more  stupid  than  the  statues  them- 
selves. 

To  show  the  unreasonableness  of  it ;  consider, 
1.  It  is  impossible  to  fasbion  any  image  of  God.  If  our 
more  capacious  souls  cannot  grasp  his  nature,  our  weaker  sense 
cannot  frame  his  image:  it  is  more  possible  of  the  two  to  com- 
prehend him  in  our  minds  than  to  frame  him  in  an  image  to 
our  sense.  He  inhabits  inaccessible  light:  as  it  is  impossible 
for  the  eye  of  man  to  see  him,  it  is  impossible  for  the  art  of  man 
to  paint  him  upon  walls,  and  carve  him  out  of  wood.  None 
knows  him  but  himself,  none  can  describe  him  but  himself.1 
Can  we  draw  a  figure  of  our  own  souls,  and  express  that  part 
of  ourselves  wherein  we  are  most  like  to  God?  Can  we  extend 
this  to  any  bodily  figure  and  divide  it  into  parts?  How  can  we 
deal  so  with  the  original  copy,  whence  the  first  draft  of  our 
souls  was  taken,  and  which  is  infinitely  more  spiritual  than 
men  or  angels?  No  corporeal  thing  can  represent  a  spiritual 
substance;  there  is  no  proportion  in  nature  between  them.  God 
is  a  simple,  infinite,  immense,  eternal,  invisible,  incorruptible 

1   Corroius.  Sum.  Thonl.  rap.  '.* .  p.    17.  ^  35. 

Vol.  I.— 27 


210  ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 

being;  a  statue  is  a  compounded,  finite, limited,  temporal,  visi- 
ble, and  corruptible  body.  God  is  a  living  Spirit;  but  a  statue 
neither  sees,  nor  hears,  nor  perceives  any  thing.  But  suppose 
God  had  a  body,  it  is  impossible  to  mould  an  image  of  it  in  the 
true  glory  of  that  body.  Can  the  statue  of  an  excellent  mo- 
narch represent  the  majesty  and  air  of  his  countenance  though 
made  by  the  skilfullest  workman  in  the  world?  If  God  had  a 
body  in  some  measure  suited  to  his  excellency,  were  it  possible 
for  man  to  make  an  exact  image  of  him,  who  cannot  picture 
the  light,  heat,  motion,  magnitude,  and  dazzling  property  of 
the  sun  ?  The  excellency  of  any  corporeal  nature  of  the  least 
creature — the  temper,  instinct,  artifice,  are  beyond  the  power 
of  a  carving  tool ;  much  more  is  God. 

2.  To  make  any  corporeal  representation  of  God  is  unworthy 
of  God.  It  is  a  disgrace  to  his  nature.  Whosoever  thinks  a 
carnal  corruptible  image  to  be  fit  for  a  representation  of  God, 
renders  God  no  better  than  a  carnal  and  corporeal  being.  It  is 
a  kind  of  debasing  an  angel,  who  is  a  spiritual  nature,  to  re- 
present him  in  a  bodily  shape,  who  is  as  far  removed  from  any 
fieshliness  as  heaven  from  earth;  much  more  to  degrade  the 
glory  of  the  divine  nature  to  the  lineaments  of  a  man.  The 
whole  stock  of  images  is  but  a  lie  of  God,  a  doctrine  of  vani- 
ties and  falsehood:  Jer.  x.  8 — 14:  it  represents  him  in  a  false 
garb  to  the  world,  Rom.  i.  25,  and  sinks  his  glory  into  that  of 
a  corruptible  creature,  Rom.  i.  23.  It  impairs  the  reverence  of 
God  in  the  minds  of  men,  and  by  degrees  may  debase  men's 
apprehensions  of  God,  and  be  a  means  to  make  them  believe 
he  is  such  a  one  as  themselves:  and  that  not  being  free  from 
the  figure,  he  is  not  also  free  from  the  imperfections  of  their 
bodies.  Corporeal  images  of  God  were  the  fruits  of  base  ima- 
ginations of  him,  and  as  they  sprang  from  them,  so  they  con- 
tribute to  a  greater  corruption  of  the  notions  of  the  divine 
nature.  The  heathen  began  their  first  representations  of  him 
by  the  image  of  a  corruptible  man,  then  of  birds,  till  they  de- 
scended, not  only  to  four-footed  beasts,  but  creeping  things, 
even  serpents,  as  the  apostle  seems  to  intimate  in  his  enumera- 
tion, Rom.  i.  23.  It  had  been  more  honourable  to  have  con- 
tinued in  human  representation  of  him,  than  have  sunk  so  low 
as  beasts  and  serpents,  the  baser  images;  though  the  first  had 
been  infinitely  unworthy  of  him,  he  being  more  above  a  man, 
though  the  noblest  creature,  than  man  is  above  a  worm,  a  toad, 
or  the  most  despicable  creeping  thing  upon  the  earth.  To  think 
we  can  make  an  image  of  God  of  a  piece  of  marble  or  an  in- 
got of  gold,  is  a  greater  debasing  of  him,  than  it  would  be  of 
a  great  prince,  if  you  should  represent  him  in  the  statue  of  a 
frog.  When  the  Israelites  represented  God  by  a  calf,  it  is  said 
they  sinned  a  great  sin,  Exod.  xxxii.  31.  And  the  sin  of  Jero- 


ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT.  ^J  | 

boam,  who  intended  only  a  representation  of  God  by  the  calves 
at  Dan  and  Bethel,  is  called  more  emphatically,  "the  wicked- 
ness  of  your  wickedness,"  Hos.  X.  1  ">,  the  very  scum  and  dregs 
of  wickedness.  As  men  debased  God  by  this,  so  God  debased 
men  for  this;  he  degraded  the  Israelites  into  captivity  under 
the  worst  of  their  enemies,  and  punished  the  heathen  with 
spiritual  judgments,  as  uncleanness  through  the  lusts  of  their 
own  hearts,  Rom.  i.  24;  which  is  repeated  again  in  other  ex- 
pressions, verse  26,  27,  as  a  meet  recompense  for  their  dis- 
gracing the  spiritual  nature  of  God.  Had  God  been  like  to 
man,  they  had  not  offended  in  it.  But  I  mention  this  to  show 
a  probable  reason  of  those  base  lusts  which  are  in  the  midst  of 
us,  that  have  scarce  been  exceeded  by  any  nation,  namely,  the 
unworthy  and  unscriptural  conceits  of  God,  which  are  as  much 
a  debasing  of  him  as  material  images  were  when  they  were 
more  rife  in  the  world;  and  may  be  as  well  the  cause  of  those 
spiritual  judgments  upon  men,  as  the  worshipping  molten 
and  carved  images  was  the  cause  of  the  same  upon  the  heathen. 
3.  Yet  this  is  natural  to  man.  Wherein  we  may  see  the 
contrariety  of  man  to  God.  Though  God  be  a  Spirit,  yet  there 
is  nothing  man  is  more  prone  to,  than  to  represent  him  under 
a  corporeal  form.  The  most  famous  guides  of  the  heathen 
world  have  fashioned  him,  not  only  according  to  the  more 
honourable  images  of  men,  but  bestialized  him  in  the  form  of 
a  brute.  The  Egyptians,  whose  country  was  the  school  of 
learning  to  Greece,  were  notoriously  guilty  of  this  brutishness 
in  worshipping  an  ox  for  an  image  of  their  God;  and  the  Phi- 
listines their  Dagon,  in  a  figure  composed  of  the  image  of  a 
woman  and  a  fish.  Such  representations  were  ancient  in  the 
oriental  parts.1  The  gods  of  Laban,  that  he  accuses  Jacob  of 
stealing  from  him,  are  supposed  to  be  little  figures  of  men, 
Gen.  xxxi.  30,  34.  Such  was  the  Israelites'  golden  calf;  their 
worship  was  not  terminated  on  the  image,  but  they  worshipped 
the  true  God  under  that  representation.  They  could  not  be  so 
brutish  as  to  call  a  calf  their  deliverer,  and  give  to  him  a  great 
title,  ("These  be  thy  gods,  0  Israel,  which  brought  thee  up  out 
of  the  land  of  Egypt,"  Exod.  xxxii.  4;)  or  that  which  they 
knew  belonged  to  the  true  God,  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac 
and  Jacob,  Exod.  iii.  16,  17.  They  knew  the  calf  to  be  formed 
of  their  ear-rings;  but  they  had  consecrated  it  to  God  as  a 
representation  of  him.  Though  they  chose  the  form  of  the 
Egyptian  idol,  yet  they  knew  that  Apis,  Osiris  and  Isis,  the  gods 
the  Egyptians  adored  in  that  figure,  had  not  wrought  their 
redemption  from  bondage,  but  would  have  used  their  force,  had 
they  been  possessed  of  any,  to  have  kept  them  under  the  yoke, 
rather  than  have  freed  them  from  it.     The  feast,  also,  which 

1  Daille  super  Cor.  i.  10.  Ser.  3. 


2 1 2  ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 

they  celebrated  before  their  image,  is  called  by  Aaron  the  feast 
of  the  Lord,  Exod.  xxxii.  5;  a  feast  to  Jehovah,  the  incommu- 
nicable name  of  the  Creator  of  the  Avorld.  It  is  therefore  evi- 
dent, that  both  the  priest  and  the  people  pretended  to  serve  the 
true  God,  not  any  false  divinity  of  Egypt — that  God  who  had 
rescued  them  from  Egypt  with  a  mighty  hand,  divided  the  Red 
sea  before  them,  destroyed  their  enemies,  conducted  them,  fed 
them  by  miracle,  spoken  to  them  from  Mount  Sinai,  and  amazed 
them  by  his  thunderings  and  lightnings  when  he  instructed 
them  by  his  law;  a  God  they  could  not  so  soon  forget.  And 
with  this  representing  God  by  that  image,  they  are  charged  by 
the  psalmist:  "  They  made  a  calf  in  Horeb,  and  worshipped 
the  molten  image.  Thus  they  changed  their  glory  into  the 
similitude  of  an  ox  that  eateth  grass,"  Psalm  cvi.  19,  20.  They 
changed  their  glory,  that  is,  God  the  glory  of  Israel;  so  that 
they  took  this  figure  for  the  image  of  the  true  God  of  Israel, 
their  own  God ;  not  the  god  of  any  other  nation  in  the  world. 
Jeroboam  intended  no  other  by  his  calves,  but  symbols  of  the 
presence  of  the  true  God,  instead  of  the  ark  and  the  propitiatory 
which  remained  among  the  Jews.  We  see  the  inclination  of 
our  natures  in  the  practice  of  the  Israelites — a  people  chosen 
out  of  the  whole  world  to  bear  up  God's  name,  and  preserve 
his  glory;  and  in  that  the  images  of  God  were  so  soon  set  up 
in  the  Christian  church.  And  to  this  day,  the  picture  of  God, 
in  the  shape  of  an  old  man,  is  visible  in  the  temples  of  the 
Romanists.     It  is  prone  to  the  nature  of  man. 

4.  To  represent  God  by  a  corporeal  image,  and  to  worship 
him  in  and  by  that  image,  is  idolatry.  Though  the  Israelites 
did  not  acknowledge  the  calf  to  be  God,  nor  intended  a  worship 
to  any  of  the  Egyptian  deities  by  it;  but  worshipped  that  God 
in  it,  who  had  so  lately  and  miraculously  delivered  them  from 
a  cruel  servitude;  and  could  not  in  natural  reason  judge  him 
to  be  clothed  with  a  bodily  shape,  much  less  to  be  like  an  ox 
that  eats  grass;  yet  the  apostle  brings  no  less  a  charge  against 
them  than  that  of  idolatry,  1  Cor.  x.  7.  He  calls  them  idola- 
ters, who  before  that  calf  kept  a  feast  to  Jehovah,  citing  Exod. 
xxxii.  6.  Suppose  we  could  make  such  an  image  of  God  as 
might  perfectly  represent  him;  yet  since  God  has  prohibited  it, 
shall  we  be  wiser  than  God  ?  He  has  sufficiently  manifested 
himself  in  his  works  without  images.  He  is  seen  in  the  crea- 
tures; more  particularly  in  the  heavens,  which  declare  his 
glory.  His  works  are  more  excellent  representations  of  him, 
as  being  the  works  of  his  own  hands,  than  any  thing  that  is 
the  product  of  the  art  of  man.  His  glory  sparkles  in  the  hea- 
vens, sun,  moon  and  stars,  as  being  magnificent  pieces  of  his 
Avisdom  and  power;  yet  the  kissing  the  hand  to  the  sun  or  the 
heavens,  as  representative  of  the  excellency  and  majesty  of  God, 


ON  GOD'S  BEIN(;  A  SPIRIT.  •));» 

is  idolatry  in  Scripture  account,  and  a  denial  of  (iod,  Job  xxxi. 
26 — 2S;  a  prostituting  the  glory  of  Clod  to  a  creature.1  Either 
the  worship  is  terminated  on  the  image  itself,  and  then  it  is 
confessed  by  all  to  be  idolatry,  because  it  is  a  giving  that  wor- 
ship to  a  creature  which  is  the  sole  right  of  God;2  or  not  ter- 
minated in  the  image,  but  in  the  object  represented  by  it:  it  is 
then  a  foolish  thing;  we  may  as  well  terminate  our  worship  on 
the  true  object  without,  as  with  an  image.  An  erected  statue 
is  no  sign  or  symbol  of  God's  special  presence,  as  the  ark,  taber- 
nacle and  temple  were.  It  is  no  part  of  Divine  institution;  has 
no  authority  of  a  command  to  support  it;  no  cordial  of  a  pro- 
mise to  encourage  it;  and  the  image  being  infinitely  distant 
from  and  below  the  majesty  and  spirituality  of  God,  cannot 
constitute  one  object  of  worship  with  him.  To  put  a  religious 
character  upon  any  image  formed  by  the  corrupt  imagination 
of  man,  as  a  representation  of  the  invisible  and  spiritual  Deity, 
is  to  think  the  Godhead  to  be  like  silver  and  gold,  or  stone 
graven  by  art  and  man's  device,  Acts  xvii.  29. 

Use  3.  This  doctrine  will  direct  us  in  our  conceptions  of  God, 
as  a  pure,  perfect  Spirit,  than  which  nothing  can  be  imagined 
more  perfect,  more  pure,  more  spiritual. 

1.  We  cannot  have  an  adequate  or  suitable  conception  of 
God:  he  dwells  in  inaccessible  light;  inaccessible  to  the  acnte- 
ness  of  our  fancy,  as  well  as  the  weakness  of  our  sense.  If 
we  could  have  thoughts  of  him  as  high  and  excellent  as  his 
nature,  our  conceptions  must  be  as  infinite  as  his  nature.  All 
our  imaginations  of  him  cannot  represent  him,  because  every 
created  species  is  finite:  it  cannot  therefore  represent  to  us  a 
full  and  substantial  notion  of  an  infinite  being.  We  cannot 
speak  or  think  worthily  enough  of  him  who  is  greater  than  our 
words,  vaster  than  our  understandings.  Whatsoever  we  speak 
or  think  of  God,  is  handed  first  to  us  by  the  notice  we  have  of 
some  perfection  in  the  creature,  and  explains  to  us  some  par- 
ticular excellency  of  God  rather  than  the  fulness  of  his  essence. 
No  creature,  nor  all  creatures  together,  can  furnish  us  with 
such  a  magnificent  notion  of  God  as  can  give  us  a  clear  view 
of  him.  Yet  God  in  his  word  is  pleased  to  step  below  his  own 
excellency,  and  point  us  to  those  excellencies  in  his  works, 
whereby  we  may  ascend  to  the  knowledge  of  those  excellen- 
cies which  are  in  his  nature.  But  the  creatures,  whence  we 
draw  our  lessons,  being  finite,  and  our  understandings  being 
finite,  it  is  utterly  impossible  to  have  a  notion  of  God  com- 
mensurate to  the  immensity  and  spirituality  of  his  being.  "  God 
is  not  like  to  visible  creatures,  nor  is  there  any  proportion  be- 
tween him  and  the  most  spiritual."3     We  cannot  have  a  full 

i  Chin.  Predict,  part  2,  p.  252.  ^  Lawson.  Body  Divin.  p.  161. 

'  Amyraldus  Moral,  torn.  1.  p.  289. 


214  ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 

notion  of  a  spiritual  nature,  much  less  can  we  have  of  God, 
who  is  a  Spirit  above  spirits.  No  spirit  can  clearly  represent 
him.  The  angels  that  are  great  spirits,  are  bounded  in  their 
extent,  finite  in  their  being,  and  of  a  mutable  nature. 

Yet  though  we  cannot  have  a  suitable  conception  of  God, 
we  must  not  content  ourselves  without  any  conception  of  him. 
It  is  our  sin  not  to  endeavour  after  a  true  notion  of  him;  it  is 
our  sin  to  rest  in  a  mean  and  low  notion  of  him,  when  our 
reason  tells  us  we  are  capable  of  having  higher.  But  if  we 
ascend  as  high  as  we  can,  though  we  shall  then  come  short  of  a 
suitable  notion  of  him;  this  is  not  our  sin,  but  our  weakness. 
God  is  infinitely  superior  to  the  choicest  conceptions,  not  only 
of  a  sinner,  but  of  a  creature.  If  all  conceptions  of  God  below 
the  true  nature  of  God  were  sin,  there  is  not  a  holy  angel  in 
heaven  free  from  sin;  because  though  they  are  the  most  capa- 
cious creatures,  yet  they  cannot  have  such  a  notion  of  an  infi- 
nite being  as  is  fully  suitable  to  his  nature,  unless  they  were 
infinite  as  he  himself  is. 

2.  But,  however,  we  must  by  no  means  conceive  of  God 
under  a  human  or  corporeal  shape.  Since  we  cannot  have 
conceptions  honourable  enough  for  his  nature,  we  must  take 
heed  we  entertain  not  any  which  may  debase  his  nature. 
Though  we  cannot  comprehend  him  as  he  is,  we  must  be  care- 
ful not  to  fancy  him  to  be  what  he  is  not.  It  is  a  vain  thing  to 
conceive  him  with  human  lineaments.  We  must  think  higher 
of  him  than  to  ascribe  to  him  so  mean  a  shape:  we  deny  his 
spirituality  when  we  fancy  him  under  such  a  form:  he  is  spirit- 
ual, and  between  that  which  is  spiritual  and  that  which  is 
corporeal,  there  is  no  resemblance.  Indeed  Daniel  saw  God  in 
a  human  form:1  "The  Ancient  of  days  did  sit,  whose  garment 
was  white  as  snow,  and  the  hair  of  his  head  like  the  pure 
wool,"  Dan.  vii.  9.  He  is  described  as  coming  to  judgment.  It 
is  not  meant  of  Christ  probably,  because  Christ  is  called  the 
Son  of  man  coming  near  to  the  Ancient  of  days,  ver.  13.  This 
is  not  the  proper  shape  of  God,  for  no  man  has  seen  his  shape. 
It  was  a  vision  wherein  such  representations  were  made  as 
were  accommodated  to  the  inward  sense  of  Daniel.  Daniel  saw 
him  in  a  rapture  or  ecstasy,  wherein  outward  senses  are  of  no 
use.  God  is  described,  not  as  he  is  in  himself,  of  a  human  form, 
but  in  regard  of  his  fitness  to  judge:  white  denotes  the  purity 
and  simplicity  of  the  Divine  nature:  Ancient  of  days,  in  re- 
gard of  his  eternity;  white  hair  in  regard  of  his  prudence  and 
wisdom,  which  is  more  eminent  in  age  than  youth,  and  more 
fit  to  discern  causes  and  to  distinguish  between  right  and 
wrong.  Visions  are  riddles,  and  must  not  be  understood  in  a 
literal  sense.  We  are  to  watch  against  such  determinate  con- 
'  Episc.  Institut.  li.  4.  §  2.  c.  17. 


ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT.  215 

ceptions  of  God.  Vain  imaginations  do  easily  infest  us:  tinder 
will  not  sooner  take  fire  than  our  natures  kindle  into  wrong 
notions  of  the  Divine  majesty.  We  are  very  ;i|>t  to  fashion  a 
god  like  ourselves:  we  must  therefore  look  upon  such  repre- 
sentations of  God  as  accommodated  to  our  weakness;  and  no 
more  think  them  to  be  literal  descriptions  of  God,  as  he  is  in 
himself,  than  we  will  think  the  image  of  the  snn  in  the  water 
to  he  the  true  suu  in  the  heavens.  We  may  indeed  conceive 
of  Christ  as  man,  who  has  in  heaven  the  vestment  of  our  na- 
ture, and  is  Dcus  figuratus,  though  we  cannot  conceive  the 
Godhead  under  a  human  shape. 

To  have  such  a  fancy  is  to  disparage  and  wrong  God.  A 
corporeal  fancy  of  God  is  as  ridiculous  in  itself,  and  as  inju- 
rious to  God  as  a  wooden  statue.  The  caprices  of  our  imagi- 
nation are  often  more  monstrous  than  the  images  which  are 
the  works  of  art:  it  is  as  irreligious  to  measure  God's  essence 
by  our  line,  his  perfections  by  our  imperfections,  as  to  measure 
his  thoughts  and  actings  by  the  weakness  and  nnworthiness  of 
our  own.  This  is  to  limit  an  infinite  essence,  and  pull  him 
down  to  our  scanty  measures,  and  render  that  which  is  incon- 
ceivably above  us  equal  with  us.  It  is  impossible  we  can  con- 
ceive God  after  the  manner  of  a  body,  but  we  must  bring  him 
down  to  the  proportion  of  a  body,  which  is  to  diminish  his 
glory,  and  stoop  him  below  the  dignity  of  his  nature.  God  is 
a  pure  Spirit,  he  has  nothing  of  the  nature  and  tincture  of  a 
body;  whosoever  therefore  conceives  of  him  as  having  a  bodily 
form,  though  he  fancy  the  most  beautiful  and  comely  body, 
instead  of  owning  his  dignity,  detracts  from  the  supereminent 
excellency  of  his  nature  and  blessedness.  When  men  fancy 
God  like  themselves  in  their  corporeal  nature,  they  will  soon 
make  a  progress,  and  ascribe  to  him  their  corrupt  nature;  and 
while  they  clothe  him  with  their  bodies,  invest  him  also  in  the 
infirmities  of  them.  God  is  a  jealous  God,  very  sensible  of  any 
disgrace,  and  will  be  as  much  incensed  against  an  inward 
idolatry  as  an  outward.  That  command  which  forbade  corpo- 
real images,  Exod.  xx.  4,  would  not  indulge  carnal  imagina- 
tions, since  the  nature  of  God  is  as  much  wronged  by  unwor- 
thy images  erected  in  the  fancy  as  by  statues  carved  out  of 
stone  or  metals.  One  as  well  as  the  other  is  a  deserting  of  our 
true  Spouse,  and  committing  adultery,  one  with  a  material 
image,  and  the  other  with  a  carnal  notion  of  God.  Since  God 
humbles  himself  to  our  apprehensions,  we  should  not  debase 
him  in  thinking  him  to  be  that  in  his  nature,  which  he  makes 
only  a  resemblance  of  himself  to  us. 

To  have  such  fancies  of  God,  will  obstruct  and  pollute  our 
worship  of  him.  How  is  it  possible  to  give  him  a  right  wor- 
ship, of  whom  we  have  so  debasing  a  notion  ?  We  shall  never 


•216  0N  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 

think  a  corporeal  deity  worthy  of  a  dedication  of  our  spirits. 
The  hating  instruction,  and  casting  God's  word  behind  the 
back,  is  charged  upon  the  imagination  they  had,  that  God  was 
such  a  one  as  themselves,  Psal.  1.  17.  21.  Many  of  the  wiser 
heathen  did  not  judge  their  statues  to  be  their  gods,  or  their 
gods  to  be  like  their  statues;  but  suited  them  to  their  politic 
designs;  and  judged  them  a  good  invention  to  keep  people 
within  the  bounds  of  obedience  and  devotion,  by  such  visible 
figures  of  them,  which  might  imprint  a  reverence  and  fear  of 
those  gods  upon  them.  But  these  were  false  measures:  a  des- 
pised and  undervalued  God  is  not  an  object  of  petition  or 
affection.  Who  could  address  seriously  a  God  he  has  low 
apprehensions  of?  The  more  raised  thoughts  we  have  of  him, 
the  viler  sense  we  shall  have  of  ourselves:  they  would  make 
us  humble  and  self-abhorrent  in  our  supplications  to  him, 
"  wherefore  I  abhor  myself,  and  repent  in  dust  and  ashes," 
Job  xlii.  6. 

3.  Though  we  must  not  conceive  of  God  as  of  a  human  or 
corporeal  shape;  yet  we  cannot  think  of  God,  without  some 
reflection  upon  our  own  being.  We  cannot  conceive  him  to 
be  an  intelligent  being,  but  we  must  make  some  comparison 
between  him  and  our  own  understanding  nature,  to  come  to  a 
knowledge  of  him.  Since  we  are  enclosed  in  bodies,  we  appre- 
hend nothing  but  what  comes  in  by  sense,  and  what  we  in 
some  sort  measure  by  sensible  objects.  And  in  the  considera- 
tion of  those  things  which  we  desire  to  abstract  from  sense,  we 
are  fain  to  make  use  of  the  assistance  of  sense  and  visible 
things:  and  therefore,  when  we  frame  the  highest  notion,  there 
will  be  some  similitude  of  some  corporeal  thing  in  our  fancy; 
and  though  we  would  spiritualize  our  thoughts,  and  aim  at  a 
more  abstracted  and  raised  understanding,  yet  there  will  be 
some  dregs  of  matter  sticking  to  our  conceptions;  yet  we  still 
judge  by  argument  and  reasoning,  what  the  thing  is  we  think 
of  under  those  material  images.  A  corporeal  image  will  follow 
us,  as  the  shadow  does  the  body: 1  while  we  are  in  the  body, 
and  surrounded  with  fleshly  matter,  we  cannot  think  of  things 
without  some  help  from  corporeal  representations.  Something 
of  sense  will  interpose  itself  in  our  purest  conceptions  of  spiri- 
tual things;  for  the  faculties  which  serve  for  contemplation, 
are  either  corporeal,  as  the  sense  and  fancy,  or  so  allied  to 
them,  that  nothing  passes  into  them  but  by  the  organs  of  the 
body;2  so  that  there  is  a  natural  inclination  to  figure  nothing 
but  under  a  corporeal  notion,  till  by  an  attentive  application  of 
the  mind  and  reason  to  the  object  thought  upon,  we  separate 
that  which  is  bodily  from  that  which  is  spiritual,  and  by  de- 
grees ascend  to  that  true  notion  of  what  we  think  upon,  and 

1  Nazianzen.  2  Amyrald.  Moral,  torn.  1.  p.  180,  &n 


ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT.  217 

would  have  a  due  conception  of  in  our  mind.  Therefore  God 
tempers  the  declaration  of  himself  to  onr  weakness,  and  the 
condition  of  our  natures:  he  condescends  to  our  littleness  and 
narrowness,  when  he  declares  himself  hy  the  similitude  of 
bodily  members;  as  the  light  of  the  sun  is  tempered,  and  diffu- 
ses itself  to  our  sense  through  the  air  and  vapours,  that  our 
weak  eyes  may  not  be  too  much  dazzled  with  it.  Without  it 
we  could  not  know  or  judge  of  the  sun,  because  we  could  have 
no  use  of  our  sense,  which  we  must  have  before  we  can  judge 
of  it  in  our  understanding:  so  we  are  not  able  to  conceive  of 
spiritual  beings  in  the  purity  of  their  own  nature,  without  such 
a  temperament  and  such  shadows  to  usher  them  into  our 
minds.  And  therefore  we  find  the  Spirit  of  God  accommodates 
himself  to  our  contracted  and  tethered  capacities,  and  uses  such 
expressions  of  God,  as  are  suited  to  us  in  this  state  of  flesh 
wherein  we  are:  and  therefore  because  we  cannot  apprehend 
God  in  the  simplicity  of  his  own  being,  and  his  undivided 
essence,  he  draws  the  representations  of  himself  from  several 
creatures  and  several  actions  of  those  creatures:  as  sometimes 
he  is  said  to  be  angry,  to  walk,  to  sit,  to  fly;  not  that  we  should 
rest  in  such  conceptions  of  him,  but  take  our  rise  from  this 
foundation,  and  such  perfections  in  the  creatures,  to  mount  up 
to  a  knowledge  of  God's  nature  by  those  several  steps,  and 
conceive  of  him  by  those  divided  excellencies,  because  we  can- 
not conceive  of  him  in  the  purity  of  his  own  essence.  We 
cannot  possibly  think  or  speak  of  God,  unless  we  transfer  the 
names  of  created  perfections  to  him;1  yet  we  are  to  conceive 
of  them  in  a  higher  manner  when  we  apply  them  to  the  Divine 
nature,  than  when  we  consider  them  in  the  several  creatures 
formally,  exceeding  those  perfections  and  excellencies  which 
are  in  the  creature,  and  in  a  more  excellent  manner:  as  one 
says,  "though  we  cannot  comprehend  God  without  the  help 
of  such  resemblances,  yet  we  may  without  making  an  image 
of  him;  so  that  inability  of  ours  excuses  those  apprehensions  of 
him  from  any  way  offending  against  his  Divine  nature."2 
These  are  not  notions  so  much  suited  to  the  nature  of  God  as 
the  weakness  of  man:  they  are  helps  to  our  meditations,  but 
ought  not  to  be  formal  conceptions  of  him.  We  may  assist 
ourselves  in  our  apprehensions  of  him,  by  considering  the  sub- 
tilty  and  spirituality  of  air,  and  considering  the  members  of  a 
body,  without  thinking  him  to  be  air,  or  to  have  any  corporeal 
member.  Our  reason  tells  us,  that  whatsoever  is  a  body  is 
limited  and  bounded;  and  the  notion  of  infiniteness  and  pos- 
sessing a  body,  cannot  agree  and  consist  together;  and  there- 
fore whai  is  oll'ered  by  our  fancy  should  be  purified  by  our 
reason. 

1  Lessius.  2  Towerson  on  the  Commandments,  p.  112. 

Vol.  I.— 28 


218  ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 

4.  Therefore  we  are  to  elevate  and  refine  all  our  notions  of 
God,  and  spiritualize  our  conceptions  of  him.  Every  man  is 
to  have  a  conception  of  God;  therefore  he  ought  to  have  one 
of  the  highest  elevation.  Since  we  cannot  have  a  full  notion 
of  him,  we  should  endeavour  to  make  it  as  high  and  as  pure 
as  we  can.  Though  we  cannot  conceive  of  God,  but  some 
corporeal  representations  or  images  in  our  minds  will  be  con- 
versant with  us,  as  motes  in  the  air  when  we  look  upon  the 
heavens;  yet  our  conception  may  and  must  rise  higher.  As 
when  we  see  the  draught  of  the  heavens  and  earth  in  a  globe, 
or  a  kingdom  in  a  map,  it  helps  our  conceptions,  but  does  not 
terminate  them;  we  conceive  them  to  be  of  a  vast  extent,  far 
beyond  that  short  description  of  them:  so  we  should  endeavour 
to  refine  every  representation  of  God,  to  rise  higher  and  higher, 
and  have  our  apprehensions  still  more  purified;  separating  the 
perfect  from  the  imperfect,  casting  away  the  one  and  greaten- 
ing  the  other:  conceive  him  to  be  a  Spirit  diffused  through  all, 
containing  all,  perceiving  all.  All  the  perfections  of  God  are 
infinitely  elevated  above  the  excellencies  of  the  creatures; 
above  whatsoever  can  be  conceived  by  the  clearest  and  most 
piercing  understanding.  The  nature  of  God  as  a  Spirit,  is  in- 
finitely superior  to  whatsoever  we  can  conceive  perfect  in  the 
notion  of  a  created  spirit.  Whatsoever  God  is,  he  is  infinitely 
so;  he  is  infinite  wisdom,  infinite  goodness,  infinite  knowledge, 
infinite  power,  infinite  spirit,  infinitely  distant  from  the  weak- 
ness of  creatures,  infinitely  mounted  above  the  excellencies  of 
creatures;  as  easy  to  be  known  that  he  is,  as  impossible  to  be 
comprehended  what  lie  is. 

Conceive  of  him  as  excellent,  without  any  imperfection;  a 
Spirit  without  parts,  great  without  quantity,  perfect  without 
quality,  every  where  without  place;  powerful  without  mem- 
bers, understanding  without  ignorance,  wise  without  reasoning, 
light  without  darkness;  infinitely  more  excelling  the  beauty  of 
all  creatures,  than  the  light  in  the  sun,  pure  and  unviolated, 
exceeds  the  splendour  of  the  sun  dispersed  and  divided  through 
a  cloudy  and  misty  air.  And  when  you  have  risen  to  the 
highest,  conceive  him  yet  infinitely  above  all  you  can  conceive 
of  spirit,  and  acknowledge  the  infirmity  of  your  own  minds. 
And  whatsoever  conception  comes  into  your  minds,  say, "  This 
is  not  God,  God  is  more  than  this.  If  I  could  conceive  him, 
he  were  not  God;  for  God  is  incomprehensibly  above  whatso- 
ever I  can  say,  whatsoever  I  can  think  and  conceive  of  him." 

Use  4.  If  God  be  a  Spirit,  no  corporeal  thing  can  defile  him. 
Some  bring  an  argument  against  the  omnipresence  of  God,  that 
it  is  a  disparagement  to  the  Divine  essence  to  be  every  where; 
in  nasty  cottages,  as  well  as  beautiful  palaces  and  garnished 
temples.     What  place  can  defile  a   spirit?      Is  light,  which 


ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT.  219 

approaches  to  the  nature  of  spirit,  polluted  by  shining  upon  a 
dunghill,  or  a  sunbeam  tainted  by  darting  upon  a  quagmire? 
Does  an  angel  contract  any  soil,  by  stepping  into  a  nasty  prison 
to  deliver  Peter?  What  can  steam  from  the  most  noisome 
body,  to  pollute  the  spiritual  nature  of  God  ?  As  he  is  of  purer 
eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity,  Hab.  i.  1:3,  so  he  is  of  a  more 
spiritual  substance,  than  to  contract  any  physical  pollution  from 
the  places  where  he  diffuses  himself.  Did  our  Saviour,  who 
had  a  true  body,  derive  any  taint  from  the  lepers  he  touch- 
ed, the  diseases  he  cured,  or  the  devils  he  expelled?  God  is  a 
pure  Spirit;  plunges  himself  into  no  filth;  is  dashed  with  no 
spot  by  being  present  with  all  bodies.  Bodies  alone  receive 
defilement  from  bodies. 

Use  5.  If  God  be  a  Spirit,  he  is  active  and  communicative, 
lie  is  not  clogged  with  heavy  and  sluggish  matter,  which  is 
cause  of  dulness  and  inactivity.  The  more  subtile,  thin,  and 
approaching  nearer  the  nature  of  a  spirit  any  tiling  is,  the  more 
diffusive  it  is.  Air  is  a  gliding  substance;  it  spreads  itself 
through  all  regions;  pierces  into  all  bodies;  it  fills  the  space 
between  heaven  and  earth;  there  is  nothing  but  partakes  of 
the  virtue  of  it.  Light,  which  is  an  emblem  of  spirit,  insinu- 
ates itself  into  all  places,  refreshes  all  things.  As  spirits  are 
fuller,  so  they  are  more  overflowing,  more  piercing,  more  ope- 
rative than  bodies.  The  Egyptians'  horses  were  weak  things, 
because  they  were  flesh  and  not  spirit,  Isa.  xxxi.  3.  The  soul 
being  a  spirit,  conveys  more  to  the  body  than  the  body  can  to 
it.  What  cannot  so  great  a  Spirit  do  for  us?  What  cannot 
so  great  a  Spirit  work  in  us?  God  being  a  Spirit  above  all 
spirits,  can  pierce  into  the  centre  of  all  spirits;  make  his  way 
into  the  most  secret  recesses;  stamp  what  he  pleases.  It  is  no 
more  to  him  to  turn  our  spirits,  than  to  make  a  wilderness  be- 
come waters,  and  speak  a  chaos  into  a  beautiful  frame  of  hea- 
ven and  earth:  he  can  influence  our  souls  with  infinitely  more 
ease  than  our  souls  can  influence  our  bodies;  he  can  fix  in  us 
what  motions,  frames,  inclinations  he  pleases;  he  can  come  and 
settle  in  our  hearts  with  all  his  treasures.  It  is  an  encourage- 
ment to  confide  in  him,  when  we  petition  him  for  spiritual 
blessings:  as  he  is  a  Spirit,  he  is  possessed  with  spiritual  bless- 
ings, Eph.  i.  3.  A  spirit  delights  to  bestow  things  suitable  to 
its  nature,  as  bodies  do  to  communicate  what  is  agreeable  to 
theirs.  As  he  is  a  Father  of  spirits,  we  may  go  to  him  for  the 
welfare  of  our  spirits:  lie  being  a  Spirit,  is  as  able  to  repair  our 
spirits,  as  he  was  to  create  them. 

As  he  is  a  Spirit,  he  is  indefatigable  m  acting.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  body  tire  and  flag;  but  who  ever  heard  of  a  soul 
wearied  with  being  active;  who  ever  beard  of  a  weary  afigel? 
In  the  purest  simplicity  there  is  the  greatest  power,  the  most 


220  ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT. 

efficacious  goodness,  the  most  reaching  justice  to  affect  the 
spirit,  that  can  insinuate  itself  every  where  to  punish  wicked- 
ness without  weariness,  as  well  as  to  comfort  goodness.  God 
is  active,  because  he  is  a  Spirit;  and  if  we  be  like  to  God,  the 
more  spiritual  we  are,  the  more  active  we  shall  be. 

Use  6.  God  being  a  Spirit,  is  immortal.  His  being  immortal 
and  being  invisible  are  joined  together,  I  Tim.  i.  17.  Spirits 
are  in  their  nature  incorruptible;  they  can  only  perish  by  that 
hand  that  framed  them.  Every  compounded  thing  is  subject 
to  mutation;  but  God  being  a  pure  and  simple  Spirit,  is  without 
corruption,  without  any  shadow  of  change,  James  i.  17.  Where 
there  is  composition,  there  is  some  kind  of  repugnancy  of  one 
part  against  the  other;  and  where  there  is  repugnancy,  there 
is  a  capability  of  dissolution.  God,  in  regard  of  his  infinite 
spirituality,  has  nothing  in  his  own  nature  contrary  to  it;  can 
have  nothing  in  himself  which  is  not  himself.  The  world 
perishes;  friends  change  and  are  dissolved;  bodies  moulder, 
because  they  are  mutable.  God  is  a  Spirit  in  the  highest  ex- 
cellency and  glory  of  spirits;  nothing  is  beyond  him;  nothing 
above  him;  no  contrariety  within  him.  This  is  our  comfort,  if 
we  devote  ourselves  to  him;  this  God  is  our  God  ;  this  Spirit 
is  our  Spirit;  this  is  our  all,  our  immutable,  our  incorruptible 
support;  a  Spirit  that  cannot  die  and  leave  us. 

Use  7.  If  God  be  a  Spirit,  we  see  how  alone  we  can  con- 
verse with  him  by  our  spirits.  Bodies  and  spirits  are  not  suitable 
to  one  another;  we  can  only  see,  know,  embrace  a  spirit  with 
our  spirits.  He  judges  not  of  us  by  our  corporeal  actions,  nor 
our  external  devotions  by  our  masks  and  disguises:  he  fixes 
his  eye  upon  the  frame  of  the  heart,  bends  his  ear  to  the  groans 
of  our  spirits.  He  is  not  pleased  with  outward  pomp:  he  is 
not  a  body;  therefore  the  beauty  of  temples,  delicacy  of  sacri- 
fices, fumes  of  incense,  are  not  grateful  to  him;  by  those,  or 
any  external  action,  we  have  no  communion  with  him.  A 
spirit  when  broken  is  his  delightful  sacrifice,  Psal.  li.  17.  We 
must  therefore  have  our  spirits  fitted  for  him,  be  renewed  in 
the  spirit  of  our  minds,  Eph.  iv.  23,  that  we  may  be  in  a  pos- 
ture to  live  with  him,  and  have  an  intercourse  with  him.  We 
can  never  be  united  to  God,  but  in  our  spirits.  Bodies  unite 
with  bodies,  spirits  with  spirits.  The  more  spiritual  any  thing 
is,  the  more  closely  does  it  unite.  Air  has  the  closest  union; 
nothing  meets  together  sooner  than  that,  when  the  parts  are 
divided  by  the  interposition  of  a  body. 

Use  8.  If  God  be  a  Spirit,  he  only  can  be  the  true  satisfac- 
tion of  our  spirits.  Spirit  can  alone  be  filled  with  a  spirit. 
Content  flows  from  likeness  and  suitableness:  as  we  have  a 
resemblance  to  God  in  regard  of  the  spiritual  nature  of  our 
soul,  so  we  can  have  no  satisfaction  but  in  him.     Spirit  can  no 


ON  GOD'S  BEING  A  SPIRIT.  221 

more  be  really  satisfied  with  that  which  is  corporeal,  than  a 
beast  can  delight  in  the  company  of  an  angel.  Corporeal 
things  can  no  more  fill  a  hungry  spirit  than  pure  spirit  can  feed 
a  hungry  body.  God,  the  highest  Spirit,  can  alone  reach  out 
a  lull  content  to  our  spirits.  Man  is  lord  of  the  creation;  no- 
thing below  him  can  be  fit  for  his  converse;  nothing  above  him 
Offers  itself  to  his  converse  but  God.  We  have  no  correspond- 
ence with  angels;  the  influence  they  have  upon  us,  the  protec- 
tion they  afford  us,  is  secret  and  undiscerned;  but  God, the  highest 
Spirit,  oilers  himself  to  us  in  his  Son,  in  his  ordinances,  is  visi- 
ble in  every  creature,  presents  himself  to  us  in  every  provi- 
dence; to  him  we  must  seek;  in  him  we  must  rest.  God  had 
no  rest  from  the  creation  till  he  had  made  man ;  and  man  can 
have  no  rest  in  the  creation,  till  he  rests  in  God.  God  only  is 
our  dwelling-place,  Psal.  xc.  1;  our  souls  should  long  only  for 
him,  Psal.  lxiii.  1 ;  our  souls  should  wait  only  upon  him.  The 
spirit  of  man  never  rises  to  its  original  glory,  till  it  be  carried 
up  on  the  wings  of  faith  and  love  to  its  original  copy.  The 
face  of  the  soul  looks  most  beautiful  when  it  is  turned  to  the 
face  of  God  the  Father  of  spirits;  when  the  derived  spirit  is 
fixed  upon  the  original  Spirit,  drawing  from  it  life  and  glory. 
Spirit  alone  is  the  receptacle  of  spirit.  God  as  Spirit  is  our 
principle;  we  must  therefore  live  upon  him.  God  as  Spirit  has 
some  resemblance  to  us  his  image;  we  must  therefore  satisfy 
ourselves  only  in  him. 

Use  9.  If  God  be  a  Spirit,  we  should  take  most  care  of  that 
wherein  we  are  like  to  God.  Spirit  is  nobler  than  body;  we 
must  therefore  value  our  spirits  above  our  bodies.  The  soul, 
as  spirit,  partakes  more  of  the  Divine  nature,  and  deserves  more 
of  our  choicest  cares.  If  we  have  any  love  to  this  Spirit,  we 
should  have  a  real  affection  to  our  own  spirits,  as  bearing  a 
stamp  of  the  spiritual  Divinity,  the  chiefest  of  all  the  works  of 
God,  as  it  is  said  of  Behemoth,  Job  xl.  19.  That  which  is 
most  the  image  of  this  immense  Spirit,  should  be  our  darling; 
so  David  calls  his  soul,  Psal.  xxxv.  17.  Shall  we  take  care  of 
that  wherein  we  partake  not  of  God,  and  not  delight  in  the 
jewel  which  has  his  own  signature  upon  it?  God  was  not  only 
the  framer  of  spirits  and  the  end  of  spirits,  but  the  copy  and 
exemplar  of  spirits.  God  partakes  of  no  corporeity,  he  is  pure 
spirit;  but  how  do  we  act  as  if  we  were  only  matter  and  body! 
We  have  but  little  kindness  for  this  great  Spirit  as  well  as  our 
own,  if  we  take  no  care  of  his  immediate  offspring,  since  he 
is  not  only  Spirit,  but  the  Father  of  spirits,  Ilcb.  xii.  9. 

Use  10.  If  God  be  a  Spirit,  let  us  take  heed  of  those  sins 
which  are  spiritual.  Paul  distinguished  between  the  filth  of 
the  flesh  and  that  of  the  spirit,  2  Cor.  vii.  1.  By  the  one  we 
defile  the  body,  by  the  other  we  defile  the  spirit,  which  in  re- 


222  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

gard  of  its  nature  is  of  kin  to  the  Creator.  To  wrong  one  who 
is  near  of  kin  to  a  prince,  is  worse  than  to  injure  an  inferior 
subject.  When  we  make  our  spirits,  which  are  most  like  to 
God  in  their  nature,  and  framed  according  to  his  image,  a  stage 
to  act  vain  imaginations,  wicked  desires,  and  unclean  affec- 
tions, we  wrong  God  in  the  excellency  of  his  work,  and  reflect 
upon  the  nobleness  of  the  pattern;  we  wrong  him  in  that  part 
where  he  has  stamped  the  most  signal  character  of  his  own 
spiritual  nature;  we  defile  that  whereby  alone  we  have  con- 
verse with  him  as  a  Spirit,  which  he  has  ordered  more  imme- 
diately to  represent  him  in  this  nature  than  all  corporeal  things 
in  the  world  can,  and  make  that  Spirit  with  whom  we  desire 
to  be  joined  unfit  for  such  a  knot.  God's  spirituality  is  the  root 
of  his  other  perfections.  We  have  already  heard  he  could  not 
be  infinite,  omnipresent,  immutable  without  it.  Spiritual  sins 
are  the  greatest  root  of  bitterness  within  us.  As  grace  in  our 
spirits  renders  us  more  like  to  a  spiritual  God,  so  spiritual  sins 
bring  us  into  a  conformity  to  a  degraded  devil,  Eph.  ii.  2,  3. 
Carnal  sins  change  us  from  men  to  brutes,  and  spiritual  sins 
divest  us  of  the  image  of  God  for  the  image  of  Satan.  We 
should  by  no  means  make  our  spirits  a  dunghill,  which  bear 
upon  them  the  character  of  the  spiritual  nature  of  God,  and 
were  made  for  his  residence.  Let  us  therefore  behave  our- 
selves towards  God  in  all  those  ways  which  the  spiritual  nature 
of  God  requires  us. 


DISCOURSE  IV. 

ON      SPIRITUAL       WORSHIP. 

John  iv.  24. — God  is  a  Spirit :  and  they  that  worship  him,  must  worship  him  in 
spirit  and  in  truth. 

II.  Inference.  Having  thus  despatched  the  first  proposition, 
"  God  is  a  Spirit;"  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  handle  the  inference 
our  Saviour  makes  from  that  proposition:  which  is  the  second 
observation  propounded. 

Observation  2.  That  the  worship  due  from  us  to  God  ought 
to  be  spiritually  performed. 

"Spirit  and  truth"  are  understood  variously.  We  are  to  wor- 
ship God, 

Not  by  legal  ceremonies,  the  evangelical  administration  being 
called  spirit  in  opposition  to  the  legal  ordinances  as  carnal,  and 
truth,  in  opposition  to  them  as  typical.     As  the  whole  Judaical 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  223 

service  is  called  flesh;  so  the  whole  evangelical  service  is  called 
spirit.  Or  spirit  may  be  opposed  to  the  worship  at  Jerusalem, 
as  it  was  carnal;  truth,  to  the  worship  on  the  mount  Gerizim, 
because  it  was  false.  They  had  not  the  true  object  of  worship, 
nor  the  true  medium  of  worship,  as  those  at  Jerusalem  had. 
Their  worship  should  cease,  because  it  was  false;  and  the  Jew- 
ish worship  should  cease,  because  it  was  carnal. 

There  is  no  need  of  a  candle  when  the  sun  spreads  its  beams 
in  the  air;  no  need  of  those  ceremonies,  when  the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness appeared.  They  only  served  for  candles  to  instruct 
and  direct  men  till  the  time  of  his  coming.  The  shadows  are 
chased  away  by  the  displaying  the  substance,  so  that  they  can 
be  of  no  more  use  in  the  worship  of  God,  since  the  end  for 
which  they  were  instituted  is  expired;  and  that  is  discovered  to 
us  in  the  gospel,  which  the  Jews  sought  for  in  vain,  among  the 
baggage  and  stutf  of  their  ceremonies. 

And  with  a  spiritual  and  sincere  frame.  "  In  spirit,"  that  is, 
with  spirit;  with  the  inward  operations  of  all  the  faculties  of 
our  souls,  and  the  cream  and  flower  of  them.  And  the  reason 
is,  because  there  ought  to  be  a  worship  suitable  to  the  nature 
of  God.  And  as  the  worship  was  to  be  spiritual,  so  the  exer- 
cise of  that  worship  ought  to  be  in  a  spiritual  manner.  It  shall 
be  a  worship  in  truth,  because  the  true  God  shall  be  adored 
without  those  vain  imaginations  and  phantastic  resemblances 
of  him,  which  were  common  among  the  blind  gentiles,  and  con- 
trary to  the  glorious  nature  of  God,  and  unworthy  ingredients 
in  religious  services. l  It  shall  be  a  worship  in  spirit,  without 
those  carnal  rites  the  degenerate  Jews  rested  on. 2  Such  a  pos- 
ture of  soul  which  is  the  life  and  ornament  of  every  service 
God  looks  for  at  your  hands:  there  must  be  some  proportion 
between  the  object  adored,  and  the  manner  in  which  we  adore 
it.  It  must  not  be  a  mere  corporeal  worship,  because  God  is 
not  a  body;  but  it  must  rise  from  the  centre  of  our  soul,  because 
God  is  a  Spirit.  If  he  were  a  body,  a  bodily  worship  might 
suit  him,  images  might  be  fit  to  represent  him;  but  being  a 
Spirit,  our  bodily  services  bring  us  not  into  communion  with  him. 
God  being  a  Spirit,  we  must  banish  from  our  minds  all  carnal 
imaginations  of  him,  and  separate  from  our  wills  all  cold  and 
dissembled  affections  to  him.  We  must  not  only  have  a  loud 
voice,  but  an  elevated  soul;  not  only  a  bended  knee,  but  a  bro- 
ken heart;  not  only  a  supplicating  tone,  but  a  groaning  spirit; 
not  only  a  ready  ear  for  the  word,  but  a  receiving  heart :  and 
this  shall  be  of  greater  value  with  him  than  the  most  costly 
outward  services  offered  on  Gerizim  or  at  Jerusalem. 

Our  Saviour  certainly  meant  not  by  worshipping  in  spirit, 
only  the  matter  of  the  evangelical  service,  as  opposed  to  the 

1  Lingend.  torn.  2.  p.  777.  2  Taylor's  Exemplar,  Preface,  §  30. 


224  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

legal  administration,  without  the  manner  wherein  it  was  to  be 
performed.  It  is  true,  God  always  sought  a  worship  in  spirit; 
he  expected  the  heart  of  the  worshipper  should  join  with  his 
instituted  rites  of  adoration  in  every  exercise  of  them:  but  he 
expects  such  a  carriage  more  under  the  gospel  administration, 
because  of  the  clearer  discoveries  of  his  nature  made  in  it,  and 
the  greater  assistances  conveyed  by  it. 

I  shall  therefore — Lay  down  some  general  propositions — 
Show  what  this  spiritual  worship  is — Why  we  must  offer  to 
God  a  spiritual  service — and  point  out  the  use. 

1.  Some  general  propositions. 

Prop.  (1.)  The  right  exercise  of  worship  is  founded  upon  and 
rises  from  the  spirituality  of  God.  The  first  ground  of  the 
worship  we  render  to  God,  is  the  infinite  excellency  of  his  na- 
ture, which  is  not  only  one  attribute,  but  results  from  all.1  For 
God,  as  God,  is  the  object  of  worship;  and  the  notion  of  God 
consists  not  in  thinking  him  wise,  good,  just,  but  all  those  in- 
finitely beyond  any  conception.  And  hence  it  follows  that  God 
is  an  object  infinitely  to  be  loved  and  honoured.  His  goodness 
is  sometimes  spoken  of  in  Scripture  as  a  motive  of  our  homage. 
"  There  is  forgiveness  with  thee,  that  thou  mayest  be  feared," 
Psa.  exxx.  4.  Fear  in  the  Scripture  dialect  signifies  the  whole 
worship  of  God.  But  in  every  nation  he  that  fears  him  is 
accepted  of  him,  Acts  x.  35.  So  2  Kings  xvii.  32,  33.  If  God 
should  act  towards  men  according  to  the  rigours  of  his  justice 
due  to  them  for  the  least  of  their  crimes,  there  could  be  no  ex- 
ercise of  any  affection  but  that  of  despair,  which  could  not 
engender  a  worship  of  God;  which  ought  to  be  joined  with  love, 
not  with  hatred.  The  beneficence  and  patience  of  God  and  his 
readiness  to  pardon  men,  is  the  reason  of  the  honour  they 
return  to  him.  And  this  is  so  evident  a  motive,  that  generally 
the  idolatrous  world  ranked  those  creatures  in  the  number  of 
their  gods,  which  they  perceived  useful  and  beneficial  to  man- 
kind; as  the  sun  and  moon,  the  Egyptians  the  ox,  &c.  And 
the  more  beneficial  any  thing  appeared  to  mankind,  the  higher 
station  men  gave  it  in  the  rank  of  their  deities,  and  bestowed  a 
more  peculiar  and  solemn  worship  upon  it.  Men  worshipped 
God  to  procure  or  continue  his  favour,  which  would  not  have 
been  acted  by  them,  had  they  not  conceived  it  a  pleasing  thing 
to  him  to  be  merciful  and  gracious. 

Sometimes  his  justice  is  proposed  to  us  as  a  motive  of  wor- 
ship. "  Serve  God  acceptably  with  reverence  and  godly  fear; 
for  our  God  is  a  consuming  fire,"  Heb.  xii.  28,  29;  which 
includes  his  holiness  whereby  he  hates  sin,  as  well  as  his 
wrath  whereby  he  punishes  it.  Who  but  a  mad  and  totally 
brutish  person,  or  one  that  was  resolved  to  make  war  against 

i  Ames,  Medul.  lib.  2.  cap.  4.  §  20. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  •).)-, 

heaven,  could  behold  the  effects  of  God's  anger  in  the  world, 
consider  him'  in  his  justice  as  a  consuming  fire,  and  despise  him, 
and  rather  be  drawn  out  by  that  consideration  to  blasphemy 
and  despair,  than  to  seek  all  ways  to  appease  him?  Now  though 
the  infinite  power  of  God,  his  unspeakable  wisdom,  his  incom- 
prehensible goodness,  the  holiness  of  his  nature,  the  vigilance 
of  his  providence,  the  bounty  of  his  hand,  signify  to  man  that 
he  should  love  and  honour  him,  and  are  the  motives  of  wor- 
ship; yet  the  spirituality  of  his  nature  is  the  rule  of  worship, 
and  directs  us  to  render  our  duty  to  him  with  all  the  powers  of 
our  soul.  As  his  goodness  beams  out  upon  us,  worship  is  due 
in  justice  to  him;  and  as  he  is  the  most  excellent  nature,  vene- 
ration is  due  to  him  in  the  highest  manner  with  the  choicest 
affections. 

So  that  indeed  the  spirituality  of  God  comes  chiefly  into 
consideration  in  matter  of  worship:  all  his  perfections  are 
grounded  upon  this:  he  could  not  be  infinite,  immutable,  om- 
niscient, if  he  were  a  corporeal  being:  we  cannot  give  him  a 
worship  unless  we  judge  him  worthy,  excellent,  and  deserving 
a  worship  at  our  hands:1  and  we  cannot  judge  him  worthy  of 
a  worship,  unless  we  have  some  apprehensions  and  admirations 
of  his  infinite  virtues:  and  we  cannot  apprehend  and  admire 
those  perfections,  but  as  we  see  them  as  causes  shining  in  their 
effects.  When  we  see,  therefore,  the  frame  of  the  world  to  be 
the  work  of  his  power,  the  order  of  the  world  to  be  the  fruit  of 
his  wisdom,  and  the  usefulness  of  the  world  to  be  the  product 
of  his  goodness,  we  find  the  motives  and  reasons  of  worship; 
and  weighing  that  this  power,  wisdom,  goodness,  infinitely 
transcend  any  corporeal  nature,  we  find  a  rule  of  worship,  that 
it  ought  to  be  offered  by  us  in  a  manner  suitable  to  such  a 
nature  as  is  infinitely  above  any  bodily  being.  His  being  a 
Spirit  declares  what  he  is;  his  other  perfections  declare  what 
kind  of  Spirit  he  is.  All  God's  perfections  suppose  him  a  Spi- 
rit; all  centre  in  this:  his  wisdom  does  not  suppose  him  merci- 
ful, or  his  mercy  suppose  him  omniscient:  there  may  be  distinct 
notions  of  those,  but  all  suppose  him  to  be  of  a  spiritual  nature. 
How  cold  and  frozen  will  our  devotions  be,  if  we  consider  not 
his  omniscience,  whereby  he  discerns  our  hearts!  How  carnal 
will  our  services  be,  if  we  consider  him  not  as  a  pure  Spirit!2 
In  our  offers  to,  and  transactions  with  men,  we  deal  not  with 
them  as  mere  animals,  but  as  rational  creatures;  and  we  debase 
their  natures  if  we  treat  them  otherwise:  and  if  we  have  not 
raised  apprehensions  of  God's  spiritual  nature  in  our  treating 
with  him,  but  allow  him  only  such  frames  as  we  think  fit 
enough  for  men,  we  debase  his  spirituality  to  the  littleness  of 
our  own  being:  we  must  therefore  possess  our  souls  with  this, 

1  Amyrald.  dissert.  6.  disp.  1.  p.  12.  2  Amyraut.  dc  Relig. 

Vol.  I.— 29 


226  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

we  shall  else  render  him  no  better  than  a  fleshly  service.  We 
do  not  much  concern  ourselves  in  those  things,  of  which  we  are 
either  utterly  ignorant,  or  have  but  slight  apprehensions. 

That  is  the  first  proposition;  the  right  exercise  of  worship  is 
grounded  upon  the  spirituality  of  God. 

Prop.  (2.)  This  spiritual  worship  of  God  is  manifest  by  the 
light  of  nature  to  be  due  to  him.     In  reference  to  this,  consider, 

[1.]  The  outward  means  or  matter  of  that  worship  which 
would  be  acceptable  to  God,  was  not  known  by  the  light  of 
nature.  The  law  for  a  worship,  and  for  a  spiritual  worship, 
by  the  faculties  of  our  souls  was  natural,  and  part  of  the  law 
of  creation;  though  the  determination  of  the  particular  acts, 
whereby  God  would  have  this  homage  testified,  was  of  posi- 
tive institution,  and  depended  not  upon  the  law  of  creation. 
Though  Adam  in  innocence  knew  God  was  to  be  worshipped; 
yet  by  nature  he  did  not  know  by  what  outward  acts  he  was 
to  pay  this  respect,  or  at  what  time  he  was  more  solemnly  to 
be  exercised  in  it  than  at  another:  this  depended  upon  the  di- 
rections God,  as  the  sovereign  Governor  and  Lawgiver,  should 
prescribe.  You  therefore  find  the  positive  institutions  of  the 
tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  and  the  determination 
of  the  time  of  worship,  Gen.  ii.  3.  17.  Had  there  been  any 
such  notion  in  Adam  naturally,  as  strong  as  that  other,  that  a 
worship  was  due  to  God,  there  would  have  been  found  some 
relics  of  these  modes  universally  consented  to  by  mankind,  as 
well  as  of  the  other:  but  though  all  nations  have,  by  a  univer- 
sal consent,  concurred  in  the  acknowledgment  of  the  being  of 
God,  and  his  right  to  adoration,  and  the  obligation  of  the  crea- 
ture to  it;  and  that  there  ought  to  be  some  public  rule  and 
polity  in  matters  of  religion;  (for  no  nation  has  been  in  the 
world  without  a  worship,  and  without  external  acts  and  certain 
ceremonies  to  signify  that  worship;)  yet  their  modes  and  rites 
have  been  as  various  as  their  climates,  unless  in  that  common 
notion  of  sacrifices,  not  descending  to  them  by  nature,  but 
tradition  from  Adam;  and  the  various  ways  of  worship  have 
been  more  provoking  than  pleasing:  every  nation  suited  the 
kind  of  worship  to  their  particular  ends  and  polities  they  de- 
signed to  rule  by.  How  God  was  to  be  worshipped,  is  more 
difficult  to  be  discerned  by  nature  with  its  eyes  out,  than  with 
its  eyes  clear.  The  pillars  upon  which  the  worship  of  God 
stands,  cannot  be  discerned  without  revelation,  no  more  than 
blind  Samson  could  tell  where  the  pillars  of  the  Philistines' 
theatre  stood,  without  one  to  conduct  him. '  What  Adam  could 
not  see  with  his  sound  eyes,  we  cannot  with  our  dim  eyes;  he 
must  be  told  from  heaven  what  worship  was  fit  for  the  God  of 
heaven.     It  is  not  by  nature  that  we  can  have  such  a  full  pros- 

1  King  on  Jonah,  p.  63. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  227 

pect  of  God  as  may  content  and  quiet  us;  this  is  the  noble  effect 
of  Divine  revelation;  he  only  knows  himself,  and  can  alone 
make  himself  known  to  us.  It  could  not  be  supposed,  that  an 
infinite  God  should  have  no  perfections  but  what  were  visible 
in  the  works  of  his  hands;  and  that  these  perfections  should 
not  be  infinitely  greater,  than  as  they  were  sensible  in  their 
present  effects:  this  had  been  to  apprehend  God  a  limited  being, 
meaner  than  he  is.  Now  it  is  impossible  to  honour  God  as  we 
ought,  unless  we  know  him  as  he  is;  and  we  could  not  know 
him  as  he  is,  without  Divine  revelation  from  himself:  for  none 
but  God  can  acquaint  us  with  his  own  nature;  and  therefore 
the  nations  void  of  this  conduct,  heap  up  modes  of  worship 
from  their  own  imaginations,  unworthy  of  the  majesty  of  God, 
and  below  the  nature  of  man.  A  rational  man  would  scarce 
have  owned  such  for  signs  of  honour,  as  the  Scripture  men- 
tions in  the  services  of  Baal  and  Dagon;  much  less  an  infinitely 
wise  and  glorious  God.  And  when  God  had  signified  his  mind 
to  his  own  people,  how  unwilling  were  they  to  rest  satisfied  with 
God's  determination,  but  would  be  warping  to  their  own  inven- 
tions, and  make  gods  and  ways  of  worship  to  themselves,  Amos 
v.  26.  As  in  the  matter  of  the  golden  calf,  as  was  lately  spoken  of. 
[2.]  Though  the  outward  manner  of  worship  acceptable  to 
God,  could  not  be  known  without  revelation,  and  those  revela- 
tions might  be  various;  yet  the  inward  manner  of  worship  with 
our  spirits  was  manifest  by  nature.  And  not  only  manifest  by 
nature  to  Adam  in  innocence,  but  after  his  fall,  and  the  scales 
he  had  brought  upon  his  understanding  by  that  fall.  When 
God  gave  him  his  positive  institutions  before  the  fall,  or  what- 
soever additions  God  should  have  made,  had  he  persisted  in 
that  state;  or  when  he  appointed  him  after  his  fall  to  testify  his 
acknowledgment  of  him  by  sacrifices,  there  needed  no  com- 
mand to  him  to  make  those  acknowledgments  by  those  out- 
ward ways  prescribed  to  him,  with  the  intention  and  prime 
affection  of  his  spirit:  this  nature  would  instruct  him  in  with- 
out revelation:  for  he  could  not  possibly  have  any  semblance 
of  reason  to  think,  that  the  offering  of  beasts,  or  the  presenting 
the  first-fruits  of  the  increase  of  the  ground,  as  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  God's  sovereignty  over  him,  and  his  bounty  to  him, 
was  sufficient  without  devoting  to  him  that  part  wherein  the 
image  of  his  Creator  did  consist:  he  could  not  but  discern  by  a 
reflection  upon  his  own  being,  that  he  was  made  for  God  as 
well  ;isby  God;  (for  it  is  a  natural  principle  of  which  the  apos- 
tle speaks,  Rom.  xi.  36.  "For  of  him,  and  through  him,  and 
to  him,  ate  all  things,"  &c.)  that  the  whole  whereof  he  did  con- 
sist was  due  to  God;  and  that  his  body,  the  dreggy  and  dusty 
part  of  his  nature,  was  not  fit  to  be  brought  alone  before  God, 
without  that  nobler  principle,  which  he  had  by  creation  linked 


228  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

with  it.  Nothing  in  the  whole  law  of  nature,  as  it  is  informed 
of  religion,  was  clearer  next  to  the  being  of  God,  than  this  man- 
ner of  worshipping  God  with  the  mind  and  spirit.  And  as  the 
gentiles  never  sunk  so  low  into  the  mud  of  idolatry,  as  to  think 
the  images  they  worshipped  were  really  their  gods,  but  the  re- 
presentations, or  habitations  of  their  gods ;  so  they  never  deserted 
this  principle  in  the  notion  of  it,  that  God  was  to  be  honoured 
with  the  best  they  were  and  the  best  they  had.  As  they  never 
denied  the  being  of  a  God  in  the  notion,  though  they  did  in  the 
practice,  so  they  never  rejected  this  principle  in  notion,  though 
they  did,  and  now  most  men  do,  in  the  inward  observation  of 
it.  It  was  a  maxim  among  them  that  God  was  mens,  animus, 
'•'mind  and  spirit,"  and  therefore  was  to  be  honoured  with  the 
mind  and  spirit:  that  religion  did  not  consist  in  the  ceremonies 
of  the  body,  but  the  work  of  the  soul;  whence  the  speech  of  one 
of  them,  "  Sacrifice  to  the  gods,  not  so  much  clothed  with  pur- 
ple garments  as  a  pure  heart;"1  and  of  another,  "  God  regards 
not  the  multitude  of  the  sacrifices,  but  the  disposition  of  the  sac- 
rificer." 2  It  is  not  fit  we  should  deny  God  the  cream  and  flour, 
and  give  him  the  worthless  part  and  the  stalks.  And  with  what 
reverence  and  intention  of  mind  they  thought  their  worship  was 
to  be  performed,  is  evident  by  the  priest's  crying  out  often, 
Hoc  age,  "  Mind  this,"  let  your  spirits  be  intent  upon  it. 

This  could  not  but  result, 

From  the  knowledge  of  ourselves.  It  is  a  natural  principle, 
God  hath  made  us,  and  not  we  ourselves,  Psa.  c.  3.  Man 
knows  himself  to  be  a  rational  creature:  as  a  creature  he  was 
to  serve  his  Creator;  and  as  a  rational  creature,  with  the  best 
part  of  that  rational  nature  he  derived  from  him.  By  the  same 
act  of  reason  that  he  knows  himself  to  be  a  creature,  he  knows 
himself  to  have  a  Creator;  that  this  Creator  is  more  excellent 
than  himself,  and  that  an  honour  is  due  from  him  to  the  Crea- 
tor for  framing  of  him;  and  therefore  this  honour  was  to  be 
offered  to  him  by  the  most  excellent  part  which  was  framed  by 
him.  Man  cannot  consider  himself  as  a  thinking,  understanding 
being,  but  he  must  know  that  he  must  give  God  the  honour  of 
his  thoughts,  and  worship  him  with  those  faculties  whereby  he 
thinks,  wills,  and  acts.  He  must  know  his  faculties  were  given 
him  to  act,  and  to  act  for  the  glory  of  that  God  who  gave  him 
his  soul  and  the  faculties  of  it;3  and  he  could  not  in  reason 
think  they  must  be  only  active  in  his  own  service,  and  the  ser- 
vice of  the  creature,  and  idle  and  unprofitable  in  the  service  of 
his  Creator.  With  the  same  powers  of  our  soul  whereby  we 
contemplate  God,  we  must  also  worship  God.  We  cannot 
think  of  him  but  with  our  minds,  nor  love  him  but  with  our 

1  Menander.  Grot,  dc  Veritat.  Relig.  lib.  4.  §  12.  2  Jamblicus. 

3  Amyrald.  Mor.  torn.  1.  p.  309,  310. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  worship.  229 

will;  and  we  cannot  worship  him  without  the  acts  of  thinking 
and  loving,  and  therefore  cannot  worship  him  without  the  ex- 
ercise of  our  inward  faculties.  How  is  it  possible  then  for  any 
man  that  knows  his  own  nature,  to  think  that  extended  hands, 
bended  knees,  and  uplifted  eyes  were  sufficient  acts  of  worship, 
without  a  quickened  and  active  spirit? 

And  from  the  knowledge  of  God.  As  there  was  a  know- 
ledge of  God  by  nature,  so  the  same  nature  did  dictate  to  man 
that  God  was  to  be  glorified  as  God:  the  apostle  implies  the 
inference  in  the  charge  he  brings  against  them  for  neglecting  it, 
Rom.  i.  21.  We  should  speak  of  God  as  he  is,  said  one;  and 
the  same  reason  would  inform  them  that  they  were  to  act  to- 
wards God  as  he  is.1  The  excellency  of  the  object  required  a 
worship  according  to  the  dignity  of  his  nature;  which  could 
not  be  answered  but  by  the  most  serious  inward  affection,  as 
well  as  outward  decency;  and  a  want  of  this  cannot  but  be 
judged  to  be  unbecoming  the  majesty  of  the  Creator  of  the 
world,  and  the  excellency  of  religion.  No  nation,  no  person 
did  ever  assert,  that  the  vilest  part  of  man  was  enough  for  the 
most  excellent  Being,  as  God  is :  that  a  bodily  service  could  be 
a  sufficient  acknowledgment  of  the  greatness  of  God,  or  a  suffi- 
cient return  for  the  bounty  of  God.  Man  could  not  but  know 
that  he  was  to  act  in  religion,  conformably  to  the  object  of  reli- 
gion, and  to  the  excellency  of  his  own  soul.2  The  notion  of  a 
God  was  sufficient  to  fill  the  mind  of  man  with  admiration  and 
reverence,  and  the  first  conclusion  from  it  would  be  to  honour 
God,  and  that  he  have  all  the  affection  placed  on  him  that  so 
infinite  and  spiritual  a  Being  did  deserve.  The  progress  then 
would  be,  that  this  excellent  being  was  to  be  honoured  with 
the  motions  of  the  understanding  and  will;  with  the  purest  and 
most  spiritual  powers  in  the  nature  of  man;  because  he  was 
a  spiritual  Being,  and  had  nothing  of  matter  mingled  with  him. 
Such  a  brutish  imagination,  to  suppose  that  blood  and  fumes, 
beasts  and  incense,  could  please  a  Deity  without  a  spiritual 
frame,  cannot  be  supposed  to  befall  any  but  those  that  had  lost 
their  reason  in  the  rubbish  of  sense.  Mere  rational  nature 
could  never  conclude,  that  so  excellent  a  Spirit  would  be  put 
off  with  a  mere  animal  service,  and  attendance  of  matter  and 
body  without  spirit;  when  they  themselves,  of  an  inferior 
nature,  would  be  loth  to  sit  down  contented  with  an  outside 
service  from  those  that  belong  to  them :  so  that  this  instruction 
of  our  Saviour,  that  God  is  to  be  worshipped  in  spirit  and 
truth,  is  conformable  to  the  sentiments  of  nature,  and  drawn 
from  the  most  undeniable  principles  of  it.  The  excellency  of 
God's  nature,  and  the  excellent  constitution  of  human  faculties, 
concur  naturally  to  support  this  persuasion.  This  was  as  natu- 

•  Bias.  2  Amy  raid. 


230  0N  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

ral  to  be  known  by  men,  as  the  necessity  of  justice  and  tempe- 
rance for  the  support  of  human  societies  and  bodies.  It  is  to 
be  feared,  that  if  there  be  not  among  us  such  brutish  apprehen- 
sions, there  are  such  brutish  dealings  with  God  in  our  services 
against  the  light  of  nature;  when  we  place  all  our  worship  of 
God  in  outward  attendances  and  drooping  countenances,  with 
unbelieving  frames  and  formal  devotions;  when  prayer  is 
muttered  over  in  private  slightly,  as  a  parrot  learns  lessons  by 
rote,  not  understanding  what  it  speaks,  or  to  what  end  it  speaks 
it;  not  glorifying  God  in  thought  and  spirit,  with  understand- 
ing and  will. 

Prop.  (3.)  Spiritual  worship  therefore  was  always  required 
by  God,  and  always  offered  to  him  by  one  or  other.  Man  had 
a  perpetual  obligation  upon  him  to  such  a  worship  from  the 
nature  of  God,  and  what  is  founded  upon  the  nature  of  God  is 
invariable.  This  and  that  particular  mode  of  worship  may  wax 
old  as  a  garment,  and  as  a  vesture  may  be  folded  up  and 
changed,  as  the  expression  is  of  the  heavens,  Heb.  i.  11,  12: 
but  God  endures  for  ever:  his  spirituality  fails  not,  and  there- 
fore a  worship  of  him  in  spirit  must  run  through  all  ways  and 
rites  of  worship.  God  must  cease  to  be  Spirit,  before  any  ser- 
vice but  that  which  is  spiritual  can  be  accepted  by  him.  The 
light  of  nature  is  the  light  of  God;  the  light  of  nature  being 
unchangeable,  what  was  dictated  by  that,  was  always  and  will 
always  be  required  by  God.  The  worship  of  God  being  per- 
petually due  from  the  creature,  the  worshipping  him  as  God 
is  as  perpetually  his  right.  Though  the  outward  expressions 
of  this  honour  were  different,  one  way  in  paradise,  (for  a  wor- 
ship was  then  due,  since  a  solemn  time  for  that  worship  was 
appointed.)  another  under  the  law,  another  under  the  gospel; 
the  angels  also  worship  God  in  heaven,  and  fall  down  before 
his  throne;  yet  though  they  differ  in  rites,  they  agree  in  this 
necessary  ingredient.  All  rites,  though  of  a  different  shape, 
must  be  offered  to  him  not  as  carcasses,  but  animated  with  the 
affections  of  the  soul.  Abel's  sacrifice  had  not  been  so  excel- 
lent in  God's  esteem,  without  those  gracious  habits  and  affec- 
tions working  in  his  soul,  Heb.  xi.  4.  Faith  works  by  love; 
his  heart  was  on  fire  as  well  as  his  sacrifice.  Cain  rested  upon 
his  present;  perhaps  thought  he  had  obliged  God;  he  depended 
upon  the  outward  ceremony,  but  sought  not  for  the  inward 
purity.  It  was  an  offering  brought  to  the  Lord,  Gen.  iv.  3: 
he  had  the  right  object,  but  not  the  right  manner:  "  If  thou 
dost  well,  shalt  thou  not  be  accepted?"  Gen.  iv.  7.  And  in  the 
command  afterwards  to  Abraham,  "  Walk  before  me,  and  be 
thou  perfect,"  was  the  direction  in  all  our  religious  acts  and 
walkings  with  God.  A  sincere  act  of  the  mind  and  will,  look- 
ing above  and  beyond  all  symbols,  extending  the  soul  to  a  pitch 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  231 

fat  above  the  body,  and  seeing  the  day  of  Christ  through  the 
veil  of  the  ceremonies,  was  (required  by  God:  and  though 
Moses  by  God's  order  had  instituted  a  multitude  of  carnal  ordi- 
nances, sacrifices,  washings,  oblations  of  sensible  things,  and 
recommended  to  the  people  the  diligent  observation  of  those 
statutes  by  the  allurements  of  promises  and  denouncing  of 
threatenings;  as  if  there  were  nothing  else  to  be  regarded,  and 
the  true  workings  of  grace  were  to  be  buried  under  a  heap  of 
ceremonies;  yet  sometimes  he  does  point  them  to  the  inward 
worship,  and  by  the  command  of  God  requires  of  them  the  cir- 
cumcision of  the  heart,  Dent.  x.  1G,  the  turning  to  God  with  all 
their  heart  and  all  their  soul,  Deut.  xxx.  10;  whereby  they 
might  recollect,  that  it  was  the  engagement  of  the  heart,  and 
the  worship  of  the  spirit,  that  was  most  agreeable  to  God  ;  and 
that  he  took  not  any  pleasure  in  their  observance  of  ceremonies, 
without  true  piety  within,  and  the  true  purity  of  their  thoughts. 
Prop.  (4.)  It  is  therefore  as  much  every  man's  duty  to  wor- 
ship God  in  spirit,  as  it  is  his  duty  to  worship  him.  Worship 
is  so  due  to  him  as  God,  as  that  he  that  denies  it  disowns  his 
Deity;  and  spiritual  worship  is  so  due,  that  he  that  waves  it 
denies  his  spirituality.  It  is  a  debt  of  justice  we  owe  to  God 
to  worship  him,  and  it  is  as  much  a  debt  of  justice  to  worship 
him  according  to  his  nature.  Worship  is  nothing  else  but  a 
rendering  to  God  the  honour  that  is  due  to  him;  and  therefore 
the  right  posture  of  our  spirits  in  it  is  as  much  or  more  due 
than  the  material  worship  in  the  modes  of  his  own  prescribing; 
that  is  grounded  both  upon  his  nature  and  upon  his  command, 
this  only  upon  his  command;  that  is  perpetually  due,  whereas 
the  channel  wherein  outward  worship  runs  may  be  dried  up, 
and  the  river  diverted  another  way.  If  the  worship  be  not  such 
wherein  the  mind  thinks  of  God,  feels  a  sense  of  God,  has  the 
spirit  consecrated  to  God,  the  heart  glowing  with  affections  to 
God,  it  is  else  a  mocking  God  with  a  feather.  A  rational  nature 
must  worship  God  with  that  wherein  the  glory  of  God  does 
most  sparkle  in  him.  God  is  most  visible  in  the  frame  of  the 
soul,  it  is  there  his  image  glitters:  he  has  given  us  a  jewel  as 
well  as  a  case,  and  the  jewel  as  well  as  the  case  we  must  re- 
turn to  him.  The  spirit  is  God's  gift,  and  must  return  to  him, 
Eccl.  xii.  7.  It  must  return  to  him  in  every  service  morally,  as 
well  as  it  must  return  to  him  at  last  physically.  It  is  not  fit  we 
should  serve  our  Maker  only  with  that  which  is  the  brute  in 
us.  and  withhold  from  him  that  which  does  constitute  us  rea- 
sonable creatures;  we  must  give  him  our  bodies,  but  a  living 
sacrifice,  Rom.  xii.  1.  If  the  spirit  be  absent  from  God  when 
the  body  is  before  him,  we  present  a  dead  sacrifice;  it  is  mo- 
rally dead  in  the  duty,  though  it  be  naturally  alive  in  the  pos- 
ture and  action.  It  is  not  an  indifferent  thing  whether  we  shall 


232  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

worship  God  or  no,  nor  is  it  an  indifferent  thing  whether  we 
shall  worship  him  with  our  spirits  or  no.  As  the  excellency  of 
man's  knowledge  consists  in  knowing  things  as  they  are  ii 
truth,  so  the  excellency  of  the  will,  in  willing  things  as  they  are 
in  goodness.  As  it  is  the  excellency  of  man  to  know  God  as 
God,  so  it  is  no  less  his  excellency,  as  well  as  his  duty,  to  ho- 
nour God  as  God.  As  the  obligation  we  have  to  the  power  of 
God  for  our  being,  binds  us  to  a  worship  of  him,  so  the  obliga- 
tion we  have  to  his  bounty  for  fashioning  us  according  to  his 
own  image,  binds  us  to  an  exercise  of  that  part  wherein  his 
image  does  consist.  God  has  made  all  things  for  himself,  Prov. 
xvi.  4,  that  is,  for  the  evidence  of  his  own  goodness  and  wis- 
dom: we  are  therefore  to  render  him  a  glory  according  to  the 
excellency  of  his  nature,  discovered  in  the  frame  of  our  own. 
It  is  as  much  our  sin  not  to  glorify  God  as  God,  as  not  to  at- 
tempt the  glorifying  of  him  at  all:  it  is  our  sin  not  to  worship 
God  as  God,  as  well  as  to  omit  the  testifying  any  respect  at  all 
to  him.  As  the  Divine  nature  is  the  object  of  worship,  so  the 
Divine  perfections  are  to  be  honoured  in  worship:  we  do  not 
honour  God  if  we  honour  him  not  as  he  is;  we  honour  him 
not  as  a  Spirit,  if  we  think  him  not  worthy  of  the  ardours  and 
ravishing  admiration  of  our  spirits.  If  we  think  the  devotions 
of  the  body  are  sufficient  for  him,  we  contract  him  into  the 
condition  of  our  own  being,  and  not  only  deny  him  to  be  a 
spiritual  nature,  but  dash  out  all  those  perfections  which  he 
could  not  be  possessed  of  were  he  not  a  Spirit. 

Prop.  (5.)  The  ceremonial  law  was  abolished  to  promote  the 
spirituality  of  divine  worship.  That  service  was  gross,  carnal, 
calculated  for  an  infant  and  sensitive  church:  it  consisted  in 
rudiments,  the  circumcision  of  the  flesh,  the  blood  and  smoke 
of  sacrifices,  the  steams  of  incense,  observation  of  days,  dis- 
tinction of  meats,  corporeal  purifications;  every  leaf  of  the 
law  is  clogged  with  some  rite  to  be  particularly  observed  by 
them.  The  spirituality  of  worship  lay  veiled  under  a  thick 
cloud,  that  the  people  could  not  behold  the  glory  of  the  gospel, 
which  lay  covered  under  those  shadows.  They  "could  not 
steadfastly  look  to  the  end  of  that  which  is  abolished,"  2  Cor. 
iii.  13.  They  understood  not  the  glory  and  spiritual  intent  of 
the  law,  and  therefore  came  short  of  that  spiritual  frame  in  the 
worship  of  God  which  was  their  duty.  And  therefore  in  op- 
position to  this  administration,  the  worship  of  God  under  the 
gospel  is  called  by  our  Saviour  in  the  text,  "a  worship  in 
spirit;"  more  spiritual  for  the  matter,  more  spiritual  for  the 
motives,  and  more  spiritual  for  the  manner  and  frames  of  wor- 
ship. 

[1.]  This  legal  service  is  called  flesh  in  Scripture,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  gospel,  which  is  called  spirit.     The  ordinances  of 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  233 

the  law.  though  of  Divine  institution,  are  dignified  by  the 
apostle  with  no  better  a  title  than  carnal  ordinances,  Heb.  ix. 
10,  and  a  carnal  commandment,  Heb.  vii.  16;  but  the  gospel 
is  called  the  ministration  of  the  spirit,  as  being  attended  with 
a  special  and  spiritual  efficacy  on  the  minds  of  men,  2  Cor.  iii. 
8.  And  when  the  degenerate  Galatians,  after  having  tasted  of  the 
pure  streams  of  the  gospel,  turned  about  to  drink  of  the  thicker 
streams  of  the  law,  the  apostle  tells  them  that  they  began  in 
the  Spirit  and  would  now  be  made  perfect  in  the  flesh,  Gal.  iii. 
3.  They  would  leave  the  righteousness  of  faith  for  a  justifica- 
tion by  works.  The  moral  law  which  is  in  its  own  nature 
spiritual,  Rom.  vii.  14,  in  regard  of  the  abuse  of  it,  in  expec- 
tation of  justification  by  the  outward  works  of  it,  is  called  flesh : 
much  more  may  the  ceremonial  administration,  which  was 
never  intended  to  run  parallel  with  the  moral,  nor  had  any 
foundation  in  nature  as  the  other  had. 

That  whole  economy  consisted  in  sensible  and  material  things 
which  only  touched  the  flesh;  it  is  called  the  letter,  and  the  old- 
ness  of  the  letter,  Rom.  vii.  6;  as  letters  which  are  but  empty 
sounds  of  themselves,  but  put  together  and  formed  into  words, 
signify  something  to  the  mind  of  the  hearer  or  reader';  an  old 
letter,  a  thing  of  no  efficacy  upon  the  spirit,  but  as  a  law  writ- 
ten upon  paper.  The  gospel  has  an  efficacious  spirit  attending 
it,  strongly  working  upon  the  mind  and  will,  and  moulding  the 
soul  into  a  spiritual  frame  for  God,  according  to  the  doctrine  of 
the  gospel:  the  one  is  old  and  decays,  the  other  is  new  and  in- 
creases daily. 

And  as  the  law  itself  is  called  flesh,  so  the  observers  of  it 
and  rcsters  in  it  are  called  Israel  after  the  flesh,  1  Cor.  x.  18. 
And  the  evangelical  worshipper  is  called  a  Jew  after  the  spirit, 
Rom.  ii.  29.  They  were  Israel  after  the  flesh  as  born  of  Jacob, 
not  Israel  after  the  spirit  as  born  of  God;  and  therefore  the 
apostle  calls  them  Israel  and  not  Israel,  Rom.  ix.  6;  Israel  after 
a  carnal  birth,  not  Israel  after  a  spiritual :  Israel  in  the  circum- 
cision of  the  flesh,  not  Israel  by  a  regeneration  of  the  heart. 

[2.]  The  legal  ceremonies  were  not  a  fit  means  to  bring  the 
heart  into  a  spiritual  frame.  They  had  a  spiritual  intent:  the 
rock  and  manna  prefigured  the  salvation  and  spiritual  nourish- 
ment by  the  Redeemer,  1  Cor.  x.  3,  4.  The  sacrifices  were  to 
point  them  to  the  justice  of  God  in  the  punishment  of  sin,  and 
the  mercy  of  God  in  substituting  them  in  their  stead,  as  types 
of  the  Redeemer  and  the  ransom  by  his  blood.  The  circum- 
cision of  the  flesh  was  to  instruct  them  in  the  circumcision  of 
the  heart;  they  were  flesh  in  regard  of  their  matter,  weakness, 
and  cloudiness;  spiritual  in  regard  of  their  intent  and  signifi- 
cation: they  did  instruct,  but  not  efficaciously  work  strong 
spiritual  affections  in  the  soul  of  the  worshipper.  They  were 
Vol.  I.— 30 


234  0N  spiritual  WORSHIP. 

weak  and  beggarly  elements,  Gal.  iv.  9;  had  neither  wealth  to 
enrich  nor  strength  to  nourish  the  soul;  they  could  not  perfect 
the  comers  to  them,  or  put  them  into  a  frame  agreeable  to  the 
nature  of  God,  Heb.  x.  1 ;  ix.  9,  nor  purge  the  conscience  from 
those  dead  and  dull  dispositions  which  were  by  nature  in  them, 
Heb.  ix.  14.  Being  carnal,  they  could  not  have  an  efficacy  to 
purify  the  conscience  of  the  offerer,  and  work  spiritual  effects: 
had  they  continued  without  the  exhibition  of  Christ,  they  could 
never  have  wrought  any  change  in  us,  or  purchased  any  favour 
for  us.  At  the  best  they  were  but  shadows,  and  came  inex- 
pressibly short  of  the  efficacy  of  that  person  and  state  whose 
shadows  they  were.1  The  shadow  of  a  man  is  too  weak  to 
perform  what  the  man  himself  can  do,  because  it  wants  the 
life,  spirit,  and  activity  of  the  substance.  The  whole  pomp 
and  scene  was  suited  more  to  the  sensitive  than  the  intellectual 
nature:  and  like  pictures,  pleased  the  fancy  of  children,  rather 
than  improved  their  reason.  The  Jewish  state  was  a  state  of 
childhood,  Gal.  iv.  3,  and  that  administration  a  pedagogy,  Gal. 
iii.  24.  The  law  was  a  schoolmaster  fitted  for  their  weak  and 
childish  capacity,  and  could  no  more  spiritualize  the  heart  than 
the  teachings  in  a  primer-school  can  enable  the  mind,  and  make 
it  fit  for  affairs  of  state.  And  because  they  could  not  better 
the  spirit,  they  were  instituted  only  for  a  time,  as  elements  de- 
livered to  an  infant  age,  which  naturally  lives  a  life  of  sense, 
rather  than  a  life  of  reason.  It  was  also  a  servile  state,  which 
does  rather  debase  than  elevate  the  mind,  rather  carnalize  than 
spiritualize  the  heart:  besides,  it  is  a  sense  of  mercy  that  both 
melts  and  elevates  the  heart  into  a  spiritual  frame:  "There  is 
forgiveness  with  thee,  that  thou  mayest  be  feared:"  Psal.  cxxx. 
4.  And  they  had  in  that  state  but  some  glimmerings  of  mercy 
in  the  daily  bloody  intimations  of  justice;  there  was  no  sacrifice 
for  some  sins,  but  a  cutting  off  without  the  least  hints  of  pardon; 
and  in  the  yearly  remembrance  of  sin,  there  was  as  much  to 
shiver  them  with  fear,  as  to  possess  them  with  hopes.  And 
such  a  state  which  always  held  them  under  the  conscience  of 
sin,  could  not  produce  a  free  spirit,  which  was  necessary  for  a 
worship  of  God  according  to  his  nature. 

[3.]  In  their  use  they  rather  hindered  than  furthered  a  spiritual 
worship.  In  their  own  nature  they  did  not  tend  to  the  obstruct- 
ing a  spiritual  worship;  for  then  they  had  been  contrary  to  the 
nature  of  religion,  and  the  end  of  God  who  appointed  them: 
nor  did  God  cover  the  evangelical  doctrine  under  the  clouds  of 
the  legal  administration,  to  hinder  the  people  of  Israel  from 
perceiving  it;  but  because  they  were  not  yet  capable  to  bear 
the  splendour  of  it,  had  it  been  clearly  set  before  them.  The 
shining  of  the  face  of  Moses  was  too  dazzling  for  their  weak 
1  Burges'  Vind.  p.  256. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  235 

eyes,  and  therefore  there  was  a  necessity  of  a  veil,  not  for  the 
things  themselves,  but  the  weakness  of  their  eyes,  2  Cor.  hi. 
13,  14.  The  carnal  affections  of  that  people  sunk  down  into 
the  things  themselves;  stuck  in  the  outward  pomp,  and  pierced 
not  through  the  veil  to  the  spiritual  intent  of  them.  And  by 
the  use  of  them  without  rational  conceptions  they  besotted  their 
minds,  and  became  senseless  of  those  spiritual  motions  required 
of  them.  Hence  came  all  their  expectations  of  a  carnal  Mes- 
siah; the  veil  of  ceremonies  was  so  thick,  and  the  film  upon 
their  eyes  so  condensed,  that  they  could  not  look  through  the 
veil  to  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  They  beheld  not  the  heavenly 
Canaan  for  the  beauty  of  the  earthly,  nor  minded  the  regenera- 
tion of  the  spirit,  while  they  rested  upon  the  purifications  of 
the  flesh.  The  prevalency  of  sense  and  sensitive  affections 
diverted  their  minds  from  inquiring  into  the  intent  of  them. 
Sense  and  matter  are  often  clogs  to  the  mind,  and  sensible 
objects  are  the  same  often  to  spiritual  motions.  Our  souls  are 
never  more  raised,  than  when  they  are  abstracted  from  the  en- 
tanglements of  them.  A  pompous  worship  made  up  of  many 
sensible  objects,  weakens  the  spirituality  of  religion:  those  that 
are  most  zealous  for  outward,  are  usually  most  cold  and  indif- 
ferent in  inward  observances;  and  those  that  over-do  in  carnal 
modes,  usually  under-do  in  spiritual  affections. 

This  was  the  Jewish  state.  The  nature  of  the  ceremonies 
being  pompous  and  earthly,  by  their  show  and  beauty,  meeting 
with  their  weakness  and  childish  alfections,  filled  their  eyes 
with  an  outward  lustre,  allured  their  minds,  and  detained  them 
from  seeking  things  higher  and  more  spiritual.1  The  kernel  of 
those  rites  lay  concealed  in  a  thick  shell;  the  spiritual  glory  was 
little  seen,  and  the  spiritual  sweetness  little  tasted.  Unless  the 
Scripture  be  diligently  searched,  it  seems  to  transfer  the  worship 
of  God  from  true  faith  and  the  spiritual  motions  of  the  heart, 
and  stake  it  down  to  outward  observances,  and  the  "opus 
operatum."  Besides,  the  voice  of  the  law  did  only  declare 
sacrifices,  and  invited  the  worshipper  to  them,  with  a  promise 
of  the  atonement  of  sin,  turning  away  the  wrath  of  God.  It 
never  plainly  acquainted  them,  that  those  things  were  types 
and  shadows  of  something  future,  that  they  were  only  outward 
purifications  of  the  flesh:  it  never  plainly  told  them  at  the  time 
of  appointing  them,  that  those  sacrifices  could  not  abolish  sin, 
and  reconcile  them  to  God.  Indeed  we  see  more  of  them  since 
their  death  and  dissection,  in  that  one  epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
than  can  be  discerned  in  the  five  books  of  Moses.  Besides, 
man  naturally  affects  a  carnal  life,  and  therefore  affects  a  carnal 
worship;  he  designs  the  gratifying  his  sense,  and  would  have 
a  religion  of  the  same  nature.     Most  men  have  no  mind  to 

1  Illyric.  de  Velam.  Mosis,  p.  221.  &c. 


236  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

busy  their  reason  above  the  things  of  sense,  and  are  naturally 
unwilling  to  raise  them  up  to  those  things  which  are  allied  to 
the  spiritual  nature  of  God;  and  therefore  the  more  spiritual 
any  ordinance  is,  the  more  averse  is  the  heart  of  man  to  it. 
There  is  a  simplicity  of  the  gospel  from  which  our  minds  are 
easily  corrupted  by  things  that  please  the  sense,  as  Eve  was 
by  the  curiosity  of  her  eye,  and  the  liquorishness  of  her  palate, 
2  Cor.  xi.  3.  From  this  principle  has  sprung  all  the  idolatry 
in  the  world.  The  Jews  knew  they  had  a  God  who  had  deliv- 
ered them,  but  they  would  have  a  sensible  God  to  go  before 
them,  Exod.  xxxii.  1.  And  the  papacy  at  this  day,  is  a  wit- 
ness of  the  truth  of  this  natural  corruption. 

[4.]  Upon  these  accounts  therefore  God  never  testified  him- 
self well  pleased  with  that  kind  of  worship.  He  was  not  dis- 
pleased with  them  as  they  were  his  own  institution,  and  or- 
dained for  the  representing  (though  in  an  obscure  manner)  the 
glorious  tilings  of  the  gospel;  nor  was  he  offended  with  those 
people's  observance  of  them ;  for  since  he  had  commanded  them, 
it  was  their  duty  to  perform  them,  and  their  sin  to  neglect 
them.  But  he  was  displeased  with  them  as  they  were  prac- 
tised by  them,  with  souls  as  morally  carnal  in  the  practices,  as 
the  ceremonies  were  materially  carnal  in  their  substance.  It 
was  not  their  disobedience  to  observe  them ;  but  it  was  a  diso- 
bedience, and  a  contempt  of  the  end  of  the  institution  to  rest 
upon  them;  to  be  warm  in  them,  and  cold  in  morals;  they  fed 
upon  the  bone,  and  neglected  the  marrow;  pleased  themselves 
with  the  shell,  and  sought  not  for  the  kernel:  they  joined  not 
with  them  the  internal  worship  of  God,  fear  of  him,  with  faith 
in  the  promised  Seed,  which  lay  veiled  under  those  coverings: 
"  I  desired  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice;  and  the  knowledge  of  God 
more  than  burnt  offerings,"  Hos.  vi.  6:  and  therefore  he  seems 
sometimes  weary  of  his  own  institutions,  and  calls  them  not  his 
own,  but  their  sacrifices,  their  feasts,  Isa.  i.  11.  14.  They  were 
his  by  appointment,  theirs  by  abuse :  the  institution  was  from 
his  goodness  and  condescension,  therefore  his;  the  corruption  of 
them  was  from  the  vice  of  their  nature,  therefore  theirs.  He 
often  blamed  them  for  their  carnality  in  them;  showed  his  dis- 
like of  placing  all  their  religion  in  them;  gives  the  sacrifices 
upon  that  account  no  better  a  title,  than  that  of  the  princes  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  Isa.  i.  10;  and  compares  the  sacrifices 
themselves  to  the  cutting  off  a  dog's  neck,  swine's  blood,  and 
the  murder  of  a  man,  Isa.  lxvi.  3.  And  indeed  God  never 
valued  them,  or  expressed  any  delight  in  them:  he  despised  the 
feasts  of  the  wicked,  Amos  v.  21,  and  had  no  esteem  for  the 
material  offerings  of  the  godly:  "Will  I  eat  the  flesh  of  bulls, 
or  drink  the  blood  of  goats?"  Psa.  1.  13;  which  he  speaks  to 
his  saints  and  people,  before  he  comes  to  reprove  the  wicked; 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  237 

which  he  begins,  ver.  1G,  "But  unto  the  wicked  God  saith," 
&c.  So  slightly  he  esteemed  them,  that  he  seems  to  disown 
them  to  be  any  part  of  his  command,  when  he.  brought  his  peo- 
ple out  of  the  land  of  Egypt:  "  I  spake  not  to  your  fathers,  nor 
commanded  them — concerning  burnt-oll'erings  and  sacrifices," 
Jer.  vii.  21.  He  did  not  value  nor  regard  them,  in  comparison 
of  that  inward  frame  which  he  had  required  by  the  moral  law; 
that  being  given  before  the  law  of  ceremonies,  obliged  them  in 
the.  first  place  to  an  observance  of  those  precepts.  They  seemed 
to  be  below  the  nature  of  God,  and  could  not  of  themselves 
please  him.  None  could  in  reason  persuade  themselves,  that 
the  death  of  a  beast  was  a  proportionable  oifering  for  the  sin  of 
a  man,  or  ever  was  intended  for  the  expiation  of  transgression. 
In  the  same  rank  are  all  our  bodily  services  under  the  gospel: 
a  loud  voice  without  spirit,  heads  bended  like  bulrushes  without 
inward  affections,  are  no  more  delightful  to  God  than  the  sacri- 
fices of  animals.  It  is  but  a  change  of  one  brute  for  another  of  a 
higher  species ;  a  mere  brute,  for  that  part  of  man  which  has  an 
agreement  with  brutes:  such  a  service  is  a  mere  animal  service, 
and  not  spiritual. 

[5.]  And  therefore  God  never  intended  that  sort  of  worship 
to  be  durable,  and  had  often  mentioned  the  change  of  it  for  one 
more  spiritual.  It  was  not  good  or  evil  in  itself;  whatsoever 
goodness  it  had,  was  solely  derived  to  it  by  institution,  and 
therefore  it  was  mutable.  It  had  no  conformity  witli  the  spiri- 
tual nature  of  God,  who  was  to  be  worshipped;  nor  with  the 
rational  nature  of  man,  who  was  to  worship:  and  therefore  he 
often  speaks  of  taking  away  the  new  moons,  and  feasts,  and 
sacrifices,  and  all  the  ceremonial  worship,  as  things  he  took  no 
pleasure  in,  to  have  a  worship  more  suited  to  his  excellent 
nature.  But  he  never  speaks  of  removing  the  gospel  adminis- 
tration, and  the  worshi-p  prescribed  there,  as  being  more  agree- 
able to  the  nature  and  perfections  of  God,  and  displaying  them 
more  illustriously  to  the  world. 

The  apostle  tells  us,  it  was  to  be  disannulled  because  of  its 
weakness,  Heb.  vii.  18.  A  determinate  time  was  fixed  for  its 
duration,  till  the  accomplishment  of  the  truth  figured  under  that 
pedagogy,  Gal.  iv.  2.  Some  of  the  modes  of  that  worship  being 
only  typical,  must  naturally  expire  and  be  insignificant  in  their 
use,  upon  the  finishing  of  that  by  the  Redeemer  which  they  did 
prefigure.  And  other  parts  of  it,  though  God  suffered  them  so 
long  because  of  the  weakness  of  the  worshipper,  yet  because  it 
became  not  God  to  be  always  worshipped  id  that  manner,  he 
would  reject  and  introduce  another  more  spiritual  and  elevated. 
Incense  and  a  pure  oifering  should  be  offered  every  where  unto 
his  name,  Mai.  i.  11. 

He  often  told  them  he  would  make  a  new  covenant  by  the 


238  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

Messiah,  and  the  old  should  be  rejected  -,1  that  the  former  things 
should  not  be  remembered,  and  the  things  of  old  no  more  con- 
sidered, when  he  should  do  a  new  thing  in  the  earth,  Isaiah 
xliii.  18,  19;  that  even  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  the  symbol  of 
his  presence,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  in  that  nation,  should 
not  any  more  be  remembered  and  visited,  Jer.  iii.  16;  that  the 
temple  and  sacrifices  should  be  rejected,  and  others  established; 
that  the  order  of  the  Aaronical  priesthood  should  be  abolished, 
and  that  of  Melchizedek  set  up  in  the  stead  of  it,  in  the  person 
of  the  Messiah,  to  endure  for  ever,  Psalm  ex:  that  Jerusalem 
should  be  changed;  a  new  heaven  and  earth  created;  a  wor- 
ship more  conformable  to  heaven,  more  advantageous  to  earth. 
God  had  proceeded  in  the  removal  of  some  part  of  it,  before 
the  time  of  taking  down  the  whole  furniture  of  this  house:  the 
pot  of  manna  was  lost;  Urim  and  Thummim  ceased;  the  glory 
of  the  temple  was  diminished;  and  the  ignorant  people  wept 
at  the  sight  of  the  one,  without  raising  their  faith  and  hope  in 
the  consideration  of  the  other,  which  was  promised  to  be  filled 
with  a  spiritual  glory.  And  as  soon  as  ever  the  gospel  was 
spread  in  the  world,  God  thundered  out  his  judgments  upon 
that  place  in  which  he  had  fixed  all  those  legal  observances,  so 
that  the  Jews,  in  the  letter  and  flesh,  could  never  practise  the 
main  part  of  their  worship,  since  they  were  expelled  from  that 
place  where  alone  it  was  to  be  celebrated.  It  is  one  thousand 
six  hundred  years  since  they  have  been  deprived  of  their  altar, 
which  was  the  foundation  of  all  the  Levitical  worship,  and 
have  wandered  in  the  world  without  a  sacrifice,  a  prince  or 
priest,  an  ephod  or  teraphim,  Hosea  iii.  4. 

And  God  fully  put  an  end  to  it  in  the  command  he  gave  to 
the  apostles,  and  in  them  to  us,  in  the  presence  of  Moses  and 
Elias,  to  hear  his  Son  only:  "  Behold  a  voice  out  of  the  cloud, 
which  said,  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleas- 
ed; hear  ye  him,"  Matt.  xvii.  5.  And  at  the  death  of  our 
Saviour,  he  testified  it  to  that  whole  nation  and  the  world,  by 
the  rending  in  twain  the  veil  of  the  temple. 

The  whole  frame  of  that  service,  which  was  carnal,  and  by 
reason  of  the  corruption  of  man,  weakened,  is  annulled;  and  a 
spiritual  worship  is  made  known  to  the  world,  that  we  might 
now  serve  God  in  a  more  spiritual  manner,  and  with  more 
spiritual  frames. 

Prop.  (6.)  The  service  and  worship  the  gospel  settles,  is  spi- 
ritual, and  the  performance  of  it  more  spiritual.  Spirituality 
is  the  genius  of  the  gospel,  as  carnality  was  of  the  law;  the 
gospel  is  therefore  called  spirit:  we  are  abstracted  from  the 
employments  of  sense,  and  brought  nearer  to  a  heavenly  state. 
The  Jews  had  angels'  bread  poured  upon  them;  we  have  an- 

'  Pascal,  Pen.  142. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  239 

gels'  service  prescribed  to  us;  the  praises  of  God,  communion 
with  God  in  spirit  through  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  and  stronger 
foundations  for  spiritual  affections.  It  is  called  a  reasonable 
service,  Rom.  xii.  1.  It  is  suited  to  a  rational  nature,  though 
it  finds  no  friendship  from  the  corruption  of  reason.  It  pre- 
scribes a  service  fit  for  the  reasonable  faculties  of  the  soul,  and 
advances  them  while  it  employs  them.  The  word  reasonable 
may  be  translated  word-service,1  as  well  as  reasonable  service; 
an  evangelical  service  in  opposition  to  a  law  service.  All  evan- 
gelical service  is  reasonable,  and  all  truly  reasonable  service  is 
evangelical. 

The  matter  of  the  worship  is  spiritual:  it  consists  in  love  of 
God,  faith  in  God,  recourse  to  his  goodness,  meditation  on  him, 
and  communion  with  him.  It  lays  aside  the  ceremonial,  spirit- 
ualizes the  moral:  the  commands  that  concerned  our  duty  to 
God,  as  well  as  those  that  concerned  our  duty  to  our  neighbour, 
were  reduced  by  Christ  to  the  spiritual  intention. 

The  motives  are  spiritual;  it  is  a  state  of  more  grace  as  well 
as  of  more  truth,  John  i.  17;  supported  by  spiritual  promises, 
beaming  out  in  spiritual  privileges;  heaven  comes  down  in  it 
to  earth,  to  spiritualize  earth  for  heaven. 

The  manner  of  worship  is  more  spiritual;  higher  flights  of 
the  soul,  stronger  ardour  of  affection,  sincerer  aims  at  his  glory: 
mists  are  removed  from  our  minds,  clogs  from  the  soul,  there  is 
more  of  love  than  fear;  faith  in  Christ  kindles  the  affections 
and  works  by  them. 

The  assistances  to  spiritual  worship  are  greater.  The  Spirit 
does  not  drop,  but  is  plentifully  poured  out.  It  does  not  light 
sometimes  upon,  but  dwells  in  the  heart.  Christ  suited  the  gos- 
pel to  a  spiritual  heart,  and  the  Spirit  changes  a  carnal  heart 
to  make  it  fit  for  a  spiritual  gospel.  He  blows  upon  the  garden, 
and  causes  the  spices  to  flow  forth;  and  often  makes  the  soul 
in  worship  like  the  chariots  of  Ammi-nadib,  in  a  quick  and 
nimble  motion.  Our  blessed  Lord  and  Saviour  by  his  death 
discovered  to  us  the  nature  of  God;  and  after  his  ascension  sent 
his  Spirit  to  fit  us  for  the  worship  of  God  and  converse  with  him. 

One  spiritual,  evangelical,  believing  breath,  is  more  delight- 
ful to  God  than  millions  of  altars  made  up  of  the  richest  pearls, 
and  smoking  with  the  costliest  oblations,  because  it  is  spiritual: 
and  a  mite  of  spirit  is  of  more  worth  than  the  greatest  weight 
of  flesh.  One  holy  angel  is  more  excellent  than  a  whole  world 
of  mere  bodies. 

Prop.  (7.)  Yet  the  worship  of  God  with  our  bodies  is  not  to 
be  rejected  upon  the  account  that  God  requires  a  spiritual  wor- 
ship. Though  we  must  perform  the  weightier  duties  of  the 
law,  yet  we  are  not  to  omit  and  leave  undone  the  lighter  pre- 

1  Vide  Hammond  in  loc. 


240  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

cepts;  since  both  the  magnalia  and  minutula  legis,  the 
greater  and  the  lesser  duties  of  the  law,  have  the  stamp  of 
Divine  authority  upon  them. 

As  God  under  the  ceremonial  law  did  not  command  the  wor- 
ship of  the  body,  and  the  observation  of  outward  rites  without 
the  engagement  of  the  spirit;  so  neither  does  he  command  that 
of  the  spirit,  without  the  peculiar  attendance  of  the  body. 

The  Schwelkfendians  denied  bodily  worship.  And  the  in- 
decent postures  of  many  in  public  attendance,  intimate  no  great 
care  either  of  composing  their  bodies  or  spirits.  A  morally  dis- 
composed body  intimates  a  tainted  heart. 

Our  bodies  as  well  as  our  spirits  are  to  be  presented  to  God, 
Rom.  xii.  1.  Our  bodies  in  lieu  of  the  sacrifices  of  beasts,  as  in 
the  Judaical  institutions;  body  for  the  whole  man;  a  living 
sacrifice,  not  to  be  slain,  as  the  beasts  were,  but  living  a  new 
life,  in  a  holy  posture,  with  crucified  affections.  This  is  the 
inference  the  apostle  makes  of  the  privileges  of  justification, 
adoption,  coheirship  with  Christ,  which  he  had  before  dis- 
coursed of;  privileges  conferred  upon  the  person,  and  not  upon 
a  part  of  man. 

[1.]  Bodily  worship  is  due  to  God.  He  has  a  right  to  an 
adoration  by  our  bodies  as  they  are  his  by  creation ;  his  right 
is  not  diminished  but  increased  by  the  blessing  of  redemption: 
"  For  ye  are  bought  with  a  price:  therefore  glorify  God  in  your 
body,  and  in  your  spirit,  which  are  God's,"  1  Cor.  vi.  20.  The 
body  as  well  as  the  spirit  is  redeemed,  since  our  Saviour  suffered 
crucifixion  in  his  body  as  well  as  agonies  in  his  soul.  Body  is 
not  taken  here  for  the  whole  man,  as  it  may  be  in  Rom.  xii; 
but  for  the  material  part  of  our  nature,  it  being  distinguished 
from  the  spirit.  If  we  are  to  render  to  God  an  obedience 
with  our  bodies,  we  are  to  render  him  such  acts  of  worship 
with  our  bodies  as  they  are  capable  of.  As  God  is  the  Father 
of  spirits,  so  he  is  the  God  of  all  flesh :  therefore  the  flesh  he 
has  framed,  of  the  earth,  as  well  as  the  noble  portion  he  has 
breathed  into  us,  cannot  be  denied  him  without  a  palpable  injus- 
tice. The  service  of  the  body  we  must  not  deny  to  God,  unless 
we  will  deny  him  to  be  the  Author  of  it,  and  the  exercise  of  his 
providential  care  about  it.  The  mercies  of  God  are  renewed 
every  day  upon  our  bodies  as  well  as  our  souls,  and  therefore 
they  ought  to  express  a  fealty  to  God  for  his  bounty  every  day.1 
"Both  are  from  God,  both  should  be  for  God.  Man  consists 
of  body  and  soul ;  the  service  of  man  is  the  service  of  both.  The 
body  is  to  be  sanctified  as  well  as  the  soul,  and  therefore  to  be 
offered  to  God  as  well  as  the  soul.  Both  are  to  be  glorified, 
both  are  to  glorify:  as  our  Saviour's  Divinity  was  manifested  in 
his  body,  so  should  our  spirituality  in  ours.     To  give  God  the 

1  Sherman's  Greek  in  the  Temple,  p.  61,  62. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 


241 


service  of  the  body  and  not  of  the  soul  is  hypocrisy;  to  give 
God  the  service  of  the  spirit  and  not  of  the  body  is  sacrilege;  to 
give  him  neither,  atheism."  If  the  only  part  of  man  that  is 
visible  were  exempted  from  the  service  of  God,  there  could  be 
no  visible  testimonies  of  piety  given  upon  any  occasion:  since 
not  a  moiety  of  man,  but  the  whole  is  God's  creature,  he  ought 
to  pay  a  homage  with  the  whole,  and  not  only  with  a  moiety 
of  himself. 

[2.]  Worship  in  societies  is  due  to  God,  but  this  cannot  be 
without  some  bodily  expressions.  The  law  of  nature  does  as 
much  direct  men  to  combine  together  in  public  societies  for  the 
acknowledgment  of  God,  as  in  civil  communities  for  self-pre- 
servation and  order.  And  the  notice  of  a  society  for  religion 
is  more  ancient  than  the  mention  of  civil  associations  for  poli- 
tical government:  "Then  began  men  to  call  upon  the  name  of 
the  Lord,"  Gen.  iv.  26;  namely,  in  the  time  of  Seth.  No  ques- 
tion but  Adam  had  worshipped  God  before  as  well  as  Abel, 
and  a  family  religion  had  been  preserved;  but  as  mankind  in- 
creased in  distinct  families,  they  knit  together  in  companies  to 
solemnize  the  worship  of  God.  Hence,  as  some  think,  those 
that  incorporated  together  for  such  end's,  were  called  the  sons 
of  God:1  sons  by  profession,  though  not  sons  by  adoption;  as 
those  of  Corinth  were  saints  by  profession,  though  in  such  a 
corrupted  church  they  could  not  be  all  so  by  regeneration;  yet 
saints,  as  being  of  a  Christian  society,  and  calling  upon  the 
name  of  Christ,  that  is,  worshipping  God  in  Christ,  though  they 
might  not  be  all  saints  in  spirit  and  practice.  So  Cain  and  Abel 
met  together  to  worship,  at  the  end  of  the  days,  at  a  set  time, 
Gen.  iv.  3.  God  settled  a  public  worship  among  the  Jews, 
instituted  synagogues  for  their  convening  together,  whence 
called  the  synagogues  of  God,  Psal.  lxxiv.  8.  The  Sabbath 
was  instituted  to  acknowledge  God  a  common  Benefactor. 
Public  worship  keeps  up  the  memorials  of  God  in  a  world 
prone  to  atheism,  and  a  sense  of  God  in  a  heart  prone  to  for- 
getfulness.  The  angels  sang  in  company,  not  singly,  at  the 
birth  of  Christ,  Luke  ii.  13;  and  praised  God  not  only  with  a 
simple  elevation  of  their  spiritual  nature,  but  audibly  by  form- 
ing a  voice  in  the  air.  Affections  are  more  lively,  spirits  more 
raised  in  public  than  private;  God  will  credit  his  own  ordi- 
nance. Fire  increases  by  laying  together  many  coals  on  one 
place;  so  is  devotion  inflamed  by  the  union  of  many  hearts, 
and  by  a  joint  presence:  nor  can  the  approach  of  the  last  day 
of  judgment,  or  particular  judgments  upon  a  nation,  give  a 
writ  of  ease  from  such  assemblies:  "Not  forsaking  the  assem- 
bling ourselves  together;  and  so  much  the  more,  as  ye  see  the 
day  approaching,"  Heb.  x.  25.     Whether  it  be  understood  of 

1  Stillingflcet's  Irenicum,  cap.  1.  §  1.  p.  23. 

Vol.  I.— 31 


242  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

the  day  of  judgment,  or  the  day  of  the  Jewish  destruction  and 
the  Christian  persecution,  the  apostle  uses  it  as  an  argument  to 
quicken  them  to  the  observance,  not  to  encourage  them  to  a 
neglect.  Since  therefore  natural  light  informs  us,  and  Divine 
institution  commands  us  publicly  to  acknowledge  ourselves  the 
servants  of  God,  it  implies  a  service  of  the  body;  such  acknow- 
ledgments cannot  be  without  visible  testimonies,  and  outward 
exercises  of  devotion,  as  well  as  inward  affections.  This  pro- 
motes God's  honour,  checks  others'  profaneness,  allures  men 
to  the  same  expressions  of  duty.  And  though  there  may  be 
hypocrisy,  and  an  outward  garb  without  an  inward  frame;  yet 
better  a  moiety  of  worship,  than  none  at  all:  better  acknow- 
ledge God's  right  in  one,  than  disown  it  in  both. 

[3.]  Jesus  Christ,  the  most  spiritual  worshipper,  worshipped 
God  with  his  body.  He  prayed  orally,  and  kneeled — Father, 
if  it  be  thy  will,  &c.  Luke  xxii.  41,  42.  He  blessed  with  his 
mouth — Father,  I  thank  thee,  Matt.  xi.  25.  He  lifted  up  his 
eyes  as  well  as  elevated  his  spirit,  when  he  praised  his  Father 
for  mercy  received,  or  begged  for  the  blessings  his  disciples 
wanted,  John  xi.  41;  John  xvii.  1.  The  strength  of  the  spirit 
must  have  vent  at  the  outward  members.  The  holy  men  of 
God  have  employed  the  body  in  significant  expressions  of  wor- 
ship: Abraham  in  falling  on  his  face,  Paul  in  kneeling,  em- 
ploying their  tongues,  lifting  up  their  hands.  Though  Jacob 
was  bed-ridden,  yet  he  would  not  worship  God  without  some 
devout  expression  of  reverence;  it  is  in  one  place,  "leaning 
upon  the  top  of  his  staff,"  Heb.  xi.  21;  in  another,  "bowed 
himself  upon  the  bed's  head,"  Gen.  xlvii.  31.  The  reason  of 
the  diversity  is  in  the  Hebrew  word,  which  without  vowels 
may  be  read  mittah,  a  bed,  or  matteh,  a  staff;  howsoever,  both 
signify  a  testimony  of  adoration  by  a  reverent  gesture  of  the 
body.  Indeed  in  angels  and  separated  souls  a  worship  is  per- 
formed purely  by  the  spirit;  but  while  the  soul  is  in  conjunction 
with  the  body,  it  can  hardly  perform  a  serious  act  of  worship 
without  some  tincture  upon  the  outward  man,  and  reverential 
composure  of  the  body.  Fire  cannot  be  in  the  clothes,  but  it 
will  be  felt  by  the  members;  nor  flames  be  pent  up  in  the  soul 
without  bursting  out  in  the  body:  the  heart  can  no  more  re- 
strain itself  from  breaking  out,  than  Joseph  could  enclose  his 
affections  without  expressing  them  in  tears  to  his  brethren, 
Gen.  xlv.  1,  2.  "We  also  believe,  and  therefore  speak,"  2 
Cor.  iv.  13. 

To  conclude;  God  has  appointed  some  parts  of  worship 
which  cannot  be  performed  without  the  body,  as  sacraments; 
we  have  need  of  them  because  we  are  not  wholly  spiritual  and 
incorporeal  creatures. 

The  religion  which  consists  in  externals  only,  is  not  for  an 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  943 

intellectual  nature:  a  worship  purely  intellectual  is  too  sublime 
for  a  nature  allied  to  sense  and  depending  much  upon  it.  The 
Christian  mode  of  worship  is  proportioned  to  both;  it  makes 
the  sense  to  assist  the  mind,  and  elevates  the  spirit  above  the 
sense.  liodily  worship  helps  the  spiritual:  the  members  of 
the  body  reflect  back  upon  the  heart,  the  voice  bars  distrac- 
tions, the  tongue  sets  the  heart  on  fire  in  good  as  well  as  in 
evil.  It  is  as  much  against  the  light  of  nature  to  serve  God 
without  external  significations,  as  to  serve  him  only  with  them 
without  the  intention  of  the  mind.  As  the  invisible  God  de- 
clares himself  to  men  by  visible  works  and  signs,  so  should  we 
declare  our  invisible  frames  by  visible  expressions.  God  has 
given  us  a  soul  and  body  in  conjunction,  and  we  are  to  serve 
him  in  the  same  manner  in  which  he  has  framed  us. 

2.  The  second  thing  I  am  to  show,  is,  what  spiritual  worship 
is.  In  general,  the  whole  spirit  is  to  be  employed.  The  name 
of  God  is  not  sanctified  but  by  the  engagement  of  our  souls. 

Worship  is  an  act  of  the  understanding,  applying  itself  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  excellency  of  God,  and  actual  thoughts 
of  his  majesty,  recognizing  him  as  the  supreme  Lord  and  Gov- 
ernor of  the  world,  which  is  natural  knowledge;  beholding  the 
glory  of  his  attributes  in  the  Redeemer,  which  is  evangelical 
knowledge.  This  is  the  sole  act  of  the  spirit  of  man.  The 
same  reason  is  for  ail  our  worship  as  for  our  thanksgiving:  this 
must  be  done  with  understanding,  "Sing  ye  praises  with  un- 
derstanding," Psal.  xlvii.  7,  with  a  knowledge  and  sense  of  his 
greatness,  goodness,  and  wisdom.  It  is  also  an  act  of  the  will, 
whereby  the  soul  adores  and  reverences  his  majesty,  is  ravished 
with  his  amiableness,  embraces  his  goodness,  enters  itself  into 
an  intimate  communion  with  this  most  lovely  object,  and  pitches 
all  its  affections  upon  him. 

We  must  worship  God  understanding^ ;  it  is  not  else  a  rea- 
sonable service.  The  nature  of  God  and  the  law  of  God  abhor 
a  blind  offering;  we  must  worship  him  heartily,  else  we  offer 
him  a  dead  sacrifice.  A  reasonable  service  is  that  wherein  the 
mind  does  truly  act  something  with  God.  All  spiritual  acts 
must  be  acts  of  reason,  otherwise  they  are  not  human  acts, 
because  they  want  that  principle  which  is  constitutive  of  man, 
and  makes  him  differ  from  other  creatures.  Acts  done  only 
by  sense  are  the  acts  of  a  brute;  acts  done  by  reason  are  the 
acts  of  a  man:  that  which  is  only  an  act  of  sense,  cannot  be 
an  act  of  religion.  The  sense  without  the  conduct  of  reason  is 
not  the  subject  of  religious  acts,  for  then  beasts  were  capable 
of  religion  as  well  as  men.  There  cannot  be  religion  where 
there  is  not  reason ;  and  there  cannot  be  the  exercise  of  reli- 
gion where  there  is  not  an  exercise  of  the  rational  faculties. 
Nothing  can  be  a  Christian  act  that  is  not  a  human  act.     Be 


244  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHir. 

sides,  all  worship  must  be  for  some  end ;  the  worship  of  God 
must  be  for  God;  it  is  by  the  exercise  of  our  rational  faculties 
alone  that  we  can  intend  an  end :  an  ignorant  and  carnal  wor- 
ship is  a  brutish  worship. 

Particularly, 

(1.)  Spiritual  worship  is  a  worship  from  a  spiritual  nature. 
Not  only  physically  spiritual,  so  our  souls  are  in  their  frame; 
but  morally  spiritual,  by  a  renewing  principle.  The  heart  must 
be  first  cast  into  the  mould  of  the  gospel,  before  it  can  perform 
a  worship  required  by  the  gospel.  Adam  living  in  paradise, 
might  perform  a  spiritual  worship;  but  Adam  fallen  from  his 
rectitude  could  not.  We  being  heirs  of  his  nature,  are  heirs  of 
his  impotence:  restoration  to  a  spiritual  life  must  precede  any 
act  of  spiritual  worship.  As  no  work  can  be  good,  so  no  wor- 
ship can  be  spiritual  till  we  are  created  in  Christ,  Eph.  ii.  10. 
Christ  is  our  life,  Col.  iii.  4.  As  no  natural  action  can  be  per- 
formed without  life  in  the  root  or  heart,  so  no  spiritual  act  with- 
out Christ  in  the  soul.  Our  being  in  Christ,  is  as  necessary  to 
every  spiritual  act,  as  the  union  of  our  soul  with  our  body  is 
necessary  to  natural  action.  Nothing  can  exceed  the  limits  of 
its  nature;  for  then  it  should  exceed  itself  in  acting,  and  do 
that  which  it  has  no  principle  to  do.  A  beast  cannot  act  like 
a  man,  without  partaking  of  the  nature  of  a  man ;  nor  a  man 
act  like  an  angel,  without  partaking  of  the  angelical  nature. 
How  can  we  perform  spiritual  acts  without  a  spiritual  principle? 
Whatsoever  worship  proceeds  from  the  corrupted  nature,  can- 
not deserve  the  title  of  spiritual  worship,  because  it  springs  not 
from  a  spiritual  habit.  If  those  that  are  evil  cannot  speak  good 
things,  those  that  are  carnal  cannot  offer  a  spiritual  service. 
Poison  is  the  fruit  of  a  viper's  nature :  "  0  generation  of  vipers, 
how  can  ye,  being  evil,  speak  good  things?  for  out  of  the  abun- 
dance of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh,"  Matt.  xii.  34.  As 
the  root  is,  so  is  the  fruit.  If  the  soul  be  habitually  carnal,  the 
worship  cannot  be  actually  spiritual.  There  may  be  an  inten- 
tion of  spirit,  but  there  is  no  spiritual  principle  as  a  root  of  that 
intention.  A  heart  may  be  sensibly  united  with  a  duty,  when 
it  is  not  spiritually  united  with  Christ  in  it.  Carnal  motives 
and  carnal  ends  may  fix  the  mind  in  an  act  of  worship,  as  the 
sense  of  some  pressing  affliction  may  enlarge  a  man's  mind  in 
prayer.  Whatsoever  is  agreeable  to  the  nature  of  God,  must 
have  a  stamp  of  Christ  upon  it;  a  stamp  of  his  grace  in  per- 
formance, as  well  as  of  his  mediation  in  the  acceptance.  The 
apostle  lived  not,  but  Christ  lived  in  him,  Gal.  ii.  20;  the  soul 
worships  not,  but  Christ  in  him.  Not  that  Christ  performs  the 
act  of  worship,  but  enables  us  spiritually  to  worship,  after  he 
enables  us  spiritually  to  live.  As  God  counts  not  any  soul 
living  but  in  Christ,  so  he  counts  not  any  a  spiritual  worship- 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP  •>  | ;, 

per  but  in  Christ.  The  goodness  and  fatness  of  the  fruit  comes 
from  the  fatness  of  the  olive  wherein  we  are  engrafted.  We 
must  find  healing  in  Christ's  wings,  before  God  can  find  spirit- 
uality in  our  services.  All  worship  issuing  from  a  dead  nature 
is  hut  a  dead  service:  a  living  action  cannot  be  performed 
without  being  knit  to  a  living  root. 

(2.)  Spiritual  worship  is  done  by  the  influence  and  with  the 
assistance  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  A  heart  may  be  spiritual, 
whin  a  particular  act  of  worship  may  not  be  spiritual.  The 
Spirit  may  dwell  in  the  heart,  when  he  may  suspend  his  influ- 
ence on  the  act.  Our  worship  is  then  spiritual,  when  the  fire 
that  kindles  our  affections  comes  from  heaven,  as  that  fire  upon 
the  altar  wherewith  the  sacrifices  were  consumed.  God  tastes 
a  sweetness  in  no  service,  but  as  it  is  dressed  up  by  the  hand 
of  the  Mediator,  and  has  the  air  of  his  own  Spirit  in  it:  they 
are  but  natural  acts,  without  a  supernatural  assistance.  With- 
out an  actual  influence,  we  cannot  act  from  spiritual  motives, 
nor  for  spiritual  ends,  nor  in  a  spiritual  manner.  We  cannot 
mortify  a  lust  without  the  Spirit,  Rom.  viii.  13,  nor  quicken  a 
service  without  the  Spirit.  Whatsoever  corruption  is  killed,  is 
slain  by  his  power;  whatsoever  duty  is  spiritualized,  is  refined 
by  his  breath.  He  quickens  our  dead  bodies  in  our  resurrec- 
tion, Rom.  viii.  11;  he  renews  our  dead  souls  in  our  regenera- 
tion; he  quickens  our  carnal  services  in  our  adorations;  the 
choicest  acts  of  worship  are  but  infirmities,  without  his  auxili- 
ary help,  Rom.  viii.  26.  We  are  as  logs,  unable  to  move  our- 
selves, till  he  raises  our  faculties  to  a  pitch  agreeable  to  God ; 
puts  his  hand  to  the  duty,  and  lifts  that  up  and  us  with  it. 
Never  any  great  act  was  performed  by  the  apostles  to  God,  or 
for  God,  but  they  are  said  to  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Christ  could  not  have  been  conceived  immaculate  as  '  that  holy 
thing,'  without  the  Spirit's  overshadowing  the  virgin;  nor  any 
spiritual  act  conceived  in  our  heart,  without  the  Spirit's  moving 
upon  us,  to  bring  forth  a  living  religion  from  us.  The  acts  of 
worship  are  said  to  be  in  the  Spirit, "  supplication  in  the  Spirit," 
Eph.  vi.  18;  not  only  with  the  strength  and  affection  of  our 
own  spirits,  but  with  the  mighty  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
if  Jude  may  be  the  interpreter,  Jude  20;  the  Holy  Ghost  excit- 
ing us,  impelling  us,  and  firing  our  souls  by  his  divine  flame; 
raising  up  the  affections,  and  making  the  soul  cry,  with  a  holy 
importunity,  Abba,  Father.  To  render  our  worship  spiritual, 
we  should,  before  every  engagement  in  it,  implore  the  actual 
presence  of  the  Spirit,  without  which  we  are  not  able  to  send 
forth  one  spiritual  breath  or  groan;  but  must  be  wind-bound 
like  a  ship  without  a  gale,  and  our  worship  be  no  better  than 
carnal.  How  does  the  spouse  solicit  the  Spirit  with  an  "Awake, 
0  north  wind;  and  come,  thou  south!"  Cant.  iv.  16. 


246  0N  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

(3.)  Spiritual  worship  is  done  with  sincerity,  when  the  heart 
stands  right  to  God,  and  the  soul  performs  what  it  pretends  to 
perform;  when  we  serve  God  with  our  spirits,  as  the  apostle, 
"  God  is  my  witness,  whom  I  serve  with  my  spirit  in  the  gospel 
of  his  Son,"  Rom.  i.  9.  This  is  not  meant  of  the  Holy  Ghost; 
for  the  apostle  would  never  have  called  the  Spirit  of  God,  his 
own  spirit;  but  with  my  spirit,  that  is,  a  sincere  frame  of  heart. 
A  carnal  worship,  whether  under  the  law  or  gospel,  is  when 
we  are  busied  about  external  rites,  without  an  inward  compli- 
ance of  soul.  God  demands  the  heart:  "  My  son,  give  me  thine 
heart,"  Prov.  xxiii.  26;  not  give  me  thy  tongue,  or  thy  lips,  or 
thy  hands;  these  may  be  given  without  the  heart,  but  the  heart 
can  never  be  bestowed  without  these  as  its  attendants.  A  heap 
of  services  can  be  no  more  welcome  to  God,  without  our  spirits, 
than  all  Jacob's  sons  could  be  to  Joseph,  without  the  Benjamin 
he  desired  to  see.  God  is  not  taken  with  the  cabinet,  but  the 
jewel;  he  first  respected  Abel's  faith  and  sincerity,  and  then 
his  sacrifice;  he  disrespected  Cain's  infidelity  and  hypocrisy, 
and  then  his  offering.  "  For  this  cause  he  rejected  the  offerings 
of  the  Jews,  the  prayers  of  the  Pharisees,  and  the  alms  of  Ana- 
nias and  Sapphira,  because  their  hearts  and  their  duties  were 
at  a  distance  from  one  another.  In  all  spiritual  sacrifices,  our 
spirits  are  God's  portion.  Under  the  law,  the  reins  were  to  be 
consumed  by  the  fire  on  the  altar,  because  the  secret  intentions 
of  the  heart  were  signified  by  them:  '  The  righteous  God  trieth 
the  hearts  and  the  reins,'  Psalm  vii.  9.  It  was  an  ill  omen 
among  the  heathen,  if  a  victim  wanted  a  heart.  The  widow's 
mites  with  her  heart  in  them,  were  more  esteemed  than  the 
richer  offerings  without  it."1  Not  the  quantity  of  service,  but 
the  will  in  it,  is  of  account  with  this  infinite  Spirit.  All  that 
was  to  be  brought  for  the  framing  of  the  tabernacle,  was  to  be 
offered  willingly  with  the  heart,  Exod.  xxv.  2.  The  more  of 
will,  the  more  of  spirituality  and  acceptableness  to  God;  "Ac- 
cept, I  beseech  thee,  the  free-will  offerings  of  my  mouth,"  Psa. 
cxix.  108.  Sincerity  is  the  salt  which  seasons  every  sacrifice. 
The  heart  is  most  like  to  the  object  of  worship.  The  heart  in 
the  body  is  the  spring  of  all  vital  actions;  and  a  spiritual  soul 
is  the  spring  of  all  spiritual  actions.  How  can  we  imagine 
God  can  delight  in  the  mere  service  of  the  body,  any  more  than 
we  can  delight  in  converse  with  a  carcass? 

Without  the  heart  it  is  no  worship:  it  is  stage-play;  an  acting 
a  part  without  being  that  person  really  which  is  acted  by  us. 
A  hypocrite,  in  the  notion  of  the  word,  is  a  stage-player.  We 
may  as  well  say  a  man  may  believe  with  his  body,  as  worship 
God  only  with  his  body.  Faith  is  a  great  ingredient  in  wor- 
ship; and  it  is  "with  the  heart  man  believes  unto  righteous- 

1  Moulin.  Sermons,  decad.  4.  ser.  4.  p.  80. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  247 

ness/'  Rom.  x.  10.  We  may  be  truly  said  to  worship  God, 
though  we  want  perfection;  but  we  cannot  be  said  to  worship 
him,  if  we  want  sincerity.  A  statue  upon  a  tomb,  with  eyes 
and  hands  Lifted  up,  oilers  as  good  and  true  a  service;  it  wants 
only  a  voice,  the  gestures  and  postures  are  the  same:  nay,  the 
service  is  better;  it  is  not  a  mockery;  it  represents  all  that  it  can 
be  framed  to.  But  to  worship  without  our  spirits,  is  a  present- 
ing God  with  a  picture,  an  echo,  voice,  and  nothing  else;  a 
compliment;  a  mere  lie;  a  compassing  him  about  with  lies, 
Hos.  xi.  12.  Without  the  heart,  the  tongue  is  a  liar,  and  the 
greatest  zeal,  dissembling  with  him.  To  present  the  spirit,  is  to 
present  that  which  can  never  naturally  die;  to  present  him  only 
the  body,  is  to  present  him  that  which  is  every  day  crumbling 
to  dust,  and  will  at  last  lie  rotting  in  the  grave.  To  offer  him 
a  few  rags  easily  torn;  a  skin  for  a  sacrifice,  a  thing  unworthy 
the  majesty  of  God;  a  fixed  eye  and  elevated  hands,  with  a 
sleepy  heart  and  earthly  soul,  are  pitiful  things  for  an  ever 
blessed  and  glorious  Spirit.  Nay,  it  is  so  far  from  being  spirit- 
ual, that  it  is  blasphemy:  to  pretend  to  be  a  Jew  outwardly, 
without  being  so  inwardly,  is  in  the  judgment  of  Christ  to  blas- 
pheme, Rev.  ii.  9.  And  is  not  the  same  title  to  be  given  with 
as  much  reason  to  those  that  pretend  a  worship  and  perform 
none?  Such  a  one  is  not  a  spiritual  worshipper,  but  a  blas- 
pheming devil  in  Samuel's  mantle. 

(4.)  Spiritual  worship  is   performed  with   a  unitedness  of 

heart.     The  heart  is  not  only  now  and  then  with  God,  but 

united  to  fearot  worship  his  name,  Psa.  lxxxvi.  11.     A  spiritual 

duty  must  have  the  engagement  of  the  spirit,  and  the  thoughts 

tied  up  to  the  spiritual  object.     The  union  of  all  the  parts  of 

the  heart  together  with  the  body  is  the  life  of  the  body ;  and  the 

moral   union  of  our  hearts,  is  the  life  of  any  duty.     A  heart 

quickly  flitting9  from  God,  makes  not   God  his  treasure;   he 

slights  the  worship,  and  therein  affronts  the  object  of  worship. 

All  our  thoughts  ought  to  be  ravished  with  God;  bound  up  in 

him  as  in  a  bundle  of  life.     Hut  when  we  start  from  him  to 

gaze  after  every  feather,  and  run  after  every  bubble,  we  disown 

a  full  and  affecting  excellency,  and  a  satisfying  sweetness  in 

him.     When  our  thoughts  run  from  God,  it  is  a  testimony  we 

have  no  spiritual  affection  to  God:  affection  would  stake  down 

the  thoughts  to  the  object  affected:  it  is  but  a  mouth-love,  as 

the  prophet  phraseth  it,  Ezek.  xxxiii.  31;  but  their  hearts  go 

after  their  covetousness.     Covetous  objects  pipe,  and  the  heart 

dances  after  them ;  and  thoughts  of  God  are  shifted  off,  to  receive 

a  multitude  of  other  imaginations.     The  heart  and  the  service 

staid  a   while  together,  and  then  took  leave  of  one  another. 

The  psalmist  still  found  his  heart  with  God  when  he  awaked, 

Psa.  exxxix.  IS;  still  with  God  in  spiritual  affections  and  fixed 


248  0N  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

meditations.  A  carnal  heart  is  seldom  with  God,  either  in  or 
out  of  worship:  if  God  should  knock  at  the  heart  in  any  duty, 
it  would  be  found  not  at  home,  but  straying  abroad.  Our 
worship  is  spiritual,  when  the  door  of  the  heart  is  shut  against 
all  intruders,  as  our  Saviour  commands  in  closet  duties,  Matt, 
vi.  6 :  it  was  not  his  meaning,  to  command  the  shutting  the 
closet  door,  and  leave  the  heart-door  open  for  every  thought 
that  would  be  apt  to  haunt  us.  Worldly  affections  are  to  be 
laid  aside,  if  we  would  have  our  worship  spiritual.  This  was 
meant  by  the  Jewish  custom  of  wiping  or  washing  off  the  dust 
of  their  feet,  before  their  entrance  into  the  temple;  and  of  not 
bringing  money  in  their  girdles.  To  be  spiritual  in  worship,  is 
to  have  our  souls  gathered  and  bound  up  wholly  in  themselves, 
and  offered  to  God.  Our  loins  must  be  girt,  as  the  fashion  was 
in  the  eastern  countries,  where  they  wore  long  garments,  that 
they  might  not  waver  with  the  wind,  and  be  blown  between 
their  legs,  to  obstruct  them  in  their  travel.  Our  faculties  must 
not  hang  loose  about  us.  He  is  a  carnal  worshipper,  that  gives 
God  but  a  piece  of  his  heart,  as  well  as  he  that  denies  him  the 
whole  of  it;  that  has  some  thoughts  pitched  upon  God  in  wor- 
ship, and  as  many  willingly  upon  the  world.  David  sought 
God,  not  with  a  moiety  of  his  heart,  but  with  his  whole  heart, 
with  his  entire  frame,  Psal.  cxix.  10;  he  brought  not  half  his 
heart,  and  left  the  other  in  the  possession  of  another  master. 
It  was  a  good  lesson  Pythagoras  gave  his  scholars,  "  Not  to 
make  the  observance  of  God  a  work  by  the  by."  *  If  those 
guests  be  invited,  or  entertained  kindly,  or  if  fnfcy  come  unex- 
pected, the  spirituality  of  that  worship  is  lost;-the  soul  kicks 
down  what  is  wrought  before.  But  if  they  bcbrowbeaten  by 
us,  and  our  grief  rather  than  our  pleasure,  fh^ey  divert  our 
spiritual  intention  from  the  work  in  hand,  but  hinder  not  God's 
acceptance  of  it  as  spiritual;  because  they  are  "'hot  the  acts  of 
our  will,  but  offences  to  our  wills. 

(5.)  Spiritual  worship  is  performed  with  a  spiritual  activity 
and  sensibleness  of  God;  with  an  active  understanding  to 
meditate  on  his  excellency,  and  an  active  will  to  embrace  him 
when  he  drops  upon  the  soul.  If  we  understand  the  amiable- 
ness  of  God,  our  affections  will  be  ravished;  if  we  understand 
the  immensity  of  his  goodness,  our  spirits  will  be  enlarged.  We 
are  to  act  with  the  highest  intention,  suitable  to  the  greatness 
of  that  God  with  whom  we  have  to  do:  "  Praise  him  according 
to  his  excellent  greatness,"  Psal.  cl.  2.  Not  that  we  can  wor- 
ship him  equally;  but  in  some  proportion  the  frame  of  the  heart 
is  to  be  suited  to  the  excellency  of  the  object.  Our  spiritual 
strength  is  to  be  put  out  to  the  utmost,  as  creatures  that  act 
naturally  do.     The  sun  shines  and  the  fire  burns  to  the  utmost 

1    Ov  yap  rtapsgyov  bi7  rfoisia^ou  -tov  @£0,'.     Jamblich.  1. 1.  c.  518.  p.  87. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  249 

of  their  natural  power.  This  is  so  necessary,  that  David,  a  spi- 
ritual worshipper,  prays  for  it  before  he  sets  upon  acts  of  ado- 
ration; "Quicken  us,  and  we  will  call  upon  thy  name,"  Psal. 
lxxx.  18 :  as  he  was  loth  to  have  a  drowsy  faculty,  he  was  loth 
to  have  a  drowsy  instrument,  and  would  willingly  have  them 
as  lively  as  himself:  "Awake  up,  my  glory;  awake,  psaltery 
and  harp:  1  myself  will  awake  early,"  Psah  Ivii.  8.  How 
would  tliis  divine  soul  elevate  himself  towards  (rod,  and  be 
turned  into  nothing  but  a  holy  Same!  Our  souls  must  be  boil- 
ing hot1  when  we  serve  the  Lord,  Rom.  xii.  11.  The  heart 
does  no  less  burn  when  it  spiritually  comes  to  God,  than  when 
God  does  spiritually  approach  to  it,  Luke  xxiv.  32.  A  Nabal's 
heart,  one  as  cold  as  a  stone,  cannot  oiler  up  a  spiritual  service. 
Whatsoever  is  enjoined  us  as  our  duty,  ought  to  be  per- 
formed with  the  greatest  intenseness  of  our  spirit.  As  it  is  our 
duty  to  pray,  so  it  is  our  duty  to  pray  with  the  most  fervent 
importunity.  It  is  our  duty  to  love  God,  but  with  the  purest 
and  most  sublime  affections:  every  command  of  God  requires 
the  whole  strength  of  the  creature  to  be  employed  in  it.  That 
love  to  God,  wherein  all  our  duty  to  God  is  summed  up,  is  to  be 
with  all  our  strength,  with  all  our  might,  &c.s  Though  in  the 
covenant  of  grace  he  has  mitigated  the  severity  of  the  law,  and 
requires  not  from  us  such  an  elevation  of  our  affections  as  was 
possible  in  the  state  of  innocence,  yet  God  requires  of  us  the 
utmost  moral  industry  to  raise  our  affections  to  a  pitch,  at  least 
equal  to  what  they  are  in  other  things:  what  strength  of  affec- 
tion we  naturally  have,  ought  to  be  as  much  and  more  excited 
in  acts  of  worship,  than  upon  other  occasions,  and  our  ordinary 
works.  As  there  was  an  inactivity  of  soul  in  worship,  and  a 
quickness  to  sin,  when  sin  had  the  dominion;  so  when  the  soul 
is  spiritualized,  the  temper  is  changed;  there  is  an  inactivity  to 
sin  and  an  ardour  in  duty.  The  more  the  soul  is  dead  to  sin 
the  more  it  is  alive  to  God,  Rom.  vi.  11,  and  the  more  lively 
too  in  all  that  concerns  God  and  his  honour.  For  grace  being 
a  new  strength  added  to  our  natural,  determines  the  alfections 
to  new  objects,  and  excites  them  to  a  greater  vigour.  And  as 
the  hatred  of  sin  is  more  sharp,  the  love  to  every  thing  that  de- 
stroys the  dominion  of  it  is  more  strong.  And  acts  of  worship 
may  be  reckoned  as  the  chiefest  batteries  against  the  power  of 
this  inbred  enemy.  When  the  Spirit  is  in  the  soul,  like  the 
rivers  of  waters  flowing  out  of  the  belly,  the  soul  has  the 
activity  of  a  river,  and  makes  haste  to  he  swallowed  up  in  God, 
as  the  streams  of  the  river  in  the  sea.  Christ  makes  his  people 
kings  and  priests  to  God,  Rev.  i.  G.  First  kings,  then  priests; 
gives  first  a  royal  temper  of  heart,  that  they  may  offer  spiritual 
sacrifices  as  priests:  kings  and  priests  to  God,  acting  with  a 
1  Ciovfis.  ,lv  Falkland's  Lite,  p.  13". 

Vol.  I.— 38 


250  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

magnificent  spirit  in  all  their  motions  to  him:  we  cannot  be 
spiritual  priests  till  we  be  spiritual  kings.  The  Spirit  appeared 
in  the  likeness  of  fire;  and  where  he  resides,  communicates, 
like  fire,  purity  and  activity. 

Dulness  is  against  the  light  of  nature.  I  do  not  remember 
that  the  heathen  ever  offered  a  snail  to  any  of  their  false  deities, 
nor  an  ass,  but  to  Priapus  their  unclean  idol;  but  the  Persians 
sacrificed  to  the  sun  a  horse,  a  swift  and  generous  creature. 
God  provided  against  those  in  the  law,  commanding  an  ass's 
firstling,  the  offspring  of  a  sluggish  creature,  to  be  redeemed, 
or  his  neck  broke;  but  by  no  means  to  be  offered  to  him,  Exod. 
xiii.  13.  God  is  a  Spirit  infinitely  active,  and  therefore  frozen 
and  benumbed  frames  are  unsuitable  to  him:  he  rides  upon  a 
cherub  and  flies,  he  comes  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind,  he  rides 
upon  a  swift  cloud,  Isa.  xix.  1;  and  therefore  demands  of  us 
not  a  dull  reason,  but  an  active  spirit.  God  is  a  living  God, 
therefore  must  have  a  lively  service.  Christ  is  life,  and  slothful 
adorations  are  not  fit  to  be  offered  up  in  the  name  of  life.  The 
worship  of  God  is  called  wrestling,  in  Scripture,  and  Paul  was 
a  striver  in  the  service  of  his  Master,  in  an  agony,1  Col.  i.  29. 
Angels  worship  God  spiritually  with  their  wings  on  ;  and  when 
God  commands  them  to  worship  Christ,  the  next  Scripture 
quoted  is,  that  he  makes  them  flames  of  fire,  Heb.  i.  7. 

If  it  be  thus,  how  may  we  charge  ourselves!  What  Paul  said 
of  the  sensual  widow,  1  Tim.  v.  6,  that  she  is  dead  while  she 
lives,  we  may  say  often  of  ourselves,  we  are  dead  while  we 
worship.  Our  hearts  are  in  duty  as  the  Jews  were  in  deliver- 
ances, as  those  in  a  dream,  Psal.  cxxvi.  1 ;  by  which  unexpect- 
edness, God  showed  the  greatness  of  his  care  and  mercy ;  and 
we  attend  him  as  men  in  a  dream,  whereby  we  discover  our 
negligence  and  folly.  This  activity  does  not  consist  in  outward 
acts;  the  body  may  be  hot  and  the  heart  may  be  faint;  but  in 
an  inward  stirring,  meltings,  flights.  In  the  highest  raptures  the 
body  is  most  insensible.  Strong  spiritual  affections  are  ab- 
stracted from  outward  sense. 

(6.)  Spiritual  worship  is  performed  with  acting  spiritual 
habits.  When  all  the  living  springs  of  grace  are  opened,  as  the 
fountains  of  the  deep  were  in  the  deluge,  the  soul  and  all  that 
is  within  it,  all  the  spiritual  impresses  of  God  upon  it,  erect 
themselves  to  bless  his  holy  name,  Psal.  ciii.  1. 

This  is  necessary  to  make  a  worship  spiritual.  As  natural 
agents  are  determined  to  act  suitable  to  their  proper  nature;  so 
are  rational  agents,  to  act  conformable  to  a  rational  being. 
When  there  is  a  conformity  between  the  act  and  the  nature 
whence  it  flows,  it  is  a  good  act  in  its  kind;  if  it  be  rational,  it 

l    »  y  > 

uyojVi(,<>iAivos. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  251 

is  a  good  rational  act,  because  suitable  to  its  principle.  As  a 
man  endowed  with  reason  must  act  suitable  to  that  endow- 
ment, and  exercise  his  reason  in  his  acting;  so  a  Christian 
endued  with  grace  must  act  suitable  to  that  nature,  and  exer- 
cise his  grace  in  his  acting.  Acts  done  by  a  natural  inclination 
are  no  more  human  acts,  than  the  natural  acts  of  a  beast  may- 
be said  to  be  human;  though  they  are  the  acts  of  a  man,  as  he 
is  the  eflicient  cause  of  them,  yet  they  are  not  human  acts,  be- 
cause they  arise  not  from  that  principle  of  reason  which  denomi- 
nates him  a  man.  So  acts  of  worship  performed  by  a  bare 
exercise  of  reason,  are  not  Christian  and  spiritual  acts,  because 
they  come  not  from  the  principle  which  constitutes  him  a 
Christian ;  reason  is  not  the  principle,  for  then  all  rational  crea- 
tures would  be  Christians.  They  ought  therefore  to  be  acts  of 
a  higher  principle,  exercises  of  that  grace  whereby  Christians 
arc  what  they  are.  Not  but  that  rational  acts  in  worship  are 
due  to  God;  for  worship  is  due  from  us  as  men;  and  we  are 
settled  in  that  rank  of  being  by  our  reason.  Grace  does  not 
exclude  reason,  but  ennobles  it,  and  calls  it  up  to  another  form: 
but  we  must  not  rest  in  a  bare  rational  worship,  but  exert  that 
principle  whereby  we  are  Christians.  To  worship  God  with  our 
reason,  is  to  worship  him  as  men;  to  worship  God  with  our 
grace,  is  to  worship  him  as  Christians,  and  so  spiritually;  but  to 
worship  him  only  with  our  bodies,  is  no  better  than  brutes. 

Our  desires  of  the  word  are  to  issue  from  the  regenerate  prin- 
ciple: "As  new-born  babes,  desire  the  sincere  milk  of  the 
word,"  1  Pet.  ii.  2.  It  seems  to  be  not  a  comparison,  but  a 
restriction.  All  worship  must  have  the  same  spring,  and  be  the 
exercise  of  that  principle;  otherwise  we  can  have  no  commu- 
nion with  God.  Friends  that  have  the  same  habitual  disposi- 
tions, have  a  fundamental  fitness  for  an  agreeable  converse 
with  one  another;  but  if  the  temper  wherein  their  likeness  con- 
sists, be  languishing,  and  the  string  out  of  tune,  there  is  not  an 
actual  fitness ;  and  the  present  indisposition  breaks  the  converse, 
and  renders  the  company  troublesome.  Though  we  may  have 
the  habitual  graces  which  compose  in  us  a  resemblance  to  God, 
yet  for  want  of  acting  those  suitable  dispositions,  we  render 
ourselves  unfit  for  his  converse,  and  make  the  worship,  which 
is  fundamentally  spiritual,  to  become  actually  carnal.  As  the 
will  cannot  naturally  act  to  any  object,  but  by  the  exercise  of 
its  affections,  so  the  heart  cannot  spiritually  act  towards  God, 
but  by  the  exercise  of  graces.  This  is  God's  music,  "singing 
and  making  melody  to  God  in  your  heart,"  Eph.  v.  19.  Singing 
and  all  other  acts  of  worship  are  outward,  but  the  spiritual 
melody  is  by  grace  in  the  heart,  Col.  iii.  16.  This  renders  it  a 
spiritual  worship;  for  it  is  an  effect  of  the  fulness  of  the  Spirit 
in  the  soul,  as  Eph.  v.  18.     '-Hut  he  filled  with 'the  Spirit." 


252  0N  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

The  overflowing  of  the  Spirit  in  the  heart,  setting  the  soul  of  a 
believer  thus  on  work  to  make  a  spiritual  melody  to  God, 
shows  that  something  higher  than  bare  reason  is  put  in  tune  in 
the  heart.  Then  is  the  fruit  of  the  garden  pleasant  to  Christ, 
when  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  north  and  south  wind,  blow  upon  the 
spices,  and  strike  out  the  fragrancy  of  them,  Cant.  iv.  16.  Since 
God  is  the  author  of  graces,  and  bestows  them  to  have  a  glory 
from  them,  they  are  best  employed  about  him  and  his  service. 
It  is  fit  he  should  have  the  cream  of  his  own  gifts.  Without 
the  exercise  of  grace  we  perform  but  a  work  of  nature,  and 
offer  him  a  few  dry  bones  without  marrow. 

The  whole  set  of  graces  must  be  one  way  or  other  exercised. 
If  any  treble  be  wanting  in  a  lute,  there  will  be  a  great  defect 
in  the  music.  If  any  one  spiritual  string  be  dull,  the  spiritual 
harmony  of  worship  will  be  spoiled. 

And  therefore, 

[1.]  First,  faith  must  be  acted  in  worship;  a  confidence  in 
God.  A  natural  worship  cannot  be  performed  without  a  natu- 
ral confidence  in  the  goodness  of  God.  Whosoever  comes  to 
him,  must  regard  him  as  a  rewarder  and  a  faithful  Creator, 
Heb.  xi.  6.  A  spiritual  worship  cannot  be  performed  without 
an  evangelical  confidence  in  him  as  a  gracious  Redeemer.  To 
think  him  a  tyrant  meditating  revenge,  damps  the  soul;  to  re- 
gard him  as  a  gracious  King,  full  of  tender  bowels,  spirits  the 
affections  to  him.  The  mercy  of  God  is  the  proper  object  of 
trust:  "  The  eye  of  the  Lord  is  upon  them  that  fear  him,  upon 
them  that  hope  in  his  mercy,"  Psa-L  xxxiii.  18.  The  worship 
of  God  in  the  Old  Testament,  is  most  described  by  fear;  in  the 
New  Testament,  by  faith.  Fear,  or  the  worship  of  God,  and 
hope  in  his  mercy  are  linked  together;  when  they  go  hand  in 
hand,  the  accepting  eye  of  God  is  upon  us;  when  we  do  not 
trust,  we  do  not  worship.  Those  of  Judah  had  the  temple 
worship  among  them,  especially  in  Josiah's  time,  Zeph.  iii.  2, 
the  time  of  that  prophecy;  yet  it  was  accounted  no  worship, 
because  no  trust  in  the  worshippers.  Interest  in  God  cannot 
be  improved  without  an  exercise  of  faith.  The  gospel  worship 
is  prophesied  of,  to  be  a  confidence  in  God,  as  in  a  husband 
more  than  in  a  Lord ;  "  Thou  shalt  call  me  Ishi,  and  shalt  call 
me  no  more  Baali,"  Hosea  ii.  1G.  "  Thou  shalt  call  me,"  that 
is,  thou  shalt  worship  me;  worship  being  often  comprehended 
under  invocation.  More  confidence  is  to  be  exercised  in  a 
husband  or  father,  than  in  a  lord  or  master. 

If  a  man  have  not  faith,  he  is  without  Christ;  and  though  a 
man  be  in  Christ  by  the  habit  of  faith,  he  performs  a  duty  out 
of  Christ  without  an  act  of  faith.  Without  the  habit  of  faith, 
our  persons  are  out  of  Christ;  and  without  the  exercise  of  faith, 
the  duties  are  out  of  Christ.     As  the  want  of  faith  in  a  person 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  253 

is  the  death  of  the  soul,  so  the  want  of  faith  in  a  service  is  the 
death  of  the  offering.  Though  a /nan  were  at  the  cost  of  an 
ox,  yet  to  kill  it  without  bringing  it  to  the  door  of  the  taberna- 
cle, was  not  a  sacrifice,  but  a  murder,  Lev.  xvii.  3,  4.  The 
tabernacle  was  a  type  of  Christ;  and  a  look  to  him  is  necessary 
in  every  spiritual  sacrifice.  As  there  must  be  faith  to  make 
any  act  an  act  of  obedience,  so  there  must  be  faith  to  make  any 
act  of  worship  spiritual.  That  service  is  not  spiritual,  that  is 
not  vital;  and  it  cannot  be  vital  without  the  exercise  of  a  vital 
principle.  All  spiritual  life  is  hid  in  Christ,  and  drawn  from 
him  by  faith,  Gal.  ii.  20.  Faith,  as  it  has  relation  to  Christ, 
makes  every  act  of  worship  a  living  act,  and  consequently  a 
spiritual  act.  Habitual  unbelief  cuts  us  off  from  the  body  of 
Christ:  "  Because  of  unbelief  they  were  broken  off,"  Rom.  xi. 
30;  and  a  want  of  actuated  belief  breaks  us  o If  from  a  present 
communion  with  Christ  in  spirit.  As  unbelief  in  us  hinders 
Christ  from  doing  any  mighty  work,  so  unbelief  in  us  hinders 
us  from  doing  any  mighty  spiritual  duty. 

So  that  the  exercise  of  faith,  and  a  confidence  in  God,  is 
necessary  to  every  duty. 

[2.*]  Love  must  be  acted  to  render  a  worship  spiritual. 
Though  God  commanded  love  in  the  Old  Testament,  yet  the 
manner  of  giving  the  law  bespoke  more  of  fear  than  love. 
The  dispensation  of  the  law  was  with  fire  and  thunder;  proper 
to  raise  horror,  and  benumb  the  spirit;  which  elfect  it  had 
upon  the  Israelites,  when  they  desired  that  God  would  speak 
no  more  to  them.  Grace  is  the  genius  of  the  gospel,  proper  to 
excite  the  affection  of  love.  The  law  was  given  by  the  dispo- 
sition of  angels,  with  signs  to  amaze;  the  gospel  was  ushered 
in  with  the  songs  of  angels,  composed  of  peace  and  good  will, 
calculated  to  ravish  the  soul.  Instead  of  the  terrible  voice  of 
the  law,  "  Do  this  and  live;"  the  comfortable  voice  of  the  gos- 
pel is,  "  Grace,  grace."  Upon  this  account,  the  principle  of 
the  Old  Testament  was  fear,  and  the  worship  often  expressed 
by  the  fear  of  God.  The  principle  of  the  New  Testament  is 
love.  The  mount  Sinai  gendereth  to  bondage,  Gal.  iv.  24; 
mount  Sion,  from  whence  the  gospel  or  evangelical  law  goes 
forth,  gendereth  to  liberty;  and  therefore  'the  spirit  of  bondage 
unto  fear,'  as  the  property  of  the  law,  is  opposed  to  the  state  of 
adoption,  the  principle  of  love,  as  the  property  of  the  gospel, 
Rom.  viii.  15.  And  therefore  the  worship  of  God  under  the 
pel,  or  New  Testament,  is  oftener  expressed  by  love  than 
fear,  as  proceeding  from  higher  principles,  and  acting  nobler 
passions.  In  this  state,  we  are  to  serve  him  without  fear,  Luke 
i.  74;  without  ;L  bondage  fear;  not  without  a  fear  of  unworthily 
treating  him;  with  a  fear  of  his  goodness,  as  it  is  prophesied 
of,  Hos.  iii.  5.     Goodness  is  not  the  object  of  terror,  but  reve- 


254  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

rence.  God  in  the  law  had  more  the  garb  of  a  Judge;  in  the 
gospel,  of  a  Father:  the  name  of  a  Father  is  sweeter,  and  be- 
speaks more  of  affection.  As  their  services  were  with  a  feel- 
ing of  the  thunders  of  the  law  in  their  consciences,  so  is  our 
worship  to  be  with  a  sense  of  gospel  grace  in  our  spirits:  spirit- 
ual worship  is  that,  therefore,  which  is  exercised  with  a  spiritual 
and  heavenly  affection,  proper  to  the  gospel.  The  heart  should 
be  enlarged,  according  to  the  liberty  the  gospel  gives  of  draw- 
ing near  to  God  as  a  Father;  as  he  gives  us  the  nobler  relation 
of  children,  we  are  to  act  the  nobler  qualities  of  children.  Love 
should  act  according  to  its  nature,  which  is  desire  of  union; 
desire  of  a  moral  union  by  affections,  as  well  as  a  mystical 
union  by  faith;  as  flame  aspires  to  reach  flame,  and  become 
one  with  it.  In  every  act  of  worship,  we  should  endeavour  to 
be  united  to  God,  and  become  one  spirit  with  him.  This  grace 
does  spiritualize  worship:  in  that  one  word  "love,"  God  has 
wrapt  up  all  the  devotion  he  requires  of  us:  it  is  the  total  sum 
of  the  first  table,  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God."  It  is 
to  be  acted  in  every  thing  we  do.  But  in  worship,  our  hearts 
should  more  solemnly  rise  up  and  acknowledge  him  amiable 
and  lovely,  since  the  law  is  stripped  of  its  cursing  power,  and 
made  sweet  in  the  blood  of  the  Redeemer.  Love  is  a  thing 
acceptable  of  itself;  but  nothing  acceptable  without  it.  The 
gifts  of  one  man  to  another  are  spiritualized  by  it.  We  would 
not  value  a  present  without  the  affection  of  the  donor;  every 
man  would  lay  claim  to  the  love  of  others,  though  he  would 
not  to  their  possessions.  Love  is  God's  right  in  every  service, 
and  the  noblest  thing  we  can  bestow  upon  him  in  our  adora- 
tions of  him.  God's  gifts  to  us  are  not  so  estimable  without 
his  love;  nor  our  services  valuable  to  him  without  the  exer- 
cise of  a  choice  affection.  Hezekiah  regarded  not  his  deliver- 
ance without  the  love  of  the  deliverer:  "  Thou  hast  in  love  to 
my  soul  delivered  it,  Isa.  xxxviii.  17;  so  does  God  say,  In  love 
to  my  honour  thou  hast  worshipped  me. 

So  that  love  must  be  active,  to  render  our  worship  spiritual. 

[3.]  A  spiritual  sensibleness  of  our  own  weakness,  is  neces- 
sary to  make  our  worship  spiritual.  Affections  to  God  cannot 
be  without  relentings  in  ourselves.  When  the  eye  is  spiritually 
fixed  upon  a  spiritual  God,  the  heart  will  mourn  that  the  wor- 
ship is  no  more  spiritually  suitable.  The  more  we  act  love 
upon  God,  as  amiable  and  gracious,  the  more  we  should  exer- 
cise grief  in  ourselves,  as  we  are  vile  and  offending.  Spiritual 
worship  is  a  melting  worship,  as  well  as  an  elevating  worship; 
it  exalts  God,  and  debases  the  creature.  The  publican  was 
more  spiritual  in  his  humble  address  to  God,  when  the  Phari- 
see was  wholly  carnal  with  his  swelling  language.  A  spiritual 
love  in  worship  will  make  us  grieve,  that  we  have  given  him 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP-  055 

so  little,  and  could  give  him  DO  more.  It  is  a  part  of  spiritual 
duty  to  bewail  our  carnality  mixed  with  it;  as  we  receive  mer- 
cies spiritually,  when  we  receive  them  with  a  sense  of  God's 
goodness  and  our  own  vileness,  in  the  same  manner  we  render 
a  spiritual  worship. 

[4.]  Spiritual  desires  for  God  render  the  service  spiritual. 
When  the  soul  follows  hard  after  him,  Psal.  lxiii.  8;  pursues 
after  God  as  a  God  of  infinite  communicative  goodness,  with 
sighs  and  groans  unutterable.  A  spiritual  soul  seems  to  he 
transformed  into  hunger  and  thirst,  and  becomes  nothing  but  de- 
sire. A  carnal  worshipper  is  taken  with  the  beauty  and  magnifi- 
cence of  the  temple;  a  spiritual  worshipper  desires  to  see  tbe 
glory  of  God  in  the  sanctuary,  Psal.  lxiii.  2;  he  pants  after  God. 
As  he  came  to  worship  to  find  God,  so  he  boils  up  in  desires  for 
God,  and  is  loth  to  go  from  it  without  God,  "the  living  God," 
Psal.  xlii.  2.  He  would  see  the  Urim  and  the  Thummim;  the  un- 
usual sparkling  of  the  stones  upon  the  high  priest's  breastplate. 
That  deserves  not  the  title  of  spiritual  worship,  when  the  soul 
makes  no  longer  inquiries,  Saw  ye  him  whom  my  soul  loves? 
A  spiritual  worship  is,  when  our  desires  are  chiefly  for  God  in 
the  worship;  as  David  desires  to  dwell  in  the  house  of  the 
Lord:  but  his  desire  is  not  terminated  there;  but  to  behold  the 
beauty  of  the  Lord,  Psal.  xxvii.  4,  and  taste  the  ravishing 
sweetness  of  his  presence.  No  doubt  but  Elijah's  desires  for 
the  enjoyment  of  God  while  he  was  mounting  to  heaven,  were 
as  fiery  as  the  chariot  wherein  he  was  carried.  Unutterable 
groans  acted  in  worship  are  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit,  and  certainly 
render  it  a  spiritual  service,  Rom.  viii.  2G.  Strong  appetites 
are  agreeable  to  God,  and  prepare  us  to  eat  the  fruit  of  wor- 
ship. A  spiritual  Paul  presses  forward  to  know  Christ,  and 
the  power  of  his  resurrection;  and  a  spiritual  worshipper  actu- 
ally aspires  in  every  duty  to  know  God,  and  the  power  of  his 
grace.  To  desire  worship  as  an  end,  is  carnal;  to  desire  it  as 
a  means,  and  act  desires  in  it  for  communion  with  God  in  it, 
is  spiritual,  and  the  fruit  of  a  spiritual  life. 

[5.]  Thankfulness  and  admiration  are  to  be  exercised  in 
spiritual  services.  This  is  a  worship  of  spirits.  Praise  is  the 
adoration  of  the  blessed  angels,  Isa.  vi.  3,  and  of  glorified  spi- 
rits: "  Thou  art  worthy,  0  Lord,  to  receive  glory,  and  honour, 
and  power,"  Rev.  iv.  11:  and  they  worship  him,  ascribing 
"  blessing,  honour,  glory,  and  power  to  him  that  sits  upon  the 
throne,  and  to  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever,"  Rev.  v.  13,  14. 
Other  acts  of  worship  are  confined  to  this  life,  and  leave  us  as 
soon  as  we  have  set  our  fool  in  heaven;  there  no  notes  but  this 
of  praise  are  warbled  out;  the  power,  wisdom,  love,  and  grace 
in  the  dispensation  of  the  gospel,  seat  themselves  in  the  thoughts 
and  tongues  of  blessed  souls.     Can  a  worship  on  earth  be  spi- 


256  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

ritual,  that  has  no  mixture  of  an  eternal  heavenly  duty  with  it? 
The  worship  of  God  in  innocence  had  been  chiefly  an  admira- 
tion of  him  in  the  works  of  creation;  and  should  not  our  evan- 
gelical worship  be  an  admiration  of  him  in  the  work  of  redemp- 
tion, which  is  a  restoration  to  a  better  state?  After  the  peti- 
tioning for  pardoning  grace,  Hos.  xiv.  2,  there  is  a  rendering 
the  calves  or  heifers  of  our  lips,  alluding  to  the  heifers  used  in 
eucharistical  sacrifices.  The  praise  of  God  is  the  choicest  sac- 
rifice and  worship,  under  a  dispensation  of  redeeming  grace; 
this  is  the  prime  and  eternal  part  of  worship  under  the  gospel. 
The  psalmist,  Psal.  cxlix.  and  cl.,  speaking  of  the  gospel  times, 
spurs  on  to  this  kind  of  worship;  "Sing  to  the  Lord  a  new 
song;  let  the  children  of  Zion  be  joyful  in  their  king;  let  the 
saints  be  joyful  in  glory,  and  sing  aloud  upon  their  beds;  let 
the  high  praises  of  God  be  in  their  mouths."  He  begins  and 
ends  both  psalms  with  "  Praise  ye  the  Lord."  That  cannot  be 
a  spiritual  and  evangelical  worship,  that  has  nothing  of  the 
praise  of  God  in  the  heart.  The  consideration  of  God's  adora- 
ble perfections  discovered  in  the  Gospel,  will  make  us  come  to 
him  with  more  seriousness;  beg  blessings  of  him  with  more 
confidence;  fly  to  him  with  a  winged  faith  and  love,  and  more 
spiritually  glorify  him  in  our  attendances  upon  him. 

[6.]  Spiritual  worship  is  performed  with  delight.  The  evan- 
gelical worship  is  prophetically  signified  by  keeping  the  feast 
of  tabernacles;  they  shall  "  go  up  from  year  to  year  to  worship 
the  King,  the  Lord  of  hosts,  and  to  keep  the  feast  of  taberna- 
cles," Zech.  xiv.  16.  Why  that  feast,  when  there  were  other 
feasts  observed  by  the  Jews?  That  was  a  feast  celebrated 
with  the  greatest  joy;  typical  of  the  gladness  which  was  to  be 
under  the  exhibition  of  the  Messiah,  and  a  thankful  commemo- 
ration of  the  redemption  wrought  by  him.  It  was  to  be  cele- 
brated five  days  after  the  solemn  day  of  atonement,  Lev.  xxiii. 
34,  compared  with  ver.  27,  wherein  there  was  one  of  the  most 
solemn  types  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  death  of  Christ.  In  this 
feast  they  commemorated  their  exchange  of  Egypt  for  Canaan; 
the  manna  wherewith  they  were  fed;  the  water  out  of  the 
rock  where  with  they  were  refreshed:  in  remembrance  of  this, 
they  poured  water  on  the  ground,  pronouncing  those  words  in 
Isaiah,  they  shall  "draw  water  out  of  the  wells  of  salvation;" 
which  our  Saviour  refers  to  himself,  John  vii.  37,  inviting  them 
to  him,  to  drink,  upon  the  last  day,  the  great  day  of  the  feast 
of  tabernacles,  wherein  this  solemn  ceremony  was  observed. 
Since  we  are  freed  by  the  death  of  the  Redeemer  from  the 
curses  of  the  law,  God  requires  of  us  a  joy  in  spiritual  privi- 
leges. A  sad  frame  in  worship  gives  the  lie  to  all  gospel 
liberty;  to  the  purchase  of  the  Redeemer's  death,  the  triumphs 
of  his  resurrection.     It  is  a  carriage,  as  if  we  were  under  the 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 


257 


influences  of  the  legal  fire  and  lightning,  and  an  entering  a  pro- 
test against  the  freedom  of  the  gospel.  The  evangelical  wor- 
ship is  a  spiritual  worship;  and  praise,  joy,  and  delight  are 
prophesied  of,  as  great  ingredients  in  attendance  on  gospel 
ordinances,  Isa.  xii.  3 — 5.  What  was  occasion  of  terror  in  the 
worship  of  God  under  the  law,  is  the  occasion  of  delight  in  the 
worship  of  God  under  the  gospel.  The  justice  and  holiness  of 
God,  so  terrible  in  the  law,  becomes  comfortable  under  the 
gospel,  since  they  have  feasted  themselves  on  the  active  and 
passive  obedience  of  the  Redeemer.  The  approach  is  to  God 
as  gracious,  not  to  God  as  unpacified;  as  a  son  to  a  father,  not 
as  a  criminal  to  a  judge.  Under  the  law,  God  was  represented 
as  a  Judge;  remembering  their  sin  in  their  sacrifices,  and  repre- 
senting the  punishment  they  had  merited;  in  the  gospel,  as  a 
Father,  accepting  the  atonement,  and  publishing  the  reconcilia- 
tion wrought  by  the  Redeemer.  Delight  in  God  is  a  gospel 
frame;  therefore  the  more  joyful,  the  more  spiritual.  The 
Sabbath  is  to  be  a  delight;  not  only  in  regard  of  the  day,  but 
in  regard  of  the  duties  of  it,  Isa.  lviii.  13;  in  regard  of  the 
marvellous  work  he  wrought  on  it;  raising  up  our  blessed  Re- 
deemer on  that  day,  whereby  a  foundation  was  laid  for  the 
rendering  our  persons  and  services  acceptable  to  God:  "This 
is  the  day  which  the  Lord  hath  made,  we  will  be  glad  and  re- 
joice in  it,"  Psal.  cxviii.  24.  A  dull  frame  becomes  not  a  day 
and  a  duty  that  has  so  noble  and  spiritual  a  mark  upon  it. 

The  angels  in  the  first  act  of  worship  after  the  creation,  were 
highly  joyful,  they  shouted  for  joy  !  Job  xxxviii.  7. 

The  saints  have  particularly  acted  this  in  their  worship. 
David  would  not  content  himself  with  an  approach  to  the  altar, 
without  going  to  God  as  his  exceeding  joy,  Psa.  xliii.  4.  My 
triumphant  joy !  When  he  danced  before  the  ark,  he  seems  to 
be  transformed  into  delight  and  pleasure,  2  Sam.  vi.  14.  16.  He 
had  as  much  delight  in  worship,  as  others  had  in  their  harvest 
and  vintage.  And  those  that  took  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  their 
goods,  would  as  joyfully  attend  upon  the  communications  of 
God.  Where  there  is  a  fulness  of  the  Spirit,  there  is  a  making 
melody  to  God  in  the  heart,  Eph.  v.  18,  19;  and  where  there 
is  an  acting  of  love,  (as  there  is  in  all  spiritual  services,)  the 
proper  fruit  of  it  is  joy  in  a  near  approach  to  the  object  of  the 
soul's  affection.  Love  is  appetitus  unionts,  "desire  of  union;" 
the  more  love,  the  more  delight  in  the  approachings  of  God  to 
the  soul,  or  the  outgoings  of  the  soul  to  God.  As  the  object  of 
worship  is  amiable  in  a  spiritual  eye,  so  the  means  tending  to  a 
communion  with  this  object  are  delightful  in  the  exercise. 
Where  there  is  no  delight  in  a  duty,  there  is  no  delight  in  the 
object  of  the  duty;  the  more  of  grace,  the  more  of  pleasure  in 
the  actings  of  it:  as  the  more  of  nature  there  is  in  any  natural 
Vol.  I.— 33 


258  0N  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

agent,  the  more  of  pleasure  in  the  act;  so  the  more  heavenly 
the  worship,  the  more  spiritual.  Delight  is  the  frame  and  tem- 
per of  glory.  A  heart  filled  up  to  the  brim  with  joy,  is  a  heart 
filled  up  to  the  brim  with  the  spirit :  joy  is  the  fruit  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  Gal.  v.  22. 

Not  the  joy  of  God's  dispensation  flowing  from  God,  but  a 
gracious  active  joy  streaming  to  God.  There  is  a  joy  when  the 
comforts  of  God  are  dropped  into  the  soul,  as  oil  upon  the 
wheel;  which  indeed  makes  the  faculties  move  with  more 
speed  and  activity  in  his  service,  like  the  chariots  of  Ammi-na- 
dib:  and  a  soul  may  serve  God  in  the  strength  of  this  taste, 
and  its  delight  terminate  in  the  sensible  comfort.  This  is  not 
the  joy  I  mean,  but  such  a  joy  that  has  God  for  its  object,  de- 
lighting in  him  as  the  term,  in  worship  as  the  way  to  him.  The 
first  is  God's  dispensation,  the  other  is  our  duty;  the  first  is  an 
act  of  God's  favour  to  us,  the  second  a  sprout  of  habitual  grace 
in  us.  The  comforts  we  have  from  God,  may  elevate  our  duties; 
but  the  grace  we  have  within  spiritualizes  our  duties. 

Nor  is  every  delight  an  argument  of  a  spiritual  service.  All 
the  requisites  to  worship  must  be  taken  in.  A  man  may  invent 
a  worship,  and  delight  in  it;  as  Micah  in  the  adoration  of  his 
idol,  when  he  was  glad  he  had  got  both  an  ephod  and  a  Levite, 
Judg.  xvii.  As  a  man  may  have  a  contentment  in  sin,  so  he 
may  have  a  contentment  in  worship;  not  because  it  is  a  wor- 
ship of  God,  but  the  worship  of  his  own  invention,  agreeable  to 
his  own  humour  and  design,  as,  Isa.  lviii.  2,  it  is  said,  they  de- 
lighted in  approaching  to  God,  but  it  was  for  carnal  ends. 
Novelty  engenders  complacency;  but  it  must  be  a  worship 
wherein  God  will  delight;  and  that  must  be  a  worship  according 
to  his  own  rule  and  infinite  wisdom,  and  not  our  shallow  fancies. 

God  requires  a  cheerfulness  in  his  service,  especially  under 
the  gospel,  where  he  sits  upon  a  throne  of  grace;  discovers 
himself  in  his  amiableness,  and  acts  the  covenant  of  grace,  and 
the  sweet  relation  of  a  Father.  The  priests  of  old  were  not  to 
sully  themselves  with  any  sorrow,  when  they  were  in  the  exer- 
cise of  their  functions.  God  put  a  bar  to  the  natural  affections 
of  Aaron  and  his  sons,  when  Nadab  and  Abihu  had  been  cut 
off  by  a  severe  hand  of  God,  Lev.  x.  6.  Every  true  Christian  in 
a  higher  order  of  priesthood,  is  a  person  dedicated  to  joy  and 
peace,  offering  himself  a  lively  sacrifice  of  praise  and  thanks- 
giving; and  there  is  no  Christian  duty,  but  is  to  be  set  off  and 
seasoned  with  cheerfulness.  He  that,  loves  a  cheerful  giver  in 
acts  of  charity,  requires  no  less  a  cheerful  spirit  in  acts  of  wor- 
ship. As  this  is  an  ingredient  in  worship,  so  it  is  the  means  to 
make  your  spirits  intent  in  worship.  When  the  heart  triumphs 
in  the  consideration  of  Divine  excellency  and  goodness,  it  will 
be  angry  at  any  thing  that  offers  to  jog  and  disturb  it. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  ^59 

[7.]  Spiritual  worship  is  to  be  performed,  though  with  a  de- 
light in  God,  yet  with  a  deep  reverence  of  God.  The  gospel  in 
advancing  the  spirituality  of  worship,  takes  oil'  the  terror,  but 
not  the  reverence  of  God;  which  is  nothing  else  in  its  own 
nature,  but  a  due  and  high  esteem  of  the  excellency  of  a  thing 
according  to  the  nature  of  it:  and  therefore  the  gospel,  present- 
ing us  with  more  illustrious  notices  of  the  glorious  nature  of 
God,  is  so  far  from  indulging  any  disesteem  of  him,  that  it 
requires  of  us  a  greater  reverence  suitable  to  the  height  of  its 
discovery,  above  what  could  be  spelt  in  the  book  of  creation. 
The  gospel  worship  is  therefore  expressed  by  trembling,  "They 
shall  walk  after  the  Lord:  he  shall  roar  like  a  lion:  when  he 
shall  roar,  then  the  children  shall  tremble  from  the  west,"  Hos. 
xi.  10.  When  the  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  shall  lift  up  his 
powerful  voice  in  the  gospel,  the  western  gentiles  shall  run 
trembling  to  walk  after  the  Lord.  God  has  always  attended 
his  greatest  manifestations  with  remarkable  characters  of  majes- 
ty, to  create  a  reverence  in  his  creature.  He  caused  the  wind 
to  march  before  him,  to  cut  the  mountain,  when  he  manifested 
himself  to  Elijah,  1  Kings  xix.  11;  a  wind  and  a  cloud  of  fire 
before  that  magnificent  vision  to  Ezekiel,  Ezek.  i.  4;  thunders 
and  lightnings  before  the  giving  the  law,  Exod.  xix.  16 ;  and  a 
mighty  wind  before  the  giving  the  Spirit,  Acts  ii.  2.  God  re- 
quires of  us  an  awe  of  him  in  the  very  act  of  performance.  The 
angels  are  pure,  and  cannot  fear  him  as  sinners,  but  in  reve- 
rence they  cover  their  faces  when  they  stand  before  him,  Isa. 
vi.  2.  His  power  should  make  us  reverence  him,  as  we  are 
creatures;  his  justice,  as  we  are  sinners;  his  goodness,  as  we 
are  restored  creatures.  "God  is  clothed  with  unspeakable 
majesty;  the  glory  of  his  face  shines  brighter  than  the  lights  of 
heaven  in  their  beauty.  Before  him  the  angels  tremble,  and  the 
heavens  melt:  We  ought  not  therefore  to  come  before  him  with 
the  sacrifice  of  fools,  nor  tender  a  duty  to  him,  without  falling 
low  upon  our  faces,  and  bowing  the  knees  of  our  hearts  in  token 
of  reverence."'  Not  a  slavish  fear,  like  that  of  devils,  but  a 
godly  fear,  like  that  of  saints,  Heb.  xii.  28,  joined  with  a  sense 
of  an  immovable  kingdom,  becometh  us.  And  this  the  apostle 
calls  a  grace  necessary  to  make  our  service  acceptable,  and  there- 
fore the  grace  necessary  to  make  it  spiritual,  since  nothing  finds 
admission  to  God  but  what  is  of  a  spiritual  nature.  The  con- 
sideration of  his  glorious  nature,  should  imprint  an  awful 
respect  upon  our  souls  to  him:  his  goodness  should  make  his 
majesty  more  adorable  to  us,  as  his  majesty  makes  his  goodness 
more  admirable  in  his  condescensions  to  us.  As  God  is  a  Spirit, 
our  worship  must  be  spiritual;  and  seeing  he  is  the  supreme 
Spirit,  our  worship  must  be  reverential.     We  must  observe  the 

1  Dailk-  sur  3.  Jean.  P.  150. 


260  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

state  he  takes  upon  him  in  his  ordinances;  he  is  in  heaven, we 
upon  the  earth;  we  must  not  therefore  be  hasty  to  utter  any 
thing  before  God,  Eccl.  v.  2.  Consider  him  a  Spirit  in  the  high- 
est heavens,  and  ourselves  spirits  dwelling  in  a  dreggy  earth. 
Loose  and  garish  frames  debase  him  to  our  own  quality;  slight 
postures  of  spirit  intimate  him  to  be  a  slight  and  mean  being; 
our  being  in  covenant  with  him,  must  not  lower  our  awful  ap- 
prehensions of  him ;  as  he  is  "  the  Lord  thy  God,"  it  is  a  glori- 
ous and  fearful  name,  or  wonderful,  Deut.  xxviii.  5S.  Though  he 
lay  by  his  justice  to  believers,  he  does  not  lay  by  his  majesty. 
When  we  have  a  confidence  in  him,  because  he  is  the  Lord  our 
God;  we  must  have  awful  thoughts  of  his  majesty,  because  his 
name  is  glorious.  God  is  terrible  from  his  holy  places  in  regard  of 
the  great  things  he  does  for  his  Israel,  Psa.  lxviii.  35.  We  should 
behave  ourselves  with  such  inward  honour  and  respect  of  him, 
as  if  he  were  present  to  our  bodily  eyes.  The  higher  apprehen- 
sions we  have  of  his  majesty,  the  greater  awe  will  be  upon  our 
hearts  in  his  presence,  and  the  greater  spirituality  in  our  acts. 
We  should  manage  our  hearts  so,  as  if  we  had  a  view  of  God 
in  his  heavenly  glory. 

[8.]  Spiritual  worship  is  to  be  performed  with  humility  in 
our  spirits.  This  is  to  follow  upon  the  reverence  of  God.  As 
we  are  to  have  high  thoughts  of  God,  that  we  may  not  debase 
him;  we  must  have  low  thoughts  of  ourselves,  not  to  vaunt 
before  him.  When  we  have  right  notions  of  the  Divine  Ma- 
jesty, we  shall  be  as  worms  in  our  own  thoughts,  and  creep  as 
worms  into  his  presence.  We  can  never  consider  him  in  his 
glory,  but  we  have  a  fit  opportunity  to  reflect  upon  ourselves, 
and  consider  how  basely  we  revolted  from  him,  and  how  gra- 
ciously we  are  restored  by  him.  As  the  gospel  affords  us  greater 
discoveries  of  God's  nature,  and  so  enhances  our  reverence  of 
him;  so  it  helps  us  to  a  fuller  understanding  of  our  own  vile- 
ness  and  weakness,  and  therefore  is  proper  to  engender  humi- 
lity: the  more  spiritual  and  evangelical,  therefore,  any  service 
is,  the  more  humble  it  is.  That  is  a  spiritual  service,  that  most 
manifests  the  glory  of  God;  and  this  cannot  be  manifested  by 
us,  without  manifesting  our  own  emptiness  and  nothingness. 
The  heathens  were  sensible  of  the  necessity  of  humility,  by  the 
light  of  nature;1  after  the  name  of  God  signified  by  '  E&5  "  Thou 
art,"  inscribed  on  the  temple  at  Delphos,  followed  Tvu^i  etavtov, 
"  Know  thyself,"  whereby  was  insinuated,  that  when  we  have 
to  do  with  God,  who  is  the  only  Ens,  we  should  behave  our- 
selves with  a  sense  of  our  own  infirmity,  and  infinite  distance 
from  him.  As  a  person,  so  a  duty  leavened  with  pride  has 
nothing  of  sincerity,  and  therefore  nothing  of  spirituality  in  it: 
"  His  soul,  which  is  lifted  up,  is  not  upright  in  him,"  Hab. 

'  Plutarcli,  Moral.  \>.  344. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  OQl 

ii.  4.  The  elders  that  were  crowned  by  God  to  be  kings  and 
priests,  to  offer  spiritual  sacrifices,  uncrown  themselves  in  thru- 
worship  of  him,  and  cast  down  their  ornaments  at  his  feet, 
Rev.  iv.  10,  compared  with  v.  10.  The  Greek  word  to  wor- 
ship, (rpotfxwiir,  signifies  to  creep  like  a  dog  upon  his  belly  be- 
fore his  master;  to  lie  low.  How  deep  should  our  sense  be  of 
the  privilege  of  God's  admitting  us  to  his  worship,  and  afford- 
ing us  such  a  mercy  under  our  deserts  of  wrath!  How  mean 
should  be  our  thoughts,  both  of  our  persons  and  performances! 
How  patiently  should  we  wait  upon  God  for  the  success  of 
worship!  How  did  Abraham,  the  father  of  the  faithful,  bow 
himself  to  the  earth,  when  he  supplicated  the  God  of  heaven, 
and  devote  himself  to  him  under  the  title  of  very  dust  and  ashes! 
Gen.  xviii.  27.  Isaiah  did  but  behold  an  evangelical  apparition 
of  God  and  the  angels  worshipping  him,  and  presently  reflects 
upon  his  own  uncleanness,  Isa.  vi.  5.  God's  presence  both 
requires  and  causes  humility.  How  lowly  is  David  in  his  own 
opinion,  after  a  magnificent  duty  performed  by  himself  and  his 
people!  "  Who  am  I,  and  what  is  my  people,  that  we  should 
be  able  to  offer  so  willingly?"  1  Chron.  xxix.  14.  The  more 
spiritual  the  soul  is  in  its  carriage  to  God,  the  more  humble  it 
is;  and  the  more  gracious  God  is  in  his  communications  to  the 
soul,  the  lower  it  lies. 

God  commanded  not  the  fiercer  creatures  to  be  offered  to 
him  in  sacrifices,  but  lambs  and  kids,  meek  and  lowly  creatures; 
none  that  had  stings  in  their  tails  or  venom  in  their  tongues.1 
The  meek  lamb  was  the  daily  sacrifice:  the  doves  were  to  be 
offered  by  pairs.  God  would  not  have  honey  mixed  with  any 
sacrifice,  Lev.  ii.  11;  that  breeds  choler,  and  choler  pride:  but 
oil  he  commanded  to  be  used ;  that  supples  and  mollifies  the 
parts.  Swelling  pride  and  boiling  passions  render  our  services 
carnal;  they  cannot  be  spiritual,  without  an  humble  sweetness 
and  an  innocent  sincerity:  one  grain  of  this  transcends  the  most 
costly  sacrifices.  A  contrite  heart  puts  a  gloss  upon  worship, 
Psalm  li.  16,  17.  The  departure  of  men  and  angels  from  God 
began  in  pride;  our  approaches  and  return  to  him  must  begin 
in  humility:  and  therefore  all  those  graces  which  are  bottomed 
on  humility  must  be  acted  in  worship,  as  faith,  and  a  sense  of 
our  own  indigence.  Our  blessed  Saviour,  the  most  spiritual 
worshipper,  prostrated  himself  in  the  garden  with  the  greatest 
lowliness,  and  offered  himself  upon  the  cross  a  sacrifice  with 
the  greatest  humility.  Melted  souls  in  worship  have  the  most 
spiritual  conformity  to  the  person  of  Christ  in  the  state  of  humi- 
liation, and  his  design  in  that  state:  as  worship  without  it  is 
not  suitable  to  God,  so  neither  is  it  advantageous  for  us.  A 
time  of  worship  is  a  time  of  God's  communication.     The  vessel 

1  Caudam  aculcatam  vol  linguam  nigram,  Alcxund.  ab  Alex.  1.  3.  c.  12. 


262  0N  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

must  be  melted  to  receive  the  mould  it  is  designed  for:  softened 
wax  is  fittest  to  receive  a  stamp,  and  a  spiritually  melted  soul 
fittest  to  receive  a  spiritual  impression.  We  cannot  perform 
duty  in  an  evangelical  and  spiritual  strain,  without  the  melting 
feelings  and  meanness  in  ourselves  which  the  gospel  requires. 

[9.]  Spiritual  worship  is  to  be  performed  with  holiness.  God 
is  a  holy  Spirit:  a  likeness  to  God  must  attend  the  worshipping 
of  God  as  he  is:  holiness  is  always  in  season;  it  becomes  his 
house  for  ever,  Psalm  xciii.  5.  We  can  never  serve  the  living 
God,  till  we  have  consciences  purged  from  dead  works,  Heb. 
ix.  14.  Dead  works  in  our  consciences  are  unsuitable  to  God, 
an  eternal  living  Spirit.  The  more  mortified  the  heart,  the 
more  quickened  the  service.  Nothing  can  please  an  infinite 
purity,  but  that  which  is  pure:  since  God  is  in  his  glory  in  his 
ordinances,  we  must  not  be  in  our  filthiness.  The  holiness  of 
his  Spirit  sparkles  in  his  ordinances:  the  holiness  of  our  spirits 
ought  also  to  sparkle  in  our  observance  of  them.  The  holiness 
of  God  is  most  celebrated  in  the  worship  of  angels,  Isa.  vi.  3; 
Rev.  iv.  S.  Spiritual  worship  ought  to  be  like  angelical;  that 
cannot  be  with  souls  totally  impure.  As  there  must  be  perfect 
holiness  to  make  a  worship  perfectly  spiritual,  so  there  must 
be  some  degree  of  holiness  to  make  it  in  any  measure  spiritual. 
God  would  have  all  the  utensils  of  the  sanctuary  employed 
about  his  service  to  be  holy.  The  inwards  of  the  sacrifice  were 
to  be  rinsed  thrice.1  The  crop  and  feathers  of  sacrificed  doves 
were  to  be  hung  eastward  towards  the  entrance  of  the  temple, 
at  a  distance  from  the  holy  of  holies,  where  the  presence  of  God 
was  most  eminent,  Lev.  i.  16.  When  Aaron  was  to  go  into 
the  holy  of  holies,  he  was  to  sanctify  himself  in  an  extraordi- 
nary manner,  Lev.  xvi.  4.  The  priests  were  to  be  bare-footed 
in  the  temple,  in  the  exercise  of  their  office;  shoes  always  were 
lo  be  put  off  upon  holy  ground:  "  Keep  thy  foot  when  thou 
goest  to  the  house  of  God,"  says  the  wise  man,  Eccl.  v.  1:  strip 
the  affections,  the  feet  of  the  soul,  of  all  dirt  contracted;  discard 
all  earthly  and  base  thoughts  from  the  heart.  A  beast  was  not 
to  touch  the  mount  Sinai,  without  losing  his  life;  nor  can  we 
come  near  the  throne  with  brutish  affections,  without  losing  the 
life  and  fruit  of  the  worship.  An  unholy  soul  degrades  himself 
from  a  spirit  to  a  brute,  and  the  worship  from  spiritual  to  bru- 
tish. If  any  unmortified  sin  be  found  in  the  life,  as  it  was  in 
the  comers  to  the  temple,  it  taints  and  pollutes  the  worship,  Isa. 
i.  15;  Jer.  vii.  9,  10.  All  worship  is  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
excellence  of  God,  as  he  is  holy:  hence  it  is  called  a  sanctifying 
God's  name:  how  can  any  person  sanctify  God's  name,  that 
has  not  a  holy  resemblance  to  his  nature?  If  he  be  not  holy 
as  he  is  holy,  he  cannot  worship  him  according  to  his  excel- 

1  As  the  Jewish  doctors  observe  on  Lev.  i.  9. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  2(33 

lence  in  spirit  and  in  truth:  no  worship  is  spiritual  wherein  we 
have  oot  a  communion  with  God.     But  what  intercourse  can 

there  be  between  a  holy  God  and  an  impure  creature,  between 
light  and  darkness?  We  have  no  fellowship  with  him  in  any 
service,  unless  we  walk  in  the  light,  in  service  and  out  of  ser- 
vice, as  he  is  light,  1  John  i.  7.  The  heathen  thought  not  their 
sacrifices  agreeable  to  God,  without  washing  their  hands, 
whereby  they  signified  the  preparation  of  their  hearts,  before 
they  made  the  oblation.  Clean  hands,  without  a  pure  heart, 
signify  nothing:  the  frame  of  our  hearts  must  answer  the  purity 
of  the  outward  symbols.  "  I  will  wash  my  hands  in  innocency: 
so  will  1  compass  thine  altar,  0  Lord,"  Psalm  xxvi.  G.  He 
would  observe  the  appointed  ceremonies,  but  not  without 
cleansing  his  heart  as  well  as  his  hands.  Vain  man  is  apt  to 
rest  upon  outward  acts  and  rites  of  worship:  but  this  must  al- 
ways be  practised.  The  words  are  in  the  present  tense,  I  wash, 
I  compass.  Purity  in  worship  ought  to  be  our  continual  care. 
If  we  would  perform  a  spiritual  service,  wherein  we  would 
have  communion  with  God,  it  must  be  in  holiness:  if  we  would 
walk  with  Christ,  it  must  be  in  white,  Rev.  iii.  4;  alluding  to 
the  white  garments  the  priests  put  on,  when  they  went  to 
perform  their  service.  As  without  this  we  cannot  see  God  in 
heaven,  so  neither  can  we  see  the  beauty  of  God  in  his  own 
ordinances. 

[10.]  Spiritual  worship  is  performed  with  spiritual  ends,  with 
raised  aims  at  the  glory  of  God.  No  duty  can  be  spiritual  that 
has  a  carnal  aim.  Where  God  is  the  sole  object,  he  ought  to 
be  the  principal  end.  In  all  our  actions  he  is  to  be  our  end,  as 
he  is  the  principle  of  our  being;  much  more  in  religious  acts,  as 
he  is  the  object  of  our  worship.  The  worship  of  God  in  Scrip- 
ture, is  expressed  by  the  seeking  of  him,  Heb.  xi.  6:  him,  not 
ourselves;  all  is  to  be  referred  to  God.  As  we  are  not  to  live 
to  ourselves,  that  being  the  sign  of  a  carnal  state;  so  we  are  not 
to  worship  for  ourselves,  Rom.  xiv.  7,  S.  As  all  actions  are 
denominated  good  from  their  end,  as  well  as  their  object;  so 
upon  the  same  account  they  are  denominated  spiritual.  The 
end  spiritualizes  our  natural  actions;  much  more  our  religious: 
then  are  our  faculties  devoted  to  him  when  they  centre  in  him. 
If  the  intention  be  evil,  there  is  nothing  but  darkness  in  the 
whole  service,  Luke  xi.  84.  The  first  institution  of  the  Sab- 
bath, the  solemn  day  for  worship,  was  to  contemplate  the  glory 
of  God  in  his  stupendous  works  of  creation,  and  render  him  a 
homage  for  them:  "  Thou  art  worthy,  0  Lord,  to  receive  glory, 
and  honour,  and  power:  for  thou  hast  created  all  things,  and 
for  thy  pleasure  they  are  and  were  created,"  Rev.  iv.  11.  No 
worship  can  be  returned,  without  a  glorifying  of  God;  and  we 
cannot  actually  glorify  him,  without  direct  aims  at  the  promot- 


264  0N  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

ing  his  honour.  As  we  have  immediately  to  do  with  God,  so 
we  are  immediately  to  mind  the  praise  of  God.  As  we  are  not 
to  content  ourselves  with  habitual  grace,  but  be  rich  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  it  in  worship ;  so  we  are  not  to  acquiesce  in  habitual  aims 
at  the  glory  of  God,  without  the  actual  out-flowings  of  our 
hearts  in  those  aims. 

It  is  natural  for  man  to  worship  God  for  self:  self-righteous- 
ness is  the  rooted  aim  of  man  in  his  worship  since  his  revolt 
from  God,  and  being  sensible  it  is  not  to  be  found  in  his  natural 
actions,  he  seeks  for  it  in  his  moral  and  religious.  By  the  first 
pride  we  flnng  God  off  from  being  our  Sovereign,  and  from 
being  our  end  ;  since  a  pharisaical  spirit  struts  it  in  nature,  not 
only  to  do  things  to  be  seen  of  men,  but  to  be  admired  by  God: 
"Wherefore  have  we  fasted — and  thou  takest  no  knowledge?" 
Isa.  lviii.  3.  This  is  to  have  God  worship  them,  instead  of 
being  worshipped  by  them.  Cain's  carriage  after  his  sacrifice, 
testified  some  base  end  in  his  worship ;  he  came  not  to  God  as 
a  subject  to  a  sovereign,  but  as  if  he  had  been  the  sovereign, 
and  God  the  subject;  and  when  his  design  is  not  answered,  and 
his  desire  not  gratified,  he  proves  more  a  rebel  to  God,  and  a 
murderer  of  his  brother.  Such  base  scents  will  rise  up  in  our 
worship  from  the  body  of  death  which  cleaves  to  us,  and  mix 
themselves  with  our  services,  as  weeds  with  the  fish  in  the  net. 
David  therefore,  after  his  people  had  offered  willingly  to  the 
temple,  begs  of  God,  that  their  hearts  might  be  prepared  to 
him,  1  Chron.  xxix.  18;  that  their  hearts  might  stand  right  to 
God,  without  any  squinting  to  self-ends. 

Some  present  themselves  to  God,  as  poor  men  offer  a  present 
to  a  great  person ;  not  to  honour  him,  but  to  gain  for  themselves 
a  reward  richer  than  their  gift.  "  What  profit  is  it  that  we 
have  kept  his  ordinance?"  Mai.  iii.  14.  Some  worship  him, 
intending  thereby  to  make  him  amends  for  the  wrong  they  have 
done  him;  to  wipe  off  their  scores,  and  satisfy  their  debts;  as 
though  a  spiritual  wrong  could  be  recompensed  with  a  bodily 
service,  and  an  infinite  Spirit  be  outwitted  and  appeased  by  a 
carnal  flattery.  Self  is  the  spirit  of  carnality:  to  pretend  a 
homage  to  God,  and  intend  only  the  advantage  of  self,  is  rather 
to  mock  him  than  worship  him.  When  we  believe  that  we 
ought  to  be  satisfied,  rather  than  God  glorified ;  we  set  God 
below  ourselves;  imagine  that  he  should  submit  his  own  honour 
to  our  advantage ;  we  make  ourselves  more  glorious  than  God, 
as  though  we  were  not  made  for  him,  but  he  has  a  being  only 
for  us  :  this  is  to  have  a  very  low  esteem  of  the  majesty  of  God. 
Whatsoever  a  man  aims  at  in  worship  above  the  glory  of  God, 
that  he  forms  as  an  idol  to  himself  instead  of  God,  and  sets  up 
a  golden  image.  God  counts  not  this  as  a  worship.  The  offer- 
ings made  in  the   wilderness  for  forty   years  together,  God 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  2G5 

esteemed  as  not  offered  to  him:  "Have  ye  offered  unto  me 
sacrifices  and  offerings  in  the  wilderness  for  forty  years,  0  house 
of  Israel?"  Amos  v.  25.  They  did  it  not  to  God,  hut  to  them- 
selves; for  their  own  security,  and  the  attainment  of  the  pos- 
session of  the  promised  land.  A  spiritual  worshipper  performs 
not  worship  for  some  hopes  of  carnal  advantage  ;  he  uses  ordi- 
nances as  means  to  bring  God  and  his  soul  together;  to  he  more 
fitted  to  honour  God  in  the  world,  in  his  particular  place. 
When  he  has  been  inflamed  and  humble  in  any  address  or 
duly,  he  gives  God  the  glory;  his  heart  suits  the  doxology  at 
the  end  of  the  Lord's  prayer,  ascribes  the  kingdom,  power,  and 
glory  to  God  alone;  and  if  any  viper  of  pride  starts  out  upon 
him,  he  endeavours  presently  to  shake  it  off.  That  which  was 
the  first  end  of  our  framing,  ought  to  he  the  chief  end  of  our 
acting  towards  God  ;  but  when  men  have  the  same  ends  in 
worship  as  brutes,  the  satisfaction  of  a  sensitive  part,  the  ser- 
vice is  no  more  than  brutish.  The  acting  for  a  sensitive  end, 
is  unworthy  of  the  majesty  of  God  to  whom  we  address,  and 
unbecoming  a  rational  creature.  The  acting  for  a  sensitive  end, 
is- not  rational,  much  less  can  it  be  a  spiritual  service;  though 
the  act  may  be  good  in  itself,  yet  not  good  in  the  agent,  because 
he  wants  a  due  end.  We  are  then  spiritual,  when  we  have 
the  same  end  in  our  redeemed  services  as  God  had  in  his 
redeeming  love,  namely,  his  own  glory. 

[11.]  Spiritual  service  is  offered  to  God  in  the  no  me  of  Christ. 
Those  only  are  spiritual  sacrifices,  that  are  offered  up  to  God 
by  Jesus  Christ,  1  Pet.  ii.  5;  that  are  the  fruits  of  the  sanctifica- 
tion  of  the  Spirit,  and  offered  in  the  mediation  of  the  Son.  As 
the  altar  sanctifies  the  gift,  so  does  Christ  spiritualize  our  ser- 
vices for  God's  acceptation;  as  the  fire  upon  the  altar  separated 
the  airy  and  finer  parts  of  the  sacrifice  from  the  terrene  and 
earthly.  This  is  the  golden  altar  upon  which  the  prayers  of  the 
saints  arc  offered  up  before  the  throne,  Rev.  viii.  3.  As  all  that 
we  have  from  God  streams  through  his  blood;  so  all  that  we 
give  to  God  ascends  by  virtue  of  his  merits.  All  the  blessings 
God  gave  to  the  Israelites  came  out  of  Sion,  Psal.  exxxiv.  3; 
that  is,  from  the  gospel  hid  under  the  law;  all  the  duties  we 
present  to  God,  to  be  presented  in  Sion,  in  an  evangelical  man- 
ner: all  our  worship  must  be  bottomed  on  Christ.  God  has 
intended  that  we  should  honour  the  Son  as  we  honour  the 
Father:  as  we  honour  the  Father  by  offering  our  service  only 
to  him,  so  we  are  to  honour  the  Son  by  offering  it  only  in  his 
name.  In  him  alone  God  is  well  pleased,  because  in  him  alone 
he  finds  our  services  spiritual  and  worthy  of  acceptation:  we 
must  therefore  take  fast  hold  of  him  with  our  spirits,  and  the 
faster  we  hold  him,  the  more  spiritual  is  our  worship.  To  do 
any  thing  in  the  name  of  Christ,  is  not  to  believe  the  worship 
Vol.  I.— 34 


266  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

shall  be  accepted  for  itself,  but  to  have  our  eye  fixed  upon 
Christ  for  the  acceptance  of  it,  and  not  to  rest  upon  the  work 
done,  as  carnal  people  are  apt  to  do.  The  creatures  present 
their  acknowledgments  to  God  by  man;  and  man  can  only  pre- 
sent his  by  Christ.  It  was  utterly  unlawful  after  the  building 
of  the  temple,  to  sacrifice  any  where  else.  The  temple  being  a 
type  of  Christ,  it  is  utterly  unlawful  for  us  to  present  our  ser- 
vices in  any  other  name  than  his. 

This  is  the  way  to  be  spiritual.  If  we  consider  God  out 
of  Christ,  we  can  have  no  other  notions  but  those  of  horror 
and  bondage.  We  behold  him  a  Spirit,  but  environed  with 
justice  and  wrath  for  sinners:  but  the  consideration  of  him  in 
Christ,  veils  his  justice,  draws  forth  his  mercy,  represents  him 
more  a  Father  than  a  Judge.  In  Christ  the  aspect  of  justice  is 
changed,  and  by  that  the  temper  of  the  creature;  so  that  in 
and  by  this  Mediator,  we  can  have  a  spiritual  boldness,  and 
access  to  God  with  confidence,  Eph.  iii.  12;  whereby  the  spirit 
is  kept  from  benumbedness  and  distraction,  and  our  souls 
quickened  and  refined.  The  thoughts  kept  upon  Christ  in  a 
duty  of  worship,  quickly  elevate  the  soul,  and  spiritualize  the 
whole  service.  Sin  makes  our  services  black,  and  the  blood  of 
Christ  makes  both  our  persons  and  services  white. 

To  conclude  this  head. 

God  is  a  Spirit  infinitely  happy,  therefore  we  must  approach 
to  him  with  cheerfulness;  he  is  a  Spirit  of  infinite  majesty, 
therefore  we  must  come  before  him  with  reverence;  he  is  a 
Spirit  infinitely  high,  therefore  we  must  offer  up  our  sacrifices 
with  the  deepest  humility;  he  is  a  Spirit  infinitely  holy,  there- 
fore we  must  address  him  with  purity;  he  is  a  Spirit  infinitely 
glorious,  we  must  therefore  acknowledge  his  excellency  in  all 
that  we  do,  and  in  our  measures  contribute  to  his  glory,  by 
having  the  highest  aims  in  his  worship;  he  is  a  Spirit  infinitely 
provoked  by  us,  therefore  we  must  offer  up  our  worship  in  the 
name  of  a  pacifying  Mediator  and  Intercessor. 

3.  The  third  general  is,  why  a  spiritual  worship  is  due  to 
God,  and  to  be  offered  to  him.  We  must  consider  the  object 
of  worship  and  the  subject  of  worship;  the  worshipper  and 
the  worshipped.  God  is  a  Spiritual  Being;  man  is  a  reasona- 
ble creature.  The  nature  of  God  informs  us  what  is  fit  to  be 
presented  to  him;  our  own  nature  informs  us  what  is  fit  to  be 
presented  by  us. 

Reason  (1.)  The  best  we  have  is  to  be  presented  to  God  in 
worship. 

For  since  God  is  the  most  excellent  Being,  he  is  to  be  served 
by  us  with  the  most  excellent  thing  we  have,  and  with  the 
choicest  veneration.  God  is  so  incomprehensibly  excellent, 
that  we  cannot  render  him  what  he  deserves;  we  must  render 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  337 

him  what  we  arc  ahlc  to  offer;  the  best  of  our  affections;  the 
flower  of  our  Strength;  the  cream  and  top  of  our  spirits.  By 
the  same  reason  that  we  are  bound  to  give  to  God  the  best 
worship,  we  must  ofler  it  to  him  in  the  best  manner.  We  can- 
not give  to  God  any  tiling  too  good  for  so  blessed  a  Being: 
God  being  a  great  King,  slight  services  become  not  his  majesty, 
Mai.  i.  13,  14.  It  is  unbecoming  the  majesty  of  God,  and  the 
reason  of  a  creature,  to  give  him  a  trivial  thing:  it  is  unworthy 
to  bestow  the  best  of  our  strength  on  our  lust,  and  the  worst 
and  weakest  in  the  service  of  God.  An  infinite  Spirit  should 
have  affections  as  near  to  infinite  as  we  can:  as  he  is  a  Spirit 
without  bounds,  so  he  should  have  a  service  without  limits. 
When  we  have  given  him  all,  we  cannot  serve  him  according 
to  the  excellency  of  his  nature,  Josh.  xxiv.  10.  And  shall  we 
give  him  less  than  all?  His  infinite  excellency,  and  our  de- 
pendence on  him  as  creatures,  demand  the  choicest  adoration: 
our  spirits  being  the  noblest  part  of  our  nature,  are  as  due  to 
him  as  the  service  of  our  bodies,  which  are  the  vilest.  To  serve 
him  with  the  worst  only,  is  to  diminish  his  honour. 

Under  the  law,  God  commanded  the  best  to  be  offered  him. 
He  would  have  the  males,  the  best  of  the  kind;  the  fat,  the 
best  of  the  creature,1  Exod.  xxix.  13.  He  commanded  them  to 
offer  him  the  firstlings  of  the  flock;  not  the  firstlings  of  the 
womb,  but  the  firstlings  of  the  year;  the  Jewish  cattle  having 
two  breeding  times,  in  the  beginning  of  the  spring,  and  the  be- 
ginning of  September.  The  latter  breed  was  the  weaker,  which 
Jacob  knew,  Gen.  xxx.  41,  42,  when  he  laid  the  rods  before 
the  cattle  when  they  were  strong  in  the  spring,  and  withheld 
them  when  they  were  feeble  in  the  autumn.  One  reason  (as 
the  Jews  say)  why  God  accepted  not  the  offerings  of  Cain  was, 
because  he  brought  the  meanest,  not  the  best  of  the  fruit;  and 
therefore  it  is  said,  only  that  he  brought  of  the  fruit  of  the 
ground,  Gen.  iv.  3;  not  the  first  of  the  fruit,  or  the  best  of  the 
fruit,  as  Abel,  who  brought  the  firstlings  of  his  flock,  and  the 
fat  thereof,  ver.  4. 

And  this  the  heathen  practised  by  the  light  of  nature.  They 
for  the  most  part  offered  males,  as  being  more  worthy;  and 
burnt  the  male,  not  the  female  frankincense,  as  it  is  divided  into 
those  two  kinds.  They  offered  the  best,  when  they  offered 
their  children  to  Moloch.  Nothing  more  excellent  than  man, 
and  nothing  dearer  to  parents  than  their  children,  which  are 
parts  of  themselves.  When  the  Israelites  would  have  a  golden 
calf  for  a  representation  of  God,  they  would  dedicate  their 
jewels,  and  strip  their  wives  and  children  of  their  richest  orna- 
ments, to  show  their  devotion.  Shall  men  serve  their  dumb 
idols  with  the  best  of  their  substance,  and  the  strength  of  theil 

1   The  inward  fat,  not  the  offal. 


268  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

souls,  and  shall  the  living  God  have  a  duller  service  from  us 
than  idols  had  from  them?  God  requires  no  such  hard,  but  de- 
lightful worship  from  us,  our  spirits. 

All  creatures  serve  man,  by  the  providential  order  of  God, 
with  the  best  they  have.  As  we  by  God's  appointment  receive 
from  creatures  the  best  they  can  give,  ought  we  not  with  a  free 
will  to  render  to  God  the  best  we  can  offer?  The  beasts  give 
us  their  best  fat;  the  trees  their  best  fruit;  the  sun  its  best  light; 
the  fountains  their  best  streams:  shall  God  order  us  the  best 
from  creatures,  and  we  put  him  off  with  the  worst  from  our- 
selves? 

God  has  given  us  the  choicest  thing  he  had.  A  Redeemer, 
that  was  the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God:  the  best 
he  had  in  heaven,  his  own  Son,  and  in  himself  a  sacrifice  for 
us,  that  we  might  be  able  to  present  ourselves  a  sacrifice  to 
him.  And  Christ  offered  himself  for  us,  the  best  he  had,  and 
that  with  the  strength  of  the  Deity  through  the  eternal  Spirit; 
and  shall  we  grudge  God  the  best  part  of  ourselves?  As  God 
would  have  a  worship  from  his  creature,  so  it  must  be  with  the 
best  part  of  his  creature.  If  we  have  given  ourselves  to  the 
Lord,  2  Cor.  viii.  5,  we  can  worship  with  no  less  than  our- 
selves. What  is  the  man  without  his  spirit?  If  we  are  to  wor- 
ship God  with  all  that  we  have  received  from  him,  we  must 
worship  him  with  the  best  part  we  have  received  from  him:  it 
is  but  a  small  glory  we  can  give  him  with  the  best,  and  shall 
we  deprive  him  of  his  right  by  giving  him  the  worst?  As  what 
we  are  is  from  God,  so  what  we  are  ought  to  be  for  God. 
Creation  is  the  foundation  of  worship:  "Serve  the  Lord  with 
gladness. — Know  ye  that  the  Lord  he  is  God;  it  is  he  that  hath 
made  us,"  Psal.  c.  2,  3.  He  has  ennobled  us  with  spiritual 
affections;  where  is  it  fittest  for  us  to  employ  them,  but  upon 
him?  and  at  what  time,  but  when  we  come  solemnly  to  con- 
verse with  him?  Is  it  justice  to  deny  him  the  honour  of  his  best 
gift  to  us?  Our  souls  are  more  his  gift  to  us,  than  any  thing  in 
the  world:  other  things  are  so  given  that  they  are  often  taken 
from  us,  but  our  spirits  are  the  most  durable  gift.  Rational 
faculties  cannot  be  removed  without  a  dissolution  of  nature. 

Well,  then,  as  he  is  God,  he  is  to  be  honoured  with  all  the 
propensions  and  ardour  that  the  infiniteness  and  excellency  of 
such  a  Being  require,  and  the  incomparable  obligations  he  has 
laid  upon  us  in  this  state  deserve  at  our  hands:  in  all  our  wor- 
ship, therefore,  our  minds  ought  to  be  filled  with  the  highest 
admiration,  love,  and  reverence.  Since  our  end  was  to  glorify 
God,  we  answer  not  our  end,  and  honour  him  not,  unless  we 
give  him  the  choicest  we  have.1 

Reason  (2.)  We  cannot  else  act  towards  God  according  to 

1  Amyraldus  Mor.  torn.  2.  p.  311. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  OQ9 

the  nature  of  rational  creatures.  Spiritual  worship  is  due  to 
God,  because  ot*  his  nature,  and  due  from  us,  because  of  our 
nature.  As  we  are  to  adore  God,  so  we  are  to  adore  him  as 
men.  The  nature  of  a  rational  creature  makes  this  impression 
upon  him:  he  cannot  view  his  own  nature  without  having  this 
duty  striking  upon  Ins  mind.  As  he  knows  by  inspection  into 
himself,  that  there  is  a  God  that  made  him;  so,  that  lie  is 
made  to  be  in  subjection  to  God,  subjection  to  him  in  his  spirit 
as  well  as  his  body,  and  ought  morally  to  testify  his  natural 
dependence  on  him.  His  constitution  informs  him  that  he  has 
a  capacity  to  converse  with  God;  that  he  cannot  converse  with 
him,  but  by  those  inward  faculties:  if  it  could  be  managed  by 
his  body  without  his  spirit,  beasts  might  as  well  converse  with 
God  as  men.  It  can  never  be  a  reasonable  service  as  it  ought 
to  be,  Rom.  xii.  I,  unless  the  reasonable  faculties  be  employed 
in  the  management  of  it.  It  must  be  a  worship  prodigiously 
lame,  without  the  concurrence  of  the  chiefest  part  of  man  with 
it.  As  we  are  to  act  conformably  to  the  nature  of  the  object, 
so  also  to  the  nature  of  our  own  faculties.  Our  faculties  in  the 
very  gift  of  them  to  us  were  destined  to  be  exercised;  about 
what? — What?  All  other  things  but  the  Author  of  them!  It 
is  a  conceit  cannot  enter  into  the  heart  of  a  rational  creature, 
that  he  should  act  as  such  a  creature  in  other  things,  and  as  a 
stone  in  things  relating  to  the  donor  of  them;  as  a  man,  with 
his  mind  about  him,  in  the  affairs  of  the  world;  as  a  beast, 
without  reason,  in  his  acts  towards  God.  If  a  man  did  not 
employ  his  reason  in  other  things,  he  would  be  an  unprofitable 
creature  in  the  world:  if  he  do  not  employ  his  spiritual  facul- 
ties in  worship,  he  denies  them  the  proper  end  and  use  for 
which  they  were  given  him;  it  is  a  practical  denial  that  God 
has  given  him  a  soul,  and  that  God  has  any  right  to  the  exer- 
cise of  it.  If  there  were  no  worship  appointed  by  God  in  the 
world,  the  natural  inclination  of  man  to  some  kind  of  religion 
would  be  in  vain;  and  if  our  inward  factdties  were  not  em- 
ployed in  the  duties  of  religion,  they  would  be  in  vain.  The 
true  end  of  God  in  the  endowment  of  us  with  them  would  be 
defeated  by  us,  as  much  as  lies  in  us,  if  we  did  not  serve  him 
with  that  which  we  have  from  him  solely  at  his  own  cost.  As 
no  man  can  with  reason  conclude,  that  the  rest  commanded  on 
the  Sabbath  and  the  sanctification  of  it,  was  only  a  rest  of  the 
body,  (that  had  been  performed  by  the  beasts  as  well  as  men,) 
but  some  higher  end  was  aimed  at  for  the  rational  creature; 
so  no  man  can  think  that  the  command  for  worship  terminated 
only  in  the  presence  of  the  body;  that  God  should  give  the 
command  to  man  as  a  reasonable  creature,  and  expect  no  other 
service  from  him  than  that  of  a  brute. 

God  did  not  require  a  worship  from  man,  for  any  want  he 


270  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

had,  or  any  essential  honour  that  could  accrue  to  him;  but  that 
men  might  testify  their  gratitude  to  him,  and  dependence  on 
him.  It  is  the  most  horrid  ingratitude  not  to  have  lively  and 
deep  sentiments  of  gratitude  after  such  obligations,  and  not  to 
make  those  due  acknowledgments  that  are  proper  for  a  rational 
creature.  Religion  is  the  highest  and  choicest  act  of  a  reason- 
able creature;  no  creature  under  heaven  is  capable  of  it  that 
wants  reason.  As  it  is  a  violation  of  reason  not  to  worship 
God,  so  it  is  no  less  a  violation  of  reason  not  to  worship  him 
with  the  heart  and  spirit:  it  is  a  high  dishonour  to  God,  and 
defrauds  him  not  only  of  the  service  due  to  him  from  man,  but 
that  which  is  due  to  him  from  all  the  creatures.  Every  crea- 
ture, as  it  is  an  effect  of  God's  power  and  wisdom,  does  pas- 
sively worship  God ;  that  is,  it  affords  matter  of  adoration 
to  man  that  has  reason,  to  collect  it  and  return  it  where  it  is 
due.  Without  the  exercise  of  the  soul  we  can  no  more  hand 
it  to  God,  than  without  such  an  exercise  we  can  gather  it  from 
the  creature.  So  that  by  this  neglect,  the  creatures  are  re- 
strained from  answering  their  chief  end ;  they  cannot  pay  any 
service  to  God  without  man;  nor  can  man,  without  the  em- 
ployment of  his  rational  faculties,  render  a  homage  to  God, 
any  more  than  beasts  can.  This  engagement  of  our  inward 
power  stands  firm  and  inviolable,  let  the  modes  of  worship  be 
what  they  will,  or  the  changes  of  them  by  the  sovereign  au- 
thority of  God  never  so  frequent;  this  could  not  expire  or  be 
changed,  as  long  as  the  nature  of  man  endured.  As  man  had 
not  been  capable  of  a  command  for  worship,  unless  he  had 
been  endued  with  spiritual  faculties;  so  he  is  not  active  in  a 
true  practice  of  worship,  unless  they  be  employed  by  him  in  it. 
The  constitution  of  man  makes  this  manner  of  worship  per- 
petually obligatory:  and  the  obligation  can  never  cease,  till 
man  cease  to  be  a  creature  furnished  with  such  faculties.  In 
our  worship  therefore,  if  we  would  act  like  rational  creatures, 
we  should  extend  all  the  powers  of  our  souls  to  the  utmost 
pitch,  and  essay  to  have  apprehensions  of  God  equal  to  the 
excellency  of  his  nature,  which  though  we  may  attempt,  we 
can  never  attain. 

Reason  (3.)  Without  this  engagement  of  our  spirits,  no  act 
is  an  act  of  worship.  True  worship  being  an  acknowledgment 
of  God  and  the  perfections  of  his  nature,  results  only  from  the 
soul,  that  only  being  capable  of  knowing  God  and  those  per- 
fections which  are  the  object  and  motive  of  worship.  The 
posture  of  the  body  is  but  to  testify  the  inward  temper  and 
affection  of  the  mind:  if  therefore  it  testifies  what  it  is  not,  it 
is  a  lie  and  no  worship.  The  cringes  a  beast  may  be  taught  to 
make  to  an  altar,  may  as  well  be  called  worship;  since  a  man 
thinks  as  little  of  that  God  he  pretends  to  honour,  as  the  beast 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  271 

does  of  the  altar  to  which  lie  bows.  Worship  is  a  reverent  re- 
membrance of  God,  and  giving  some  honour  to  him  with  the 
intention  of  the  soul:  it  cannot  justly  have  the  name  of  wor- 
ship, that  wants  the  essential  part  of  it.  It  is  an  ascribing  to 
God  the  glory  of  his  nature,  an  owning  of  subjection  and  obedi- 
ence to  him  as  our  sovereign  Lord:  this  is  as  impossible  to  be 
performed  without  the  spirit,  as  that  thftre  can  be  life  and  mo- 
tion in  a  body  without  a  soul.  It  is  a  drawing  near  to  God, 
not  in  regard  o(  his  essential  presence;  so  all  things  are  near 
to  God;  but  in  an  acknowledgment  of  his  excellency,  which  is 
an  act  of  the  spirit:  without  this,  the  worst  of  men  in  a  place 
of  worship  are  as  near  to  God  as  the  best.  The  necessity  of 
the  conjunction  of  our  soul  arises  from  the  nature  of  worship, 
which  being  the  most  serious  thing  we  can  be  employed  in,  the 
highest  converse  with  the  highest  object,  requires  the  choicest 
temper  of  spirit  in  the  performance.  That  cannot  be  an  act  of 
worship  which  is  not  an  act  of  piety  and  virtue;  but  there  is 
no  act  of  virtue  done  by  the  members  of  the  body,  without  the 
concurrence  of  the  powers  of  the  soul.  We  may  as  well  call 
the  presence  of  a  dead  carcass  in  a  place  of  worship  an  act  of 
religion,  as  the  presence  of  a  living  body  without  an  intent 
spirit.  The  separation  of  the  soul  from  one  is  natural,  the 
other  moral;  that  renders  the  body  lifeless,  but  this  renders  the 
act  loathsome  to  God.  As  the  being  of  the  soul  gives  life  to 
the  body,  so  the  operation  of  the  soul  gives  life  to  the  actions. 
As  he  cannot  be  a  man  that  wants  the  form  of  a  man,  a  rational 
soul;  so  that  cannot  be  a  worship  that  wants  an  essential  part, 
the  act  of  the  spirit.  God  will  not  vouchsafe  any  acts  of  man 
so  noble  a  title,  without  the  requisite  qualifications:  "They 
shall  go  with  their  flocks  and  with  their  herds  to  seek  the 
Lord,"  IIos.  v.  6;  a  multitude  of  lambs  and  bullocks  for  sacri- 
fice, to  appease  God's  anger.  God  would  not  give  it  the  title 
of  worship,  though  instituted  by  himself,  when  it  wanted  the 
qualities  of  such  a  service:  the  spirit  of  whoredom  was  in  the 
midst  of  them,  ver.  4.  In  the  judgment  of  our  Saviour,  it  is  a 
vain  worship,  when  the  traditions  of  men  are  taught  for  the 
doctrines  of  God,  Matt.  xv.  9;  and  no  less  vain  must  it  be, 
when  the  bodies  of  men  are  presented  to  supply  the  place  of 
their  spirits.  As  an  omission  of  duty  is  a  contempt  of  God's 
sovereign  authority,  so  the  omission  of  the  manner  of  it  is  a 
contempt  of  it,  and  of  his  amiable  excellency;  and  that  which 
is  a  contempt  and  mockery  can  lay  no  just  claim  to  the  title  of 
worship. 

Reason  (4.)  There  is  in  worship  an  approach  of  God  to  man. 
It  was  instituted  to  this  purpose,  that  God  might  give  out  his 
blessings  to  man!:  and  ought  not  our  spirits  to  be  prepared  and 
ready  to  receive  his  communications?  We  are  in  such  acts  more 


272  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

peculiarly  in  his  presence.  In  the  Israelites  hearing  the  law, 
it  is  said  God  was  to  come  among  them,  Exod.  xix.  10,  11. 
Then  men  are  said  to  stand  before  the  Lord,  Deut.  x.  8:  God 
before  whom  I  stand,  1  Kings  xvii.  l,that  is,  whom  I  worship; 
and  therefore  when  Cain  forsook  the  worship  of  God  settled  in 
his  father's  family,  he  is  said  to  go  out  from  the  presence  of  the 
Lord,  Gen.  iv.  16.  God  is  essentially  present  in  the  world; 
graciously  present  in  his  church.  The  name  of  the  evangelical 
city  is  Jehovah  Shammah,  "  The  Lord  is  there,"  Ezek.  xlviii. 
35.  God  is  more  graciously  present  in  the  evangelical  institu- 
tions, than  in  the  legal;  he  "  loveth  the  gates  of  Zion  more  than 
all  the  dwellings  of  Jacob,"  Psal.  lxxxvii.  2;  his  evangelical 
law  and  worship,  which  was  to  go  forth  from  Zion,  as  the  other 
did  from  Sinai,  Mic.  iv.  2.  God  delights  to  approach  to  men, 
and  converse  with  them  in  the  worship  instituted  in  the  gos- 
pel, more  than  in  all  the  dwellings  of  Jacob.  If  God  be  graci- 
ously present,  ought  not  we  to  be  spiritually  present?  A  lifeless 
carcass  service  becomes  not  so  high  and  delectable  a  presence 
as  this.  It  is  to  thrust  him  from  us,  not  invite  him  to  us:  it 
is  to  practise  in  the  ordinances,  what  the  prophet  predicts  con- 
cerning men's  usage  of  our  Saviour;  there  is  no  form,  no  come- 
liness, nor  beauty  that  we  should  desire  him,  Isa.  liii.  2.  A 
slightness  in  worship,  reflects  upon  the  excellence  of  the  object 
of  worship.  God  and  his  worship  are  so  linked  together,  that 
whosoever  thinks  the  one  not  worth  his  inward  care,  esteems 
the  other  not  worth  his  inward  affection.  How  unworthy  a 
slight  is  it  of  God,  who  proffers  the  opening  his  treasure ;  the 
re-impressing  his  image ;  conferring  his  blessings ;  admits  us 
into  his  presence,  when  he  has  no  need  for  us,  who  has  millions 
of  angels  to  attend  him  in  his  court,  and  celebrate  his  praise! 
He  that  worships  not  God  with  his  spirit,  regards  not  God's 
presence  in  his  ordinances,  and  slights  the  great  end  of  God  in 
them,  and  that  perfection  he  may  attain  by  them.  We  can  only 
expect  what  God  has  promised  to  give,  when  we  render  to 
him  what  he  has  commanded  us  to  present.  If  we  put  off  God 
with  a  shell,  he  will  put  us  off  with  a  husk.  How  can  we  ex- 
pect his  heart,  when  we  do  not  give  him  ours?  or  hope  for  the 
blessing  needful  for  us,  when  we  render  not  the  glory  due  to 
him?  It  cannot  be  an  advantageous  worship,  without  spiritual 
graces;  for  those  are  uniting,  and  union  is  the  ground  of  all 
communion. 

Reason  (5.)  To  have  a  spiritual  worship  is  God's  end  in  the 
restoration  of  the  creature;  both  in  redemption  by  his  Son, 
and  sanctification  by  his  Spirit.  A  fitness  for  spiritual  offer- 
ings, was  the  end  of  the  coining  of  Christ:  Mai.  iii.  3,  he  should 
purge  them,  as  gold  and  silver  by  fire,  a  Spirit  burning  up  their 
dross,  melting  them  into  a  holy  compliance  with  and  submission 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  ^7;) 

to  God.  To  what  purpose ?  that  they  may  offer  to  the  Lord 
an  offering  in  righteousness;  a  pure  offering  from  a  purified 
spirit,  lie  came  to  bring  us  10  God,  l  Pet.  iii.  18,  in  such  a 
garb,  as  that  we  might  be  lit  to  converse  with  him:  and  can 
we  be  thus,  without  a  fixedness  of  our  spirits  on  him? 

The  offering  of  spiritual  sacrifices  is  the  end  of  making  a 
spiritual  habitation  and  a  holy  priesthood,  1  Pet.  ii.  5.  We 
can  no  more  be  worshippers  of  (lod,  without  a  worshipper's 
nature,  than  B  man  be  a  man  without  human  nature.  As  man 
was  at  first  created  for  the  honour  and  worship  of  God,  so  the 
design  of  restoring  that  image,  which  was  defaced  by  sin,  tends 
to  the  same  end.  We  are  not  brought  to  God  by  Christ,  nor 
are  our  services  presented  to  him,  if  they  be  without  our  spirits. 
Would  any  man  that  undertakes  to  bring  another  to  a  prince, 
introduce  him  in  a  slovenly  and  sordid  habit,  such  a  garb  that 
he  knows  is  hateful  to  him?  or  bring  the  clothes  or  skin  of  a 
man  stuffed  with  straw,  instead  of  the  person?  To  come  with 
our  skins  before  God  without  our  spirits,  is  contrary  to  the 
design  of  God  in  redemption  and  regeneration. 

If  a  carnal  worship  would  have  pleased  God,  a  carnal  heart 
would  have  served  his  turn,  without  the  expense  of  his  Spirit 
in  sanctification.  He  bestows  upon  man  a  spiritual  nature, 
that  he  may  return  to  him  a  spiritual  service;  he  enlightens  the 
understanding,  that  he. may  have  a  rational  service;  and  new 
moulds  the  will,  that  he  .may  have  a  voluntary  service.  As  it 
is  the  milk  of  the  word  wherewith  he  feeds  us,  so  it  is  the  ser- 
vice of  the  word  wherewith  we  must  glorify  him.  So  much 
as  there  is  of  confusedness  in  our  understanding,  so  much  of 
starting  and  levity  in  our  wills,  so  much  of  slipperiness  and 
skipping  in  our  affections,  so  much  is  abated  of  the  due  quali- 
ties of  the  worship  of  God)  and  so  much  we  fall  short  of  the 
end  of  redemption  and  sanctification. 

Reason  (6.)  A  spiritual  worship  is  to  be  offered  to  God,  be- 
cause no  worship  but  that  can  be  acceptable.  We  can  never 
be  secured  of  acceptance  without  it;  he  being  a  Spirit,  nothing 
but  the  worship  in  spirit  can  be  suitable  to  him:  what  is  un- 
suitable, cannot  be  acceptable:  there  must  be  something  in  us, 
to  make  our  services  capable  of  being  presented  by  Christ  for 
an  actual  acceptation.  No  service  is  acceptable  to  God  by 
Jesus  Christ,  but  as  it  is  a  spiritual  sacrifice,  and  offered  by  a 
spiritual  heart,  1  Pet.  ii.  5.  The  sacrifice  is  first  spiritual,  be- 
fore it  be  acceptable  to  God  by  Christ :  when  it  is  an  offering 
in  righteousness,  it  is  then,  and  then  only  pleasant  to  the  Lord, 
Mai.  iii.  3,4.  No  prince  would  accept  a  gift  thai  is  unsuitable 
to  his  majesty,  and  below  the  condition  of  the  person  that  pre- 
sents it:  would  he  be  pleased  with  a  bottle  of  water  for  drink, 
from  one  that  has  his  cellar  full  of  wine?  How  unacceptable 
Vol.  I.— 35 


274  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

must  that  be,  that  is  unsuitable  to  the  Divine  majesty!  and 
what  can  be  more  unsuitable,  than  a  withdrawing  the  opera- 
tions of  our  sonls  from  him  in  the  oblation  of  our  bodies?  We 
as  little  glorify  God,  as  God,  when  we  give  him  only  a  corpo- 
real worship;  as  the  heathen  did,  when  they  represented  him 
in  a  corporeal  shape,  Rom.  i.  21 :  one  as  well  as  the  other  denies 
his  spiritual  nature.  This  is  worse;  for  had  it  been  lawful  to 
represent  God  to  the  eye,  it  could  not  have  been  done,  but  by 
a  bodily  figure  suited  to  the  sense;  but  since  it  is  necessary  to 
worship  him,  it  cannot  be  by  a  corporeal  attendance,  without 
the  operation  of  the  spirit.  A  spiritual  frame  is  more  pleasing 
to  God,  than  the  highest  exterior  adornments;  than  the  greatest 
gifts,  and  the  highest  prophetical  illumination.  The  glory  of 
the  second  temple  exceeded  the  glory  of  the  first,  Hag.  ii.  9. 
As  God  accounts  the  spiritual  glory  of  ordinances  most  benefi- 
cial for  usyso  our  spiritual  attendance  upon  ordinances  is  most 
pleasing  to  him:  he  that  offers  the  greatest  services  without  it, 
offers  but  flesh:  "They  sacrifice  flesh  for  the  sacrifices  of  my 
offerings,  but  the  Lord  accepteth  them  not,"  Hos.  viii.  13.  Spi- 
ritual frames  are  the  soul  of  religious  services;  all  other  car- 
riages without  them  are  contemptible  to  this  Spirit.  We  can 
never  lay  claim  to  that  promise  of  God,  None  shall  seek  my 
face  in  vain;  we  affect  a  vain  seeking  of  him,  when  we  want 
a  due  temper  of  spirit  for  him.  And  vain  spirits  shall  have 
vain  returns.  It  is  more  contrary  to  the  nature  of  God's  holi- 
ness to  have  communion  with  such,  than  it  is  contrary  to  the 
nature  of  light  to  have  communion  with  darkness. 

4.  The  last  thing  is  to  make  use  of  this. 

Use  (1.)  It  serves  for  information. 

[1.]  If  spiritual  worship  be  required  by  God,  how  sad  is  it 
for  them  that  are  so  far  from  giving  God  a  spiritual  worship, 
that  they  render  him  no  worship  at  all!  I  speak  not  of  the 
neglect  of  public,  but  of  private;  when  men  present  not  a  de- 
votion to  God  from  one  year's  end  to  the  other.  The  speech 
of  our  Saviour,  that  we  must  worship  God  in  spirit  and  in 
truth,  implies  that  a  worship  is  due  to  him  from  every  one. 
That  is  the  common  impression  upon  the  consciences  of  all 
men  in  the  world,  if  they  have  not  by  some  constant  course  in 
gross  sins,  hardened  their  souls,  and  stifled  those  natural  senti- 
ments. There  was  never  a  nation  in  the  world  without  some 
kind  of  religion,  and  no  religion  was  ever  without  some  modes 
to  testify  a  devotion:  the  heathen  had  their  sacrifices  and  pu- 
rifications, and  the  Jews,  by  God's  order,  had  their  rites,  where- 
by they  were  to  express  their  allegiance  to  God.     Consider, 

Worship  is  a  duty  incumbent  upon  all  men.  It  is  a  homage 
mankind  owes  to  God,  under  the  relation  wherein  he  stands 
obliged  to  hiin;  it  is  a  prime  and  immutable  justice  to  own  our 


ON  SPIRITUAL  VVORSII1I  ^5 

allegiance  to  him.  It  is  as  unchangeable  a  truth  that  God  is 
to  be  worshipped,  as  that  God  is:  he  is  to  be  worshipped  as 
God,  as  Creator;  and  therefore  by  all,  since  he  is  the  Creator  of 
all,  the  Lord  of  all,  and  all  are  his  creatures,  and  all  are  his 
subjects.  Worship  is  founded  upon  creation,  Psal.  c.  2,  3.  It 
is  due  to  God  for  himself  and  his  own  essential  excellence,  and 
therefore  due  from  all:  it  is  due  upon  the  account  of  man's 
nature,  as  the  human  rational  nature  is  the  same  in  all.  What- 
soever is  due  to  God  upon  the  account  of  man's  nature,  and 
the  natural  obligations  he  has  laid  upon  man,  is  due  from  all 
men,  because  they  all  enjoy  the  benefits  which  are  proper  to 
their  nature. 

Man  in  no  state  was  exempted,  nor  can  be  exempted  from 
it.  In  paradise  he  had  his  sabbaths  and  sacraments.  Man 
therefore  dissolves  the  obligation  of  a  reasonable  nature,  by 
neglecting  the  worship  of  God. 

Religion  is  in  the  first  place  to  be  minded.  As  soon  as  Noah 
came  out  of  the  ark,  he  contrived  not  a  habitation  for  himself, 
but  an  altar  for  the  Lord,  to  acknowledge  him  the  Author  of 
his  preservation  from  the  deluge,  Gen.  viii.  20.  And  where- 
soever Abraham  came,  his  first  business  was  to  erect  an  altar, 
and  pay  his  arrears  of  gratitude  to  God,  before  he  ran  upon 
the  score  for  new  mercies,  Gen.  xii.  7;  xiii.  4,  18;  he  left  a 
testimony  of  worship  wherever  he  came. 

Wholly  therefore  to  neglect  it,  is  a  high  degree  of  atheism. 
He  that  calls  not  upon  God,  says  in  his  heart  there  is  no  God, 
and  seems  to  have  the  sentiments  of  natural  conscience,  as  to 
God,  stifled  in  him,  Psal.  xiv.  1,  4.  It  must  arise  from  a  con- 
ceit that  there  is  no  God,  or  that  we  are  equal  to  him,  adora- 
tion not  being  due  from  persons  of  an  equal  state;  or  that  God 
is  unable  or  unwilling  to  take  notice  of  the  adoring  acts  of  his 
creatures.  What  is  any  of  these  but  an  undeifying  the  Su- 
preme Majesty?  When  we  lay  aside  all  thoughts  of  paying 
any  homage  to  him,  we  are  in  a  fair  way  opinionatively  to 
deny  him,  as  much  as  we  practically  disown  him.  Where  there 
is  no  knowledge  of  God,  that  is,  no  acknowledgment  of  God, 
a  gap  is  opened  to  all  licentiousness,  IIos.  iv.  1,  2;  and  that  by 
degrees  hardens  the  conscience,  and  razes  out  the  sense  of  God. 
Those  forsake  God  that  forget  his  holy  mountain,  Isa.  lxv.  11; 
they  do  not  practically  own  him  as  the  Creator  of  their  souls 
or  bodies.  It  is  the  sin  of  Cain,  who  turning  his  back'  upon 
worship,  is  said  to  go  out  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  Gen. 
iv.  16.  Not  to  worship  him  with  our  spirits,  is  against  his  law 
of  creation;  not  to  worship  him  at  all,  is  against  his  act  of  cre- 
ation; not  to  worship  him  in  truth  is  hypocrisy;  not  to  worship 
him  at  all  is  atheism,  whereby  we  render  ourselves  worse  than 
the  worms  in  the  earth  or  a  toad  in  a  ditch. 


276  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

To  perform  a  worship  to  a  false  god,  or  to  the  true  God  in  a 
false  manner,  seems  to  be  less  a  sin  than  to  live  in  perpetual 
neglects  of  it.  Though  it  be  directed  to  a  false  object  instead 
of  God,  yet  it  is  under  the  notion  of  a  God,  and  so  is  an  ac- 
knowledgment of  such  a  being  as  God  in  the  world;  whereas, 
the  total  neglect  of  any  worship  is  a  practical  denying  of  the 
existence  of  any  Supreme  Majesty. 

Whosoever  constantly  omits  a  public  and  private  worship, 
transgresses  against  a  universally  received  dictate;  for  all  na- 
tions have  agreed  in  the  common  notion  of  worshipping  God, 
though  they  have  disagreed  in  the  several  modes  and  rites 
whereby  they  would  testify  that  adoration.  By  a  worship  of 
God,  though  superstitious,  a  veneration  and  reverence  of  such 
a  Being  is  maintained  in  the  world;  whereas,  by  a  total  ne- 
glect of  worship,  he  is  virtually  disowned  and  discarded,  if  not 
from  his  existence,  yet  from  his  providence  and  government  of 
the  world;  all  the  mercies  we  breathe  in  are  denied  to  flow 
from  him.  A  foolish  worship  owns  religion,  though  it  bespat- 
ters it.  As  if  a  stranger  coming  into  a  country  mistakes  a 
subject  for  the  prince,  and  pays  that  reverence  to  the  subject 
which  is  due  to  the  prince.  Though  he  mistakes  the  object,  yet 
he  owns  an  authority;  or  if  he  pays  any  respect  to  the  true 
prince  of  that  country  after  the  mode  of  his  own,  though  ap- 
pearing ridiculous  in  the  place  where  he  is,  he  owns  the  autho- 
rity of  the  prince;  whereas,  the  omission  of  all  respect  would 
be  a  contempt  of  majesty.  And  therefore  the  judgments  of 
God  have  been  more  signal  upon  the  sacrilegious  contemners 
of  worship  among  the  heathen,  than  upon  those  that  were 
diligent  and  devout  in  their  false  worship;  and  they  generally 
owned  the  blessings  received,  to  the  preservation  of  a  sense 
and  worship  of  a  Deity  among  them.  Though  such  a  worship 
be  not  acceptable  to  God,  and  every  man  is  bound  to  offer  to 
God  a  devotion  agreeable  to  his  own  mind;  yet  it  is  commend- 
able, not  as  worship,  but  as  it  speaks  an  acknowledgment  of 
such  a  being  as  God  in  his  power  in  creation,  and  his  benefi- 
cence in  his  providence. 

Well  then,  omissions  of  worship  are  to  be  avoided.  Let  no 
man  execute  that  upon  himself,  which  God  will  pronounce  at 
last  as  the  greatest  misery,  and  bid  God  depart  from  him,  who 
will  at  last  be  loath  to  hear  God  bid  him  depart  from  him. 
Though  man  has  natural  sentiments  that  God  is  to  be  worship- 
ped, yet  having  a  hostility  in  his  nature,  he  is  apt  to  neglect,  or 
give  it  him  in  a  slight  manner.  He  therefore  sets  a  particular 
mark  and  notice  of  attention  upon  the  fourth  command,  "  Re- 
member thou  keep  holy  the  Sabbath  day."  Corrupt  nature  is 
apt  to  neglect  the  worship  of  God,  and  flag  in  it:  this  command 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  277 

therefore  which  concerns  his  worship,  he  fortifies  with  several 
reasons. 

Nor  let  any  neglect  worship,  because  they  cannot  find  their 
hearts  spiritual  in  it.  The  further  we  arc  from  God,  the  more 
carnal  shall  we  be.  No  man  can  expect  heat  by  a  distance 
from  the  sun-beams  or  other  means  of  warmth.  Though  God 
commanded  a  circumcised  heart  in  the  Jewish  services,  yet  he 
did  not  warrant  a  neglect  of  the  outward  testimonies  of  religion 
he  had  then  appointed;  he  expected,  according  to  his  command, 
that  they  should  oiler  the  sacrifices  and  practise  the  legal  puri- 
fications he  had  commanded ;  he  would  have  them  diligently 
observed,  though  he  had  declared  that  he  imposed  them  only 
for  a  time.  And  our  Saviour  ordered  the  practice  of  those  posi- 
tive rites  as  long  as  the  law  remained  unrepealed,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  leper,  Mark  i.  44.  It  is  an  injustice  to  refuse  the  offering 
ourselves  to  God  according  to  the  manner  he  has  in  his  wisdom 
prescribed  and  required. 

If  spiritual  worship  be  required  by  God,  then, 
[2.]  It  informs  us,  that  diligence  in  outward  worship  is  not 
to  be  rested  in.  Men  may  attend  all  their  days  on  worship, 
with  a  juiceless  heart  and  unquickened  frame,  and  think  to 
compensate  the  neglect  of  the  manner  with  abundance  of  the 
matter  of  service.1  Outward  expressions  are  but  the  badges 
and  liveries  of  service,  not  the  service  itself.  As  the  strength 
of  sin  lies  in  the  inward  frame  of  the  heart,  so  the  strength  of 
worship  is  in  the  inward  complexion  and  temper  of  the  soul. 
What  do  a  thousand  services  avail,  without  cutting  the  throat 
of  our  carnal  affections?  What  are  loud  prayers,  but  as  sound- 
ing brass  and  tinkling  cymbals,  without  Divine  charity?  A 
Pharisaical  diligence  in  outward  forms  without  inward  spirit, 
had  no  better  a  title  vouchsafed  by  our  Saviour,  than  that  of 
hypocritical.  God  desires  not  sacrifices,  nor  delights  in  burnt- 
offering;  shadows  are  not  to  be  offered  instead  of  substance. 
God  required  the  heart  of  man  for  itself;  but  commanded  out- 
ward ceremonies,  as  subservient  to  inward  worship,  and  goads 
and  spurs  unto  it:  they  were  never  appointed  as  the  substance 
of  religion,  but  auxiliaries  to  it.  What  value  had  the  offering 
of  the  human  nature  of  Christ  been  of,  if  he  had  not  had  a 
Divine  nature  to  qualify  him  to  be  the  priest?  And  what  is  the 
oblation  of  our  bodies,  without  a  priestly  act  of  the  spirit  in  the 
presentation  of  it?  Could  the  Israelites  have  called  themselves 
worshippers  of  God  according  to  his  order,  if  they  had  brought 
a  thousand  lambs  that  had  died  in  a  ditch,  or  been  killed  at 
home?  They  were  to  be  brought  living  to  the  altar;  the  blood 
shed  at  the  foot  of  it:  a  thousand  sacrifices  killed  without,  had 
not  been  so  valuable  as  one  brought  alive  to  the  place  of  offer- 

1  Paille,  melange  des  Sermons,  Ser.  2. 


278  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

ing.  One  sound  sacrifice  is  better  than  a  thousand  rotten  ones. 
As  God  took  no  pleasure  in  the  blood  of  beasts  without  its  rela- 
tion to  the  antitype;  so  he  takes  no  pleasure  in  the  outward 
rites  of  worship,  without  faith  in  the  Redeemer.  To  offer  a 
body  with  a  sapless  spirit,  is  a  sacrilege  of  the  same  nature  with 
that  of  the  Israelites  when  they  offered  dead  beasts.  A  man 
without  spiritual  worship  is  dead  while  he  worships,  though, 
by  his  diligence  in  the  externals  of  it,  he  may,  like  the  angel  of 
the  church  of  Sardis,  have  a  name  to  live,  Rev.  iii.  1.  What 
security  can  we  expect  from  a  multitude  of  dead  services?  What 
weak  shields  are  they  against  the  holy  eye  and  revenging  wrath 
of  God?  What  man,  but  one  out  of  his  wits,  would  solicit  a 
dead  man  to  be  his  advocate  or  champion? 

Diligence  in  outward  worship  is  not  to  be  rested  in. 

Use  (2.)  shall  be  for  examination:  let  us  try  ourselves  con- 
cerning the  manner  of  our  worship.  We  are  now  in  the  end 
of  the  world,  and  the  dregs  of  time;  wherein  the  apostle  pre- 
dicts, there  may  be  much  of  a  form  and  little  of  the  power  of 
godliness,  2  Tim.  iii.  1.5:  and  therefore  it  stands  us  in  hand  to 
search  into  ourselves,  whether  it  be  not  thus  with  us;  whether 
there  be  as  much  reverence  in  our  spirits,  as  there  may  be  de- 
votion in  our  countenances  and  outward  carriages. 

[1.]  How  therefore  are  our  hearts  prepared  to  worship?  Is 
our  diligence  greater  to  put  our  hearts  in  an  adoring  posture 
than  our  bodies  in  a  decent  garb?  or  are  we  content  to  have  a 
muddy  heart,  so  we  may  have  a  dressed  carcass?  To  have  a 
spirit  a  cage  of  unclean  birds,  while  we  wipe  the  filth  from  the 
outside  of  the  platter,  is  no  better  than  a  pharisaical  devotion, 
and  deserves  no  better  a  name  than  that  of  a  whited  sepulchre. 

Do  we  take  opportunities  to  excite  and  quicken  our  spirits 
to  the  performance,  and  cry  aloud  with  David,  Awake,  awake, 
my  glory?  Are  not  our  hearts  asleep  when  Christ  knocks: 
when  we  hear  the  voice  of  God,  Seek  my  face;  do  we  answer 
him  with  warm  resolutions,  Thy  face,  Lord,  we  will  seek? 
Psal.  xxvii.  8.  Do  we  comply  with  spiritual  motions,  and 
strike  while  the  iron  is  hot?  Is  there  not  more  of  reluctancy 
than  readiness?  Is  there  a  quick  rising  of  the  soul  in  reverence 
to  the  motion,  as  Eglon  to  Ehud;  or  a  sullen  hanging  the  head 
at  the  first  approach  of  it  ?  Or  if  our  hearts  seem  to  be  en- 
gaged, and  on  fire,  what  are  the  motives  that  quicken  that 
fire?  Is  it  only  the  blast  of  a  natural  conscience;  fear  of  hell; 
desires  of  heaven  as  abstracted  from  God?  Or  is  it  an  affection 
to  God?  an  obedient  will  to  please  him;  longings  to  enjoy  him, 
as  a  holy  and  sanctifying  God  in  his  ordinances,  as  well  as  a 
blessed  and  glorified  God  in  heaven? 

What  do  we  expect  in  our  approaches  from  him?  That 
which  may  make  divine  impressions  upon  us,  and  more  exactly 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  279 

conform  us  to  the  Divine  nature?  Or  do  \vu  design  nothing 
but  an  empty  formality,  a  rolling  eye,  and  a  lillin^  the  air  with 
a  few  words,  without  any  openings  of  heart  to  receive  the  in- 
comes, which  according  to  the  nature  of  the  duty  might  be 
conveyed  to  us?  Can  this  be  a  spiritual  worship?  The  soul 
then  closely  waits  upon  him,  when  its  expectation  is  only  from 
him,  Psal.  lxii.  5.  Are  our  hearts  seasoned  with  a  sense  of 
sin;  a  sight  of  our  spiritual  wants;  raised  notions  of  God; 
glowing  affections  to  him;  strong  appetite  after  a  spiritual  ful- 
ness ?  Do  we  rouse  up  our  sleepy  spirits,  and  make  a  cove- 
nant with  all  that  is  within  us  to  attend  upon  him?  So  much 
as  we  want  of  this,  so  much  we  come  short  of  a  spiritual  wor- 
ship. In  Psal.  lvii.  7.  "My  heart  is  fixed,  0  God,  my  heart 
is  fixed!"  David  would  fix  his  heart,  before  he  would  engage 
in  a  praising  act  of  worship:  he  appeals  to  God  about  it,  and 
that  with  doubling  the  expression,  as  being  certain  of  an  inward 
preparedness.  Can  we  make  the  same  appeals  in  a  fixedness  of 
spirit  ? 

[2.]  How  are  our  hearts  fixed  upon  him,  how  do  they 
cleave  to  him  in  the  duty?  Do  we  resign  our  spirits  to  God, 
and  make  them  an  entire  holocaust,  a  whole  burnt-offering  in 
his  worship?  Or  do  we  not  willingly  admit  carnal  thoughts 
to  mix  themselves  with  spiritual  duties,  and  fasten  our  minds 
to  the  creature,  under  pretences  of  directing  them  to  the  Crea- 
tor? Do  we  not  pass  a  mere  compliment  on  God,  by  some 
superficial  act  of  devotion;  while  some  covetous,  envious,  am- 
bitious, voluptuous  imagination  may  possess  our  minds  ?  Do 
we  not  invert  God's  order,  and  worship  a  lust  instead  of  God 
with  our  spirit,  that  should  not  have  the  least  service,  either 
from  our  souls  or  bodies,  but  with  a  spiritual  disdain  be  sacri- 
ficed to  the  just  indignation  of  God?  How  often  do  we  fight 
against  his  will,  while  we  cry,  Hail,  Master;  instead  of  cruci- 
fying our  own  thoughts,  crucifying  the  Lord  of  our  lives;  our 
outward  carriage  plausible,  and  our  inward  walk  naught!  Do 
we  not  often  regard  iniquity  more  than  God  in  our  hearts,  in  a 
time  of  worship?  roll  some  filthy  imagination  as  a  sweet  mor- 
sel under  our  tongues,  and  taste  more  sweetness  in  that  than  in 
God?  Do  not  our  spirits  smell  rank  of  earth,  while  we  offer  to 
heaven;  and  have  we  not  hearts  full  of  thick  clay,  as  the 
hands  of  some  were  full  of  blood?  Isa.  i.  15.  When  we  sacri- 
fice, do  we  not  wrap  up  our  souls  in  communion  with  some 
sordid  fancy,  when  we  should  entwine  our  spirits  about  an 
amiable  God?  While  we  have  some  fear  of  him,  may  we  not 
have  a  love  to  something  else  above  him?  This  is  to  worship 
or  swear  by  the  Lord  and  by  Malcham,  Zeph.  i.  5.  How  often 
does  an  apish  fancy  render  a  service  inwardly  ridiculous,  under 
a  grave  outward  posture;  skipping  to   the  shop,  warehouse, 


280  0N  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

counting-house  in  the  space  of  a  short  prayer!  and  we  are  be- 
fore God  as  a  Babel,  a  confusion  of  internal  languages;  and 
this  in  those  parts  of  worship  which  are  in  the  right  use  most 
agreeable  to  God,  profitable  for  ourselves,  ruinous  to  the  king- 
dom of  sin  and  Satan,  and  means  to  bring  us  into  a  closer  com- 
munion with  the  Divine  Majesty!  Can  this  be  a  spiritual 
worship  ? 

[3.]  How  do  we  act  our  graces  in  worship?  Though  the 
instrument  be  strung,  if  the  strings  be  not  wound  up,  what 
melody  can  be  the  issue?  All  readiness  and  alacrity  discover  a 
strength  of  nature,  and  a  readiness  in  spirituals  discovers  a 
spirituality  in  the  heart.  As  unaffecting  thoughts  of  God  are 
not  spiritual  thoughts,  so  unaffecting  addresses  to  God  are  not 
spiritual  addresses.  Well  then,  what  awakenings,  and  eleva- 
tions of  faith  and  love  have  we?  what  strong  outflo wings  of 
our  souls  to  him?  what  indignation  against  sin?  what  admira- 
tions of  redeeming  grace  ?  How  low  have  we  brought  our  cor- 
ruptions to  the  footstool  of  Christ,  to  be  made  his  conquered 
enemies?  How  straitly  have  we  clasped  our  faith  about  the 
cross  and  the  throne  of  Christ,  to  become  his  intimate  spouse? 
Do  we  in  hearing  hang  upon  the  lips  of  Christ;  in  prayer  take 
hold  of  God,  and  will  not  let  him  go;  in  confessions  rend  the  caul 
of  our  hearts,  and  indite  our  souls  before  him  with  a  deep  hu- 
mility? Do  we  act  more  by  a  soaring  love  than  a  drooping  fear? 
So  far  as  our  spirits  are  servile,  so  far  they  are  legal  and  carnal; 
so  much  as  they  are  free  and  spontaneous,  so  much  they  are 
evangelical  and  spiritual.  As  men  under  the  law  are  subject 
to  the  constraint  of  bondage  all  their  lifetime,  in  all  their  wor- 
ship, Heb.  ii.  15;  so  under  the  gospel  they  are  under  a  constraint 
of  love,  2  Cor.  v.  14.  How  then  are  believing  affections  exer- 
cised, which  are  always  accompanied  with  holy  fear,  a  fear  of 
his  goodness  that  admits  us  into  his  presence,  and  a  fear  to 
offend  him  in  our  act  of  worship?  So  much  as  we  have  of  forced 
or  feeble  affection,  so  much  we  have  of  carnality. 

[4.]  How  do  we  find  our  hearts  after  worship?  By  an  after- 
carriage,  we  may  judge  of  the  spirituality  of  it. 

How  are  we  as  to  inward  strength?  When  a  worship  is  spir- 
itually performed,  grace  is  more  strengthened,  corruption  more 
mortified;  the  soul,  like  Samson  after  his  awakening,  goes  out 
with  a  renewed  strength.  As  the  inward  man  is  renewed  day 
by  day,  that  is,  every  day;  so  it  is  renewed  in  every  worship. 
Every  shower  makes  the  grass  and  fruit  grow  in  good  ground 
where  the  root  is  good,  and  the  weeds  where  the  ground  is 
naught ;  and  the  more  prepared  the  heart  is  to  obedience  in  other 
duties  after  worship,  the  more  evidence  there  is  that  it  has  been 
spiritual  in  the  exercise  of  it.  It  is  the  end  of  God  in  every  dis- 
pensation, as  in  that  of  John  Baptist,  "to  make  ready  a  people 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  281 

prepared  for  the  Lord,"  Luke  i.  17.  When  the  heart  is  by 
worship  prepared  for  fresh  acts  of  obedience,  it  lias  a  more  ex- 
act watchfulness  against  the  encroachments  of  sin.  As  carnal 
men  after  worship  sprout  up  in  spiritual  wickedness,  so  do  spir- 
itual worshippers  in  spiritual  graces:  spiritual  fruits  are  a  sign 
of  a  spiritual  frame.  When  men  are  more  prone  to  sin  after 
duty,  it  is  a  sign  there  was  but  little  communion  with  God  in 
it,  and  a  greater  strength  of  sin,  because  such  an  act  is  contrary 
to  the  end  of  worship,  which  is  the  subduing  of  sin.  It  is  a  sign 
the  physic  has  wrought  well,  when  the  stomach  has  a  better 
appetite  to  its  appointed  food;  and  worship  has  been  well  per- 
formed, when  we  have  a  stronger  inclination  to  other  acts  well 
pleasing  to  God,  and  a  more  sensible  distaste  of  those  tempta- 
tions we  too  much  relished  before.  It  is  a  sign  of  a  good  con- 
coction, when  there  is  a  greater  strength  in  the  vitals  of  religion, 
a  more  eager  desire  to  know  God.  When  Moses  had  been 
praying  to  God,  and  prevailed  with  him,  he  puts  up  a  higher 
request,  to  behold  his  glory,  Exod.  xxxiii.  13.  18.  When  the 
appetite  stands  strong  to  fuller  discoveries  of  God,  it  is  a  sign 
there  has  been  a  spiritual  converse  with  him. 

How  is  it  especially  as  to  humility?  The  pharisees'  worship 
was,  without  dispute,  carnal;  and  we  find  them  not  more  hum- 
ble after  all  their  devotions,  but  overgrown  with  more  weeds 
of  spiritual  pride;  they  performed  them  as  their  righteousness. 
What  men  dare  plead  before  God  in  his  day,  they  plead  before 
him  in  their  hearts,  in  their  day;  but  this  men  will  do  at  the  day 
of  judgment:  We  have  prophesied  in  thy  name!  Matt.  vii.  22. 
They  show  what  tincture  their  services  left  upon  their  spirits: 
that  which  excludes  them  from  any  acceptation  at  the  last  day, 
excludes  them  from  any  estimation  of  being  spiritual  in  this 
day.  The  carnal  worshippers  charge  God  with  injustice  in  not 
rewarding  them,  and  claim  an  acceptation  as  a  compensation 
due  to  them:  "  Wherefore  have  we  afflicted  our  soul,  and  thou 
takest  no  knowledge?"  Isa.  Iviii.  3.  A  spiritual  worshipper 
looks  upon  his  duties  with  shame,  as  well  as  he  does  upon  his 
sins  with  confusion,  and  implores  the  mercy  of  God  for  the  one 
as  well  as  the  other.  In  Psal.cxliii.  2,  the  prophet  David  after 
his  supplications  begs  of  God  not  to  enter  into  judgment  with 
him,  and  acknowledges  any  answer  that  God  should  give  him, 
as  a  fruit  of  his  faithfulness«to  his  promise,  and  not  the  merit  of 
his  worship:  "  In  thy  faithfulness  answer  me,"  ver.  1.  What- 
soever springs  from  a  gracious  principle,  and  is  the  breath  of 
the  Spirit,  leaves  a  man  more  humble;  whereas  that  which  pro- 
ceeds from  a  stock  of. nature,  has  the  true  blood  of  nature  run- 
ning in  the  veins  of  it,  namely,  that  pride  which  is  naturally 
derived  frem  Adam.  The  breathing  of  the  Divine  Spirit  is  in 
every  thing  to  conform  us  to  our  Redeemer;  that  being  the  main 
Vol.  I.— 36 


282  ON  spiritual  WORSHIP. 

work  of  his  office,  is  his  work  in  every  particular  Christain  act 
influenced  by  him.  Now  Jesus  Christ  in  all  his  actions  was  an 
exact  pattern  of  humility.  After  the  institution  and  celebration 
of  the  supper,  a  special  act  of  worship  in  the  church,  though  he 
had  a  sense  of  all  the  authority  his  Father  had  given  him,  yet 
he  humbles  himself  to  wash  his  disciples'  feet,  John  xiii.  2 — 5. 
And  after  his  sublime  prayer,  John  xvii,  he  humbles  himself  to 
the  death,  and  offers  himself  to  his  murderers,  because  of  his 
Father's  pleasure:  when  he  had  spoken  those  words,  he  went 
over  the  brook  Cedron  into  the  garden,  John  xviii.  I.  What  is 
the  end  of  God  in  appointing  worship,  is  the  end  of  a  spiritual 
heart  in  offering  it;  not  its  own  exaltation,  but  God's  glory. 
Glorifying  the  name  of  God,  is  the  fruit  of  that  evangelical 
worship  the  gentiles  were  in  time  to  give  to  God:  "  All  nations 
whom  thou  hast  made  shall  come  and  worship  before  thee,  0 
Lord;  and  shall  glorify  thy  name,"  Psal.  lxxxvi.  9.  Let  us 
examine  then  what  debasing  ourselves  there  is  in  a  sense  of  our 
own  vileness,  and  distance  from  so  glorious  a  Spirit.  Self- 
denial  is  the  heart  of  all  gospel  grace.  Evangelical  spiritual 
worship  cannot  be  without  the  ingredient  of  the  main  evange- 
lical principle. 

What  delight  is  there  after  it?  What  pleasure  is  there,  and 
what  is  the  object  of  that  pleasure?  Is  it  communion  we  have 
had  with  God,  or  a  fluency  in  ourselves?  Is  it  something 
which  has  touched  our  hearts,  or  tickled  our  fancies?  As  the 
strength  of  sin  is  known  by  the  delightful  thoughts  of  it  after 
the  commission,  so  is  the  spirituality  of  duty,  by  the  object  of 
our  delightful  remembrance  after  the  performance.  It  was  a 
sign  David  was  spiritual  in  the  worship  of  God  in  the  taberna- 
cle when  he  enjoyed  it,  because  he  longed  for  the  spiritual  part 
of  it  when  he  was  exiled  from  it:  his  desires  were  not  only  for 
liberty  to  revisit  the  tabernacle,  but  to  see  the  power  and  glory 
of  God  in  the  sanctuary,  as  he  had  seen  it  before,  Psalm  lxiii. 
2.  His  desires  for  it  could  not  have  been  so  ardent,  if  his  re- 
flection upon  what  had  passed  had  not  been  delightful ;  nor  could 
his  soul  be  poured  out  in  him  for  the  want  of  such  opportuni- 
ties, if  the  remembrance  of  the  converse  he  had  had  with  God, 
had  not  been  accompanied  with  a  delightful  relish,  Psalm  xlii. 
4.  Let  us  examine  what  delight  we  find  in  our  spirits  after 
worship.  • 

Use  (3.)  Is  of  comfort.  And  it  is  very  comfortable  to  consi- 
der, that  the  smallest  worship  with  the  heart  and  spirit,  flowing 
from  a  principle  of  grace,  is  more  acceptable  than  the  most 
pompous  veneration;  yea,  if  the  oblation  were  as  precious  as 
the  whole  circuit  of  heaven  and  earth  without  it.  That  God, 
that  values  a  cup  of  cold  water  given  to  any  as  his  disciple, 
will  value  a  sincere  service  above  a  costly  sacrifice.     God  has 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  283 

his  eye  upon  them  that  honour  his  nature;  he  would  not  seek 
such  to  worship  him,  if  he  did  not  intend  to  accept  such  a  wor- 
ship from  them:  when  we  therefore  invoke  him,  and  praise 
him,  which  arc  the  prime  parts  of  religion,  lie  will  receive  it  as 
a  sweet  savour  from  us,  and  overlook  infirmities  mixed  with 
the  graces. 

The  great  matter  of  discomfort,  and  that  which  makes  us 
question  the  spirituality  of  worship,  is  the  many  starts  of  our 
spirits  and  rovings  to  other  things. 

For  answer  to  which, 

[1.]  It  is  to  be  confessed,  that  these  starts  are  natural  to  us. 
Who  is  free  from  them?  We  hear  in  our  own  bosom,  a  nest 
of  turbulent  thoughts,  which,  like  busy  gnats,  will  be  buzzing 
about  us,  while  we  are  in  our  most  inward  and  spiritual  con- 
verses. Many  wild  beasts  lurk  in  a  man's  heart,  as  in  a  close 
and  covert  wood,  and  scarce  discover  themselves  but  at  our 
solemn  worship. 

No  duty  so  holy,  no  worship  so  spiritual,  that  can  wholly 
privilege  us  from  them.  They  will  jog  us  in  our  most  weighty 
employments,  that,  as  God  said  to  Cain,  sin  lies  at  the  door, 
and  enters  in,  and  makes  a  riot  in  our  souls.  As  it  is  said  of 
wicked  men,  they  cannot  sleep  for  multitude  of  thoughts,  Eccles. 
v.  12;  so  it  may  be  of  many  a  good  man,  lie  cannot  worship  for 
multitude  of  thoughts.  There  will  be  starts,  and  more  in  our 
religious  than  natural  employments;  it  is  natural  to  man:  some 
therefore  think,  the  bells  tied  to  Aaron's  garments,  between  the 
pomegranates,  were  to  warn  the  people,  and  recall  their  fugi- 
tive minds  to  the  present  service,  when  they  heard  the  sound 
of  them,  upon  the  least  motion  of  the  high  priest.  The  sacri- 
fice of  Abraham,  the  father  of  the  faithful,  was  not  exempt  from 
the  fowls  pecking  at  it.  Gen.  xv.  11.  Zechariah  himself  was 
drowsy  in  the  midst  of  his  visions,  which  being  more  amazing, 
might  cause  a  heavenly  intensencss:  "The  angel  that  talke'd 
with  me  came  again,  and  waked  me,  as  a  man  that  is  wakened 
out  of  his  sleep,"  Zech.  iv.  1.  He  had  been  roused  up  before, 
but  he  was  ready  to  drop  down  again;  his  heart  was  gone,  till 
the  angel  jogged  him.  We  may  complain  of  such  imaginations, 
as  Jeremiah  does  of  the  enemies  of  the  Jews:  "Our  persecutors 
are  swifter  than  the  eagles,"  Lam.  iv.  19;  they  light  upon  us 
with  as  much  speed  as  eagles  upon  a  carcass;  they  pursue  us 
upon  the  mountain  of  Divine  institution,  and  they  lay  wait  for 
us  in  the  wilderness,  in  our  retired  addresses  to  God, 

And  this  will  be  so  while 

There  is  natural  corruption  in  us.  There  are  in  a  godly 
man  two  contrary  principles,  flesh  and  spirit,  which  endeavour 
to  hinder  one  another's  acts,  and  are  always  stirring  upon  the 
offensive  or  defensive  part,  Gal.  v.  17.     There  is  a  body  of 


284  0N  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

death  continually  exhaling  its  noisome  vapours;  it  is  a  body  of 
death  in  our  worship,  as  well  as  in  our  natures;  it  snaps  our 
resolutions  asunder,  Rom.  vii.  19;  it  hinders  us  in  the  doing 
good,  and  contradicts  our  wills  in  the  stirring  up  evil.  This 
corruption  being  seated  in  all  the  faculties,  and  a  constant  do- 
mestic in  them,  has  the  greater  opportunity  to  trouble  us,  since 
it  is  by  those  faculties  that  we  spiritually  transact  with  God; 
and  it  stirs  more  in  the  time  of  religious  exercises,  though  it  be 
in  part  mortified ;  as  a  wounded  beast,  though  tired,  will  rage 
and  strive  to  its  utmost  when  the  enemy  is  about  to  fetch  a 
blow  at  it.  All  duties  of  worship  tend  to  the  wounding  of 
corruption;  and  it  is  no  wonder  to  feel  the  striving  of  sin  to 
defend  itself,  and  offend  us  when  we  have  our  arms  in  our 
hands  to  mortify  it,  that  the  blow  may  be  diverted  which  is 
directed  against  it. 

The  apostles  had  aspiring  thoughts;  and  being  persuaded  of 
an  earthly  kingdom,  expected  a  grandeur  in  it.  And  though 
we  find  some  appearance  of  it  at  other  times;  as  when  they 
were  casting  out  devils,  and  gave  an  account  of  it  to  their 
Master,  he  gives  them  a  kind  of  check,  Luke  x.  20,  intimating 
that  there  was  some  kind  of  evil  in  their  rejoicing  upon  that 
account;  yet  this  never  swelled  so  high,  as  to  break  out  into  a 
quarrel  who  should  be  greatest,  until  they  had  the  most  solemn 
ordinance,  the  Lord's  supper,  to  quell  it,  Luke  xxii.  24.  Our 
corruption  is  like  lime,  which  discovers  not  its  fire  by  any 
smoke  or  heat,  till  you  cast  water,  the  enemy  of  fire,  upon  it; 
neither  does  our  natural  corruption  rage  so  much,  as  when  we 
are  using  means  to  quench  and  destroy  it. 

This  corruption  will  remain  while  there  is  a  devil,  and  Ave  in 
his  precinct.  As  he  accuses  us  to  God,  so  he  disturbs  us  in 
ourselves:  he  is  a  bold  spirit,  and  loves  to  intrude  himself  when 
we  are  conversing  with  God.  We  read  that  when  the  angels 
presented  themselves  before  God,  Satan  comes  among  them, 
Job  i.  6.  Motions  from  Satan  will  thrust  themselves  in  with 
our  most  raised  and  angelical  frames;  he  loves  to  take  off  the 
edge  of  our  spirits  from  God:  he  acts  but  after  the  old  rate;  he 
from  the  first  envied  God  an  obedience  from  man,  and  envied 
man  the  felicity  of  communion  with  God;  he  is  unwilling  God 
should  have  the  honour  of  worship,  and  that  we  should  have 
the  fruit  of  it:  he  has  himself  lost  it,  and  therefore  is  unwil- 
ling we  should  enjoy  it;  and  being  subtle,  he  knows  how  to 
make  impressions  upon  us  suitable  to  our  inbred  corruptions, 
and  assault  us  in  the  weakest  part:  he  knows  all  the  avenues 
to  get  within  us,  (as  he  did  in  the  temptation  of  Eve,)  and 
being  a  spirit,  he  wants  not  a  power  to  dart  them  immediately 
upon  our  fancy;  and  being  a  spirit,  and  therefore  active  and 
nimble,  he  can  shoot  those  darts  faster  than  our  weakness  can 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP  285 

beat  them  ofT:  he  is  diligent  also,  and  watches  for  his  prey,  and 
seeks  to  devour  our  services  as  well  as  our  souls,  and  snatch 
our  best  morsels  from  us.  We  know  lie  mixed  himself  with 
our  Saviour's  retirements  in  tin'  wilderness,  and  endeavoured 
to  rly-blow  his  holy  converse  with  his  Father,  in  the  prepara- 
tion to  his  mediatory  work. 

Satan  is  God's  ape,  and  imitates  the  Spirit  in  the  office  of  a 
remembrancer.  As  the  spirit  brings  good  thoughts  and  Divine 
promises  to  mind,  to  quicken  our  worship;  so  the  devil  brings 
evil  things  to  mind,  and  endeavours  to  fasten  them  in  our  souls 
to  disturb  us.  And  though  all  the  foolish  starts  we  have  in 
worship  are  not  purely  his  issue,  yet  being  of  kin  to  him,  he 
claps  his  hands,  and  sets  them  on  like  so  many  mastitis  to  tear 
the  service  in  pieces. 

And  both  those  distractions  which  arise  from  our  own  cor- 
ruption, and  from  Satan,  are  most  rife  in  worship,  when  we 
are  under  some  pressing  affliction.  This  seems  to  be  David's 
case,  Psal.  lxxxvi.  When,  in  ver.  11,  he  prays  God  to  unite 
his  heart  to  fear  and  worship  his  name,  he  seems  to  be  under 
some  affliction,  or  fear  of  his  enemies;  "  0  free  me  from  those 
distractions  of  spirit,  and  those  passions  which  arise  in  my 
soul,  upon  considering  the  designs  of  my  enemies  against  me, 
and  press  upon  me  in  my  addresses  to  thee,  and  attendances  on 
thee."  Job  also  in  his  affliction  complains,  that  his  purposes 
were  broken  off,  Job  xvii.  11.  He  could  not  make  an  even 
thread  of  thoughts  and  resolutions;  they  were  frequently  snap- 
ped asunder,  like  rotten  yarn  when  one  is  winding  it  up. 

Good  men  and  spiritual  worshippers  have  lain  under  this 
trouble.  Though  they  are  a  sign  of  weakness  of  grace,  or  some 
obstructions  in  the  acting  of  strong  grace,  yet  they  are  not 
always  evidences  of  a  want  of  grace.  What  arises  from  our 
own  corruption,  is  to  be  matter  of  humiliation  and  resistance; 
what  arises  from  Satan,  should  edge  our  minds  to  a  noble  con- 
quest of  them.  If  the  apostle  did  comfort  himself  with  his  dis- 
approving of  what  rose  from  the  natural  spring  of  sin  within 
him,  with  his.  consent  to  the  law,  and  dissent  from  his  lust; 
and  charges  it  not  upon  himself,  but  upon  the  sin  that  dwelt  in 
him,  with  which  he  had  broken  off  the  former  league,  and  was 
resolved  never  to  enter  into  amity  with  it;  by  the  same  reason 
we  may  comfort  ourselves,  if  such  thoughts  are  undelighted  in, 
and  alienate  not  our  hearts  from  the  worship  of  God  by  all 
their  busy  intrusions  to  interrupt  us. 

[2.]  These  distractions  (not  allowed)  may  be  occasions  by  a 
holy  improvement  to  make  our  hearts  more  spiritual  after 
worship,  though  they  disturb  us  in  it,  by  answering  those  ends 
for  which  we  may  suppose  God  permits  them  to  invade  us. 
And  that  is,  when  they  are  occasions  to  humble  us; 


286  0N  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

For  our  carriage  in  the  particular  worship.  There  is  nothing 
so  dangerous  as  spiritual  pride;  it  deprived  devils  and  men  of 
the  presence  of  God,  and  will  hinder  us  of  the  influence  of  God. 
If  we  had  raised  and  uninterrupted  motions  in  worship,  we 
should  be  apt  to  be  lifted  up;  and  the  devil  stands  ready  to 
tempt  us  to  self-confidence.  You  know  how  it  was  with  Paul, 
2  Cor.  xii.  1 — 7;  his  buffetings  were  occasions  to  render  him 
more  spiritual  than  his  raptures,  because  more  humble.  God 
suffers  those  wanderings,  starts,  and  distractions  to  prevent  our 
spiritual  pride,  which  is  as  a  worm  at  the  root  of  spiritual  wor- 
ship, and  minds  us  of  the  dusty  frame  of  our  spirits,  how  easily 
they  are  blown  away;  as  he  sends  sickness  to  put  us  in  mind 
of  the  shortness  of  our  breath,  and  the  easiness  to  lose  it.  God 
would  make  us  ashamed  of  ourselves  in  his  presence ;  that  we 
may  own,  that  what  is  good  in  any  duty,  is  merely  from  his 
grace  and  Spirit,  and  not  from  ourselves;  that  with  Paul  we 
may  cry  out,  by  grace  we  are  what  We  are,  and  by  grace  we 
do  what  we  do.  We  may  be  hereby  made  sensible,  that  God 
can  always  find  something  in  our  exactest  worship,  as  a  ground 
of  denying  us  the  successful  fruit  of  it.  If  we  cannot  stand 
upon  our  duties  for  salvation,  what  can  we  bottom  upon  in 
ourselves?  If  therefore  they  are  occasions  to  make  us  out  of 
love  with  any  righteousness  of  our  own,  to  make  us  break  our 
hearts  for  them,  because  we  cannot  keep  them  out ;  if  we  mourn 
for  them  as  our  sins,  and  count  them  our  great  afflictions;  we 
have  attained  that  brokenness  which  is  a  choice  ingredient  in  a 
spiritual  sacrifice.  Though  we  have  been  disturbed  by  them, 
yet  we  are  not  robbed  of  the  success;  we  may  behold  an  an- 
swer of  our  worship  in  our  humiliation,  in  spite  of  all  of  them. 

For  the  baseness  of  our  nature.  These  unsteady  motions 
help  us  to  discern  that  heap  of  vermin  that  breeds  in  our  na- 
ture. Would  any  man  think  he  had  such  an  averseness  to  his 
Creator  and  Benefactor,  such  an  unsuitableness  to  him,  such 
an  estrangedness  from  him,  were  it  not  for  his  inspection  into 
his  distracted  frames?  God  suffers  this  to  hang  over  us  as  a 
rod  of  correction,  to  discover  and  fetch  out  the  folly  of  our 
hearts.  Could  we  imagine  our  natures  so  highly  contrary  to 
that  God  who  is  so  infinitely  amiable,  so  desirable  an  object; 
or  that  there  should  be  so  much  folly  and  madness  in  the  heart, 
as  to  draw  back  from  God  in  those  services  which  God  has  ap- 
pointed as  pipes  through  which  to  communicate  his  grace,  to 
convey  himself,  his  love,  and  goodness  to  the  creature  ?  If  there- 
fore we  have  a  deep  sense  of,  and  strong  reflections  upon  our 
base  nature,  and  bewail  that  mass  of  averseness  which  lies 
there,  and  that  fulness  of  irreverence  towards  the  God  of  our 
mercies,  the  object  of  our  worship,  it  is  a  blessed  improvement 
of  our  wanderings  and  diversions.     Certainly  if  any  Israelite 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  287 

had  brought  a  lame  and  rotten  lamb  to  be  sacrificed  to  God, 
and  afterward  hud  bewailed  it,  and  laid  open  his  heart  to  God 
in  a  sensible  and  bumble  confession  of  it,  that  repentance  bad 
been  a  better  sacrifice,  and  more  acceptable  in  the  sight  of  God, 
than  if  he  had  brought  a  sound  and  a  living  offering. 

When  they  are  occasions  to  make  us  prize  duties  of  wor- 
ship: when  we  argue,  as  rationally  we  may,  that  they  are  of 
singular  use;  since  our  corrupt  hearts  and  a  malicious  devil 
does  chieily  endeavour  to  hinder  us  from  them;  and  that  we 
find  we  have  not  those  gadding  thoughts  when  we  are  upon 
worldly  business,  or  upon  any  sinful  design  which  may  dis- 
honour God  and  wound  our  souls.  This  is  a  sign  sin  and  Satan 
dislike  worship;  for  he  is  too  subtle  a  spirit  to  oppose  that 
which  would  further  his  kingdom.  As  it  is  an  argument  the 
Scripture  is  the  word  of  God,  because  the  wickedness  of  the 
world  does  so  much  oppose  it,  so  it  is  a  ground  to  believe  the 
profitableness  and  excellency  of  worship,  because  Satan  and 
our  own  unruly  hearts  do  so  much  interrupt  us  in  it.  If  there- 
fore we  make  this  use  of  our  cross  steps  in  worship,  to  have  a 
greater  value  for  such  duties,  more  affections  to  them  and  de- 
sires to  be  frequent  in  them,  our  hearts  are  growing  spiritual, 
under  the  weights  that  would  depress  them  to  carnality. 

When  we  take  a  rise  from  hence,  to  have  heavenly  admira- 
tions of  the  graciousness  of  God;  that  he  should  pity  and  par- 
don so  many  slight  addresses  to  him,  and  give  any  gracious 
retums.to  us.  Though  men  have  foolish  ranging  every  day, 
and  in  every  duty,  yet  free  grace  is  so  tender  as  not  to  punish 
them:  "And  the  Lord  smelled  a  sweet  savour;  and  the  Lord 
said  in  his  heart,  I  will  not  again  curse  the  ground  any  more 
for  man's  sake;  for  the  imagination  of  man's  heart  is  evil  from 
his  youth,"  Gen.  viii.  21.  It  is  observable  that  this  was  just 
after  a  sacrifice  which  Noah  offered  to  God,  ver.  20,  but  proba- 
bly not  without  infirmities  common  to  human  nature;  which 
may  be  grounded  upon  the  reason  God  gives,  that  though  he 
had  destroyed  the  earth  before,  because  of  the  evil  of  man's 
imaginations,  Gen.  vi.  5,  he  still  found  evil  imaginations.  He 
does  not  say  in  the  heart  of  Ham,  or  others  of  Noah's  family, 
but  in  man's  heart,  including  Noah  also;  who  had  both  the 
judgments  of  God  upon  the  former  world,  and  the  mercy  of 
God  in  his  own  preservation  before  his  eyes;  yet  God  saw  evil 
imaginations  rooted  in  the  nature  of  man,  and  though  it  were 
so,  yet  he  would  be  merciful.  If  therefore  we  can,  after  find- 
ing our  hearts  so  vagrant  in  worship,  have  real  frames  of 
thankfulness  that  God  has  spared  us,  and  be  heightened  in  our 
admirations  at  God's  giving  us  any  fruit  of  such  a  distracted 
worship;  we  take  advantage  from  them,  to  be  raised  into  an 
evangelical  frame,  which  consists  in  the  humble  acknowledg- 


288  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

rnents  of  the  grace  of  God.  When  David  takes  a  review  of 
those  tumultuous  passions  which  had  ruffled  his  mind,  and 
possessed  him  with  unbelieving  notions  of  God  in  the  persons 
of  his  prophets,  Psal.  cxvi.  11;  how  high  does  his  soul  mount 
in  astonishment  and  thankfulness  to  God  for  his  mercy!  verse 
12.  Notwithstanding  his  distrust,  God  did  graciously  perform 
his  promise,  and  answer  his  desire.  Then  it  is,  "What  shall  I 
render  (o  the  Lord  ?"  His  heart  was  more  affected  for  it,  be- 
cause it  had  been  so  passionate  in  former  distrusts.  It  is  indeed 
a  ground  of  wondering  at  the  patience  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
that  he  should  guide  our  hearts  when  they  are  so  apt  to  start 
out;  as  it  is  the  patience  of  a  master  to  guide  the  hand  of  his 
scholar,  while  he  mixes  his  writing  with  many  blots.  It  is  not 
one  or  two  infirmities  the  Spirit  helps  us  in,  and  helps  over,  but 
many,  Rom.  viii.  26.  It  is  a  sign  of  a  spiritual  heart,  when  he 
can  take  a  rise  to  bless  God  for  the  renewing  and  blowing  up 
his  affections,  in  the  midst  of  so  many  incursions  from  Satan 
to  the  contrary,  and  the  readiness  of  the  heart  too  much  to 
comply  with  them. 

When  we  take  occasion  from  thence  to  prize  the  mediation  of 
Christ.  The  more  distractions  jog  us,  the  more  need  we  should 
see  of  going  out  to  a  Saviour  by  faith.  One  part  of  our  Saviour's 
office  is  to  stand  between  us  and  the  infirmities  of  our  wor- 
ship: as  he  is  an  Advocate,  he  presents  our  services,  and  pleads 
for  them  and  us,  1  John  ii.  1;  for  the  sins  of  our  duties,  as  well 
as  for  our  other  sins.  Jesus  Christ  is  a  High  Priest,  appointed 
by  God  to  take  away  the  iniquities  of  our  holy  things,  which 
was  typified  by  Aaron's  plate  upon  his  mitre,  Exod.  xxviii. 
36.  38.  Were  there  no  imperfections,  were  there  no  creeping 
up  of  those  frogs  into  our  minds,  we  would  think  our  worship 
might  merit  acceptance  with  God  upon  its  own  account:  but  if 
we  behold  our  own  weakness,  that  not  a  tear,  a  groan,  a  sigh 
is  so  pure,  but  must  have  Christ  to  make  it  entertainable;  that 
there  is  no  worship  without  those  blemishes;  and  upon  this, 
throw  all  our  services  into  the  arms  of  Christ  for  acceptance, 
and  solicit  him  to  put  his  merits  in  the  front,  to  make  our 
ciphers  appear  valuable;  it  is  a  spiritual  act,  the  design  of  God 
in  the  gospel  being  to  advance  the  honour  and  mediation  of  his 
Son.  That  is  a  spiritual  and  evangelical  act,  which  answers 
the  evangelical  design.  The  design  of  Satan  and  our  own  cor- 
ruption is  defeated,  when  those  interruptions  make  us  run 
swifter,  and  take  faster  hold  on  the  High  Priest,  who  is  to  pre- 
sent our  worship  to  God,  and  our  own  souls  receive  comfort 
thereby.  Christ  had  temptations  offered  to  him  by  the  devil  in 
his  wilderness  retirement,  that  from  an  experimental  knowledge 
he  might  be  able  more  compassionately  to  succour  us,  Heb.  ii. 
18.     We  have  such  assaults  in  our  retired  worship  especially. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  -_>sM 

that  we  may  be  able  more  highly  to  value  him  and  his  media- 
tion. 

[3.]  Let  us  not  therefore  be  discouraged  by  those  interrup- 
tions and  starts  of  our  hearts; 

If  we  find  in  ourselves  a  strong  resistance  of  them.  The  flesh 
will  be  lusting;  that  cannot  be  hindered;  yet  if  we  do  not  fulfil 
the  lusts  of  it,  rise  up  at  its  command  and  go  about  its  work, 
we  may  be  said  to  walk  in  the  Spirit,  Gal.  v.  16,  17.  We  walk 
in  the  Spirit,  if  we  fulfil  not  the  lusts  of  the  ilesh,  though  there 
be  a  lusting  of  the  flesh  against  the  Spirit.  So  we  worship  in 
the  Spirit,  though  there  be  carnal  thoughts  arising,  if  we  do  not 
fulfil  them;  though  the  stirring  of  them  discovers  some  contra- 
riety in  us  to  God,  yet  the  resistance  manifests,  that  there  is  a 
principle  of  contrariety  in  us  to  them;  that  as  there  is  some- 
thing of  flesh  that  lusts  against  the  Spirit,  so  there  is  something 
of  Spirit  in  worship  which  lusts  against  the  flesh.  We  must 
take  heed  of  omitting  worship,  because  of  such  inroads,  and 
lying  down  in  the  mire  of  a  total  neglect.  If  our  spirits  are 
made  more  lively  and  vigorous  against  them;  if  those  cold  va- 
pours which  have  risen  from  our  hearts,  make  us  like  a  spring 
in  the  midst  of  the  cold  earth,  more  warm;  there  is  in  this  case 
more  reason  for  us  to  bless  God,  than  to  be  discouraged.  God 
looks  upon  it  as  the  disease,  not  the  wilfulness  of  our  nature; 
as  the  weakness  of  the  flesh,  not  the  willingness  of  the  spirit. 
If  we  would  shut  the  door  upon  them,  it  seems  they  are  unwel- 
come company;  men  do  not  use  to  lock  their  doors  upon  those 
they  love:  if  they  break  in  and  disturb  us  with  their  imperti- 
nences, we  need  not  be  discomfited,  unless  we  give  them  a  share 
in  our  affections,  and  turn  our  back  upon  God  to  entertain  them. 
If  their  presence  makes  us  sad,  their  flight  would  make  us 
joyful. 

If  we  find  ourselves  excited  to  a  stricter  watch  over  our 
hearts  against  them;  as  travellers  will  be  careful  when  they 
come  to  places  where  they  have  been  robbed  before,  that  they 
be  not  so  easily  surprised  again.  We  should  not  only  lament 
when  we  have  had  such  foolish  imaginations  in  worship  break- 
ing in  upon  us,  but  also  bless  God  that  we  have  had  no  more, 
since  we  have  hearts  so  fruitful  of  weeds.  We  should  give  God 
the  glory  when  we  find  our  hearts  preserved  from  these  intru- 
ders, and  not  boast  of  ourselves,  but  return  him  our  praise  for 
the  watch  and  guard  he  kept  over  us  to  preserve  us  from  such 
thieves. 

Let  us  not  be  discomforted;  for  as  the  greatness  of  our  sins 
upon  our  turning  to  God  is  no  hinderance  to  our  justification, 
because  it  does  not  depend  upon  our  conversion  as  the  merito- 
rious cause,  but  upon  the  infinite  value  of  our  Saviour's  satis- 
faction, which  reaches  the  greatest  sins  as  well  as  the  least;  so 
Vol.  I.— 37 


290  0N  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

the  multitude  of  our  bewailed  distractions  in  worship  are  not  a 
hinderance  to  our  acceptation,  because  of  the  uncontrollable 
power  of  Christ's  intercession. 

Use  (4.)  Is  for  exhortation.  Since  spiritual  worship  is  due 
to  God,  and  the  Father  seeks  such  to  worship  him,  how  much 
should  we  endeavour  to  satisfy  the  desire  and  order  of  God, 
and  act  conformable  to  the  law  of  our  creation  and  the  love  of 
redemption!  Our  end  must  be  the  same  in  worship  which  was 
God's  end  in  creation  and  redemption;  to  glorify  his  name,  set 
forth  his  perfections,  and  be  rendered  fit  as  creatures  and  re- 
deemed ones  to  partake  of  that  grace  which  is  the  fruit  of  wor- 
ship. An  evangelical  dispensation  requires  a  spiritual  homage; 
to  neglect  therefore  either  the  matter  or  manner  of  gospel  duties, 
is  to  put  a  slight  upon  gospel  privileges.  The  manner  of  duty 
is  ever  of  more  value  than  the  matter;  the  scarlet  dye  is  more 
precious  than  the  cloth  tinctured  with  it.  God  respects  more 
the  disposition  of  the  sacrificer  than  the  multitude  of  the  sacri- 
fices.1 The  solemn  feasts  appointed  by  God,  were  but  dung, 
as  managed  by  the  Jews,  Mai.  ii.  3.  The  heart  is  often  wel- 
come without  the  body,  but  the  body  never  grateful  without  the 
heart:  the  inward  acts  of  the  Spirit  require  nothing  from  with- 
out to  constitute  them  good  in  themselves;  but  the  outward 
acts  of  devotion  require  inward  acts  to  render  them  savoury  to 
God.  As  the  goodness  of  outward  acts  consists  not  in  the  acts 
themselves,  so  the  acceptableness  of  them  results  not  from  the 
acts  themselves,  but  from  the  inward  frame  animating  and 
quickening  those  acts,  as  blood  and  spirits  running  through  the 
veins  of  a  duty  to  make  it  a  living  service  in  the  sight  of  God. 
Imperfections  in  worship  hinder  not  God's  acceptation  of  it,  if 
the  heart,  spirited  by  grace,  be  there  to  make  it  a  sweet  savour. 
The  stench  of  burning  flesh  and  fat  in  the  legal  sacrifices,  might 
render  them  noisome  to  the  outward  senses;  but  God  smelt  a 
sweet  savour  in  them,  as  they  respected  Christ.  When  the 
heart  and  spirit  are  offered  up  to  God,  it  may  be  a  savoury  duty, 
though  attended  with  unsavoury  imperfections.  But  a  thou- 
sand sacrifices  without  a  stamp  of  faith,  a  thousand  spiritual 
duties  with  an  habitual  carnality,  are  no  better  than  stench  with 
God. 

The  heart  must  be  purged,  as  well  as  the  temple  was  by  our 
Saviour,  of  the  thieves  that  would  rob  God  of  his  due  worship. 
Antiquity  had  some  temples,  wherein  it  was  a  crime  to  bring 
any  gold;  therefore  those  that  came  to  worship  laid  their  gold 
aside,  before  they  went  into  the  temple.  We  should  lay  aside 
our  worldly  and  trading  thoughts  before  we  address  to  worship: 
"  With  my  spirit  within  me  will  I  seek  thee  early,"  Isa.  xxvi.  9. 

1  'M.uXKov  to  Sa.if.ioi'ioi'  wpij  to  iZv  Ovovtuv  jjtfoj'  \tuv  Ovo/xivuv  7iX*9o$. 
Porphyr,  (k  Abstinentid. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  291 

Let  not  our  minds  be  gadding  abroad,  and  exiled  from  God  and 
themselves.  It  will  be  thus  when  the  desire  of  our  soul  is  to 
his  name  and  the  remembrance  of  him,  ver.  8.  When  he  has 
given  so  great  and  admirable  a  gift,  as  that  of  his  Son,  in  whom 
are  all  things  necessary  to  salvation,  righteousness,  peace,  and 
pardon  of  sin,  we  should  manage  the  remembrance  of  his  name 
in  worship  with  the  closest  unitedness  of  heart,  and  the  most 
spiritual  affections.  The  motion  of  the  spirit  is  the  first  act  in 
religion;  to  this  we  are  obliged  in  every  act.  The  devil  requires 
the  spirit  of  his  votaries:  should  God  have  a  less  dedication 
than  the  devil? 

Motives  to  back  this  exhortation. 

[1.]  Not  to  give  God  our  spirit  is  a  great  sin.  It  is  a  mockery 
of  God,  not  worship;  contempt,  not  adoration,  whatever  our 
outward  fervency  or  protestations  may  be.1  Every  alienation 
of  our  hearts  from  him  is  a  real  scorn  put  upon  him.  The  acts 
of  the  soul  arc  real,  and  more  the  acts  of  the  man  than  the  acts 
of  the  body;  because  they  are  the  acts  of  the  choicest  part  of 
man,  and  of  that  which  is  the  first  spring  of  all  bodily  motions; 
it  is  the  xo'yos  ivStaei-to;,  the  "internal  speech,"  whereby  we 
must  speak  with  God:  to  give  him  therefore  only  an  external 
form  of  worship  without  the  life  of  it,  is  a  taking  his  name  in 
vain.  We  mock  him,  when  we  mind  not  what  we  are  speak- 
ing to  him,  or  what  he  is  speaking  to  us;  when  the  motions  of 
our  hearts  are  contrary  to  the  motions  of  our  tongues;  when  we 
do  any  thing  before  him  slovenly,  impudently,  or  rashly.  As 
in  a  musician,  it  is  absurd  to  sing  one  tune  and  play  another;  so 
it  is  a  foul  thing,  to  tell  God  one  thing  with  our  lips,  and  think 
another  with  our  hearts;  it  is  a  sin  like  that  the  apostle  charges 
the  heathen  with,  Rom.  i.  28.  They  like  not  to  retain  God  in 
their  knowledge;  their  stomachs  are  sick  while  they  are  upon 
any  duty,  and  never  leave  working,  till  they  have  thrown  up 
all  the  spiritual  part  of  worship,  and  rid  themselves  of  the 
thoughts  of  God,  which  are  as  unwelcome  and  troublesome 
guests  to  them.  When  men  behave  themselves  in  the  sight  of 
God,  as  if  God  were  not  God,  they  do  not  only  defame  him,  but 
deny  him,  and  violate  the  unchangeable  perfections  of  the 
Divine  nature. 

It  is  against  the  majesty  of  God,  when  we  have  not  awful 
thoughts  of  that  great  Majesty  whom  we  address;  when  our 
souls  cleave  not  to  him,  when  we  petition  him  in  prayer,  or 
when  he  gives  out  his  orders  in  his  word.  It  is  a  contempt  of 
the  majesty  of  a  prince,  if,  while  he  is  speaking  to  us,  we  listen 
not  to  him  with  reverence  and  attention,  but  turn  our  backs  on 
him,  to  play  with  one  of  his  hounds,  or  talk  with  a  beggar;  or 

1  Non  valet  protestatio  contra  factum.  "No  protestation  is  of  avail  against 
(act,"  i?  •!  rulo  in  the  rivil  law. 


292  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

while  we  speak  to  him,  to  rake  in  a  dunghill.  Solomon  advises 
us  to  keep  our  foot  when  we  go  to  the  house  of  God,  Eccles. 
v.  1.  Our  afFections  should  be  steady,  and  not  slip  away  again. 
Why?  Because  God  is  in  heaven,  and  we  on  earth,  ver.  2. 
He  is  a  God  of  majesty:  earthly,  dirty  frames  are  unsuitable 
to  the  God  of  heaven ;  low  spirits  are  unsuitable  to  the  Most 
High.  We  would  not  bring  our  mean  servants,  our  dirty  dogs, 
into  a  prince's  presence-chamber;  yet  we  bring  not  only  our 
worldly,  but  our  profane  affections  into  God's  presence;  we 
give,  in  this  case,  those  services  to  God,  which  our  governor 
would  think  unworthy  of  him,  Mai.  i.  8.  The  more  excellent 
and  glorious  God  is,  the  greater  contempt  of  him  it  is  to  suffer 
such  foolish  affections  to  be  competitors  with  him  for  our  hearts: 
it  is  a  scorn  put  upon  him  to  converse  with  a  creature  while  we 
are  dealing  with  him;  but  a  greater  to  converse  in  our  thoughts 
and  fancies  with  some  sordid  lust,  which  is  most  hateful  to  him: 
and  the  more  aggravation  it  attracts,  in  that  we  are  to  appre- 
hend him  the  most  glorious  object  sitting  upon  his  throne,  in 
time  of  worship,  and  ourselves  standing  as  vile  creatures  before 
him,  supplicating  for  our  lives,  and  the  conveyances  of  grace 
and  mercy  to  our  souls;  as  if  a  grand  mutineer,  instead  of  hum- 
bly begging  the  pardon  of  his  offended  prince,  should  present 
his  petition  not  only  scribbled  and  blotted,  but  besmeared  with 
some  lothsome  filth.  It  is  unbecoming  the  majesty  both  of 
God,  and  the  worship  itself,  to  present  him  with  a  picture  in- 
stead of  substance,  and  bring  a  world  of  filthy  affections  in  our 
hearts,  and  ridiculous  toys  in  our  heads  before  him,  and  worship 
with  indisposed  and  heedless  souls. 

He  is  a  great  King,  Mai.  i.  14;  therefore  address  him  with 
fear  and  reverence. 

It  is  against  the  life  of  God.  Is  a  dead  worship  proportioned 
to  a  living  God?  The  separation  of  heavenly  affections  from 
our  souls  before  God,  makes  them  as  much  a  carcass  in  his 
sight,  as  the  divorce  of  the  soul  makes  the  body  a  carcass;  Avhen 
the  affections  are  separated,  worship  is  no  longer  worship,  but 
a  dead  offering,  a  lifeless  bulk;  for  the  essence  and  spirit  of 
worship  is  departed.  Though  the  soul  be  present  with  the  body 
in  a  way  of  information,  yet  it  is  not  present  in  a  way  of  affec- 
tion, and  this  is  the  worst;  for  it  is  not  the  separation  of  the  soul 
from  informing,  that  does  separate  a  man  from  God,  but  the 
removal  of  our  affections  from  him.  If  a  man  pretend  an  appli- 
cation to  God,  and  sleep  and  snore  all  the  time,  without  ques- 
tion such  a  one  did  not  worship.  In  a  careless  worship,  the 
heart  is  morally  dead  while  the  eyes  are  open  :  the  heart  of  the 
spouse  awaked  while  her  eyes  slept,  Cant.  v.  2,  and  our  hearts, 
on  the  contrary,  sleep  while  our  eyes  awake. 

Our  blessed  Saviour  has  died  to  purge  our  consciences  from 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  993 

dead  works  and  frames,  that  we  may  serve  the  living  God,  Heb. 
ix.  14;  to  serve  God  as  a  God  of  life.  David's  soul  cried  and 
fainted  for  God  under  this  consideration,  Psal.  xlii.  2;  but  to 
present  our  bodies  without  our  spirits,  is  such  a  usage  of  God, 
that  implies  he  is  a  dead  image,  not  worthy  of  any  but  a  dead 
and  heartless  service:  like  one  of  those  idols  the  psalmist  speaks 
of,  Psal.  cxv.  5;  that  have  eyes  and  see  not,  ears  and  hear  not, 
no  life  in  it.  Though  it  be  not  an  objective  idolatry,  because 
the  worship  is  directed  to  the  true  God;  yet  I  may  call  it  a 
subjective  idolatry,  in  regard  of  the  frame,  fit  only  to  be  pre- 
sented to  some  senseless  stock:  we  intimate  God  to  be  no  better 
than  an  idol,  and  to  have  no  more  knowledge  of  us,  and  insight 
into  us,  than  an  idol  can  have.  If  we  did  believe  him  to  be  the 
living  God,  we  durst  not  come  before  him  with  services  so  un- 
suitable to  him,  and  approaches  of  him. 

It  is  against  the  infmiteness  of  God.  We  should  worship 
God  with  those  boundless  affections  which  bear  upon  them  a 
shadow  or  image  of  his  infmiteness;  such  are  the  desires  of  the 
soul  which  know  no  limits,  but  start  out  beyond  whatsoever 
enjoyment  the  heart  of  man  possesses.  No  creeping  creature 
was  to  be  offered  to  God  in  sacrifice;  but  such  as  had  legs  to 
run,  or  wings  to  fly.  For  us  to  come  before  God  with  a  light 
creeping  frame,  is  to  worship  him  with  the  lowest  finite  affec- 
tions: as  though  any  thing,  though  ever  so  mean  or  torn,  might 
satisfy  an  infinite  Being;  as  though  a  poor  shallow  creature 
could  give  enough  to  God  without  giving  him  the  heart,  when 
indeed  we  cannot  give  him  a  worship  proportionable  to  his  infi- 
niteness,  did  our  hearts  swell  as  large  as  heaven  in  our  desires 
for  him  in  every  act  of  our  duties. 

It  is  against  the  spirituality  of  God.  God  being  a  Spirit,  calls 
for  a  worship  in  spirit;  to  withhold  this  from  him,  implies  him 
to  be  some  gross  corporeal  matters.  As  a  Spirit,  he  looks  for  the 
heart;  a  wrestling  heart  in  prayer;  a  trembling  heart  in  the 
word,  Isa.  lxvi.  2.  To  bring  nothing  but  the  body  when  we 
come  to  a  spiritual  God  to  beg  spiritual  benefits,  to  wait  for 
spiritual  communications,  which  can  only  be  dispensed  to  us  in 
a  spiritual  manner,  is  unsuitable  to  the  spiritual  nature  of  God. 
A  mere  carnal  service  implicitly  denies  his  spirituality,  which 
requires  of  us  higher  engagements  than  mere  corporeal  ones. 

Worship  should  be  rational,  not  an  imaginative  service; 
wherein  is  required  the  activity  of  our  noblest  faculties;  and  our 
fancy  ought  to  have  no  share  in  it,  but  in  subserviency  to  the 
more  spiritual  part  of  our  soul. 

It  is  against  the  supremacy  of  God.  As  God  is  one,  the  only 
sovereign;  so  our  hearts  should  be  one,  cleaving  wholly  to  him, 
and  undivided  from  him:  in  pretending  to  deal  with  him,  we 
acknowledge  his  deity  and  sovereignty;  but  in  withholding  our 


294  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

choicest  faculties  and  affections  from  him,  and  the  starting  of 
our  minds  to  vain  objects,  we  intimate  their  equality  with  God, 
and  their  right  as  well  as  his  to  our  hearts  and  affections.  It 
intimates  that  other  things  are  superior  to  God:  they  are  true 
sovereigns  that  engross  our  hearts.  If  a  man  were  addressing 
himself  to  a  prince,  and  should  in  an  instant  turn  his  back  upon 
him,  upon  a  beck  or  nod  from  some  inconsiderable  person  ;  is  it 
not  an  evidence,  that  that  person  that  invited  him  away,  has  a 
greater  sovereignty  over  him,  than  that  prince  to  whom  he  was 
applying?  And  do  we  not  discard  God's  absolute  dominion 
over  us,  when  at  the  least  beck  of  a  corrupt  inclination,  we  can 
dispose  of  our  hearts  to  it,  and  alienate  them  from  God?  As 
they  in  Ezek.  xxxiii.  31,  left  the  service  of  God  for  the  service 
of  their  covetousness;  which  evidenced  that  they  owned  the 
authority  of  sin  more  than  the  authority  of  God.  This  is  not 
to  serve  God  as  our  Lord  and  absolute  Master,  but  to  make 
God  serve  our  turn,  and  submit  his  sovereignty  to  the  supre- 
macy of  some  unworthy  affection.  The  creature  is  preferred 
before  the  Creator,  when  the  heart  runs  most  upon  it  in  time  of 
religious  worship,  and  our  own  carnal  interest  swallows  up  the 
affections  that  are  due  to  God:  it  is  an  idol  set  up  in  the  heart, 
Ezek.  xiv.  4,  in  his  solemn  presence,  and  attracts  that  devotion 
to  itself,  which  we  owe  only  to  our  sovereign  Lord;  and  the 
more  base  and  contemptible  that  is  to  which  the  spirit  is  devo- 
ted, the  more  contempt  there  is  of  God's  dominion.  Judas's 
kiss  with  a  "  Hail,  Master,"  was  no  act  of  worship,  or  an  own- 
ing his  Master's  authority;  but  a  designing  the  satisfaction  of 
his  covetousness  in  the  betraying  of  him. 

It  is  against  the  wisdom  of  God.  God  as  a  God  of  order, 
has  put  earthly  things  in  subordination  to  heavenly;  and  we 
by  this  unworthy  carriage  invert  this  order,  and  put  heavenly 
things  in  subordination  to  earthly;  in  placing  mean  and  low 
things  in  our  hearts,  and  bringing  them  so  placed  into  God's 
presence,  which  his  wisdom  at  the  creation  put  under  our  feet. 
A  service  without  spiritual  affections  is  a  sacrifice  of  fools, 
Eccl.  v.  1,  who  have  lost  their  brains  and  understandings:  a 
foolish  spirit  is  very  unsuitable  to  an  infinitely  wise  God.  Well 
may  God  say  of  such  a  one,  as  Achish  of  David  who  seemed 
mad,  Why  have  you  "  brought  this  fellow  to  play  the  madman 
in  my  presence?  Shall  this  fellow  come  into  my  house?"  1  Sam. 
xxi.  15. 

It  is  against  the  omniscience  of  God.  To  carry  it  fair  with- 
out and  impertinently  within,  is  as  though  God  had  not  an  all- 
seeing  eye  that  could  pierce  into  the  heart,  and  understand 
every  motion  of  the  inward  faculties;  as  though  God  were 
easily  cheated  with  an  outward  fawning  service,  like  an  apo- 
thecary's box  with  a  gilded  title,  that  may  be  full  of  cobwebs 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  vj(J5 

within.  What  is  such  a  carriage  but  a  design  to  deceive  God, 
when  with  Herod  we  pretend  to  worship  Christ,  and  intend  to 
murder  all  the  motions  of  Christ  in  our  souls  ?  A  heedless  spirit, 
an  estrangement  of  our  souls,  a  giving  ihe  reins  to  them  to  run 
out  from  the  presence  of  i'^id  to  sec  every  reed  shaken  with 
the  wind,  is  to  deny  him  to  be  the  searcher  of  hearts,  and  the  tlis- 
cerner  of  secret  thoughts,  as  though  he  could  not  look  through 
us  to  the  darkness  and  remoteness  of  our  minds,  but  were  an 
ignorant  Clod,  who  might  be  put  off  with  the  worst  as  well  as 
the  best  in  our  flock.  If  we  did  really  believe  there  was  a 
God  of  infinite  knowledge,  who  saw  our  frames,  and  whether 
we  came  dressed  with  wedding  garments  suitable  to  the  duties 
we  are  about  to  perform;  should  we  be  so  garish,  and  put  him 
off  with  such  trivial  stuff,  without  any  reverence  of  his  ma- 
jesty? 

It  is  against  the  holiness  of  God.  To  alienate  our  spirits  is 
to  offend  him  while  we  pretend  to  worship  him;  though  we 
may  lie  mighty  officious  in  the  external  part,  yet  our  base  and 
carnal  affections  make  all  our  worship  hut  as  a  heap  of  dung; 
and  who  would  not  look  upon  it  as  an  affront,  to  lay  dung  be- 
fore a  prince's  throne?  "The  sacriiice  of  the  wicked  is  an 
abomination:  how  much  more  when  he  bringeth  it  with  a 
wicked  mind!"  Prov.  xxi.  27.  A  putrefied  carcass  under  the 
law  had  not  been  so  great  an  affront  to  the  holiness  of  God,  as 
a  frothy  unmelted  heart,  and  a  wanton  fancy  in  a  time  of  wor- 
ship. God  is  so  holy,  that  if  we  could  oiler  the  worship  of 
angels  and  the  quintessence  of  our  souls  in  his  service,  it  would 
be  beneath  his  infinite  purity:  how  unworthy  then  are  they  of 
him,  when  they  are  presented  not  only  without  the  sense  of  our 
uncleanness,  hut  sullied  with  the  fumes  and  exhalations  of  our 
corrupt  affections,  which  arc  as  so  many  plague-spots  upon  our 
duties,  contrary  to  the  unspotted  purity  of  the  Divine  nature! 
Is  not  this  an  unworthy  conceit  of  God,  and  injurious  to  his 
infinite  holiness? 

It  is  against  the  love  and  kindness  of  God.  It  is  a  conde- 
scension in  God  to  admit  a  piece  of  earth  to  offer  up  a  duty  to 
him,  when  he  has  myriads  of  angels  to  attend  him  in  his  court 
and  celebrate  his  praise:  to  admit  man  to  be  an  attendant  on 
him,  and  a  partner  with  angels,  is  a  high  favour.  It  is  not  a 
single  mercy,  hut  a  heap  of  mercies,  to  be  admitted  into  the 
presence  of  God:  "I  will  come  into  thy  house  in  the  multitude 
of  thy  mercy,"  Psal.  v.  7.  When  the  blessed  God  is  so  kind 
as  to  give  us  access  to  his  majesty,  do  we  not  undervalue  his 
kindness  when  we  deal  uncivilly  with  him,  and  deny  him  the 
choicest  part  of  ourselves?  It  is  a  contempt  of  his  sovereignty, 
as  our  spirits  are  due  to  him  by  nature;  a  contempt  of  his  good- 
ness, as  our  spirits  are  due  to  him  by  gratitude.    How  abusive 


296  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

a  carriage  is  it  to  make  use  of  his  mercy  to  encourage  our  im- 
pudence, that  should  excite  our  fear  and  reverence!  How 
unworthy  would  it  be  for  an  indigent  debtor  to  bring  to  his 
indulgent  creditor  an  empty  purse  instead  of  payment!  When 
God  holds  out  his  golden  sceptre  to  encourage  our  approaches 
to  him;  stands  ready  to  give  us  the  pardon  of  sin  and  full  feli- 
city, the  best  things  he  has;  is  it  a  fit  requital  of  his  kindness, 
to  give  him  a  formal  outside  only,  a  shadow  of  religion;  to 
have  the  heart  overswayed  with  other  thoughts  and  affections, 
as  if  all  his  proffers  were  so  contemptible  as  to  deserve  only  a 
slight  at  our  hands?  It  is  a  contempt  of  the  love  and  kindness 
of  God. 

It  is  against  the  sufficiency  and  fulness  of  God.  When  we 
give  God  our  bodies  and  the  creature  our  spirits,  it  intimates  a 
conceit  that  there  is  more  content  to  be  had  in  the  creature  than 
in  God  blessed  for  ever;  that  the  waters  in  the  cistern  are 
sweeter  than  those  in  the  fountain.  Is  not  this  a  practical  giving 
God  the  lie,  and  denying  those  promises  wherein  he  has  declared 
the  satisfaction  he  can  give  to  the  spirit,  as  he  is  the  God  of  the 
spirits  of  all  flesh? 

If  we  did  imagine  the  excellency  and  loveliness  of  God  were 
worthy  to  be  the  ultimate  object  of  our  affections,  the  heart 
would  attend  more  closely  upon  him  and  be  terminated  in  him. 
Did  we  believe  God  to  be  all-sufficient,  full  of  grace  and  good- 
ness, a  tender  Father, not  willing  to  forsake  his  own;  willing  as 
well  as  able  to  supply  their  wants;  the  heart  would  not  so 
lamely  attend  upon  him,  and  would  not  upon  every  imperti- 
nency  be  diverted  from  him.  There  is  much  of  a  wrong  notion 
of  God,  and  a  predominancy  of  the  world  above  him  in  the 
heart,  when  we  can  with  more  savour  relish  the  thoughts  of  low 
inferior  things  than  of  heavenly,  and  let  our  spirits  upon  every 
trifling  occasion  be  fugitives  from  him.  It  is  a  testimony  that 
we  make  not  God  our  chiefest  good.  If  apprehensions  of  his 
excellency  did  possess  our  souls,  they  would  be  fastened  on  him, 
glued  to  him;  we  should  not  listen  to  that  rabble  of  foolish 
thoughts  that  steal  our  hearts  so  often  from  him.  Were  our 
breathings  after  God  as  strong  as  the  pantings  of  the  hart  after 
the  water  brooks,  we  should  be  like  that  creature,  not  diverted 
in  our  course  by  every  puddle.  Were  God  the  predominant 
satisfactory  object  in  our  eye,  he  would  carry  our  whole  soul 
along  with  him. 

When  our  spirits  readily  retreat  from  God  in  worship  upon 
every  giddy  motion,  it  is  a  kind  of  repentance  that  ever  we  did 
come  near  him,  and  implies,  that  there  is  a  fuller  satisfaction, 
and  more  attractive  excellency  in  that  which  does  so  easily  divert 
us,  than  in  that  God  to  whose  worship  we  did  pretend  to  ad- 
dress ourselves:  it  is  as  if,  when  we  were  petitioning  a  prince, 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  097 

we  should  immediately  turn  about,  and  make  request  to  one 
of  his  guard;  as  though  so  mean  a  person  were  more  able  to 
give  us  the  boon  we  want,  than  the  sovereign  is. 

[2.]  Consideration  by  way  of  motive.  To  have  our  spirits 
o if  from  God  in  worship  is  a  bad  sign.  It  was  not  so  in  inno- 
cence. The  heart  of  Adam  could  cleave  to  God;  the  law  of 
God  was  engraven  upon  him;  he  could  apply  himself  to  the 
fulfilling  of  it  without  any  twinkling;  there  was  no  folly  and 
vanity  in  his  mind,  no  independeney  in  his  thoughts,  no  duty 
was  his  burden;  for  there  was  in  him  a  pronenessto  and  delight 
in  all  the  duties  of  worship.  It  is  the  fall  that  has  distempered 
us;  and  the  more  unwieldiness  there  is  in  our  spirits,  the  more 
carnal  our  affections  are  in  worship,  the  more  evidence  there  is 
of  the  strength  of  that  revolted  state. 

It  argues  much  corruption  in  the  heart.  As  by  the  eructa- 
tions of  the  stomach,  we  may  judge  of  the  windiness  and  foul 
ness  of  it;  so  by  the  inordinate  motions  of  our  minds  and  hearts 
we  may  judge  of  the  weakness  of  its  complexion.  A  strength 
of  sin  is  evidenced  by  the  eruptions  and  ebullitions  of  it  in  wor- 
ship, when  they  are  more  sudden,  numerous,  and  vigorous  than 
the  motions  of  grace.  When  the  heart  is  apt  like  tinder  to  catch 
fire  from  Satan,  it  is  a  sign  of  much  combustible  matter  suita- 
ble to  his  temptation.  Were  not  corruption  strong,  the  soul 
could  not  turn  so  easily  from  God  when  it  is  in  his  presence, 
and  has  advantageous  opportunity  to  create  a  fear  and  awe  of 
God  in  it.  Such  base  fruit  could  not  sprout  up  so  suddenly, 
were  there  not  much  sap  and  juice  in  the  root  of  sin. 

What  communion  with  a  living  root  can  be  evidenced  with- 
out exercises  of  an  inward  life?  That  spirit  which  is  a  well  of 
living  waters  in  a  gracious  heart,  will  be  especially  springing 
up  when  it  is  before  God. 

It  shows  much  affection  to  earthly  things,  and  little  to  heav- 
enly. There  must  needs  be  an  inordinate  affection  to  earthly 
things,  when  upon  every  slight  solicitation  we  can  part  with  God, 
and  turn  the  back  upon  a  service  glorious  for  him,  and  advan- 
tageous for  ourselves;  to  wed  our  hearts  to  some  idle  fancy 
that  signifies  nothing.  How  can  we  be  said  to  entertain  God 
in  our  affections,  when  wo  give  him  not  the  precedency  in  our 
understandings,  but  let  every  trifle  justle  the  mum'  of  God  out 
of  our  minds?  Were  our  hearts  fully  determined  to  spiritual 
tilings,  such  vanities  could  not  seat  themselves  in  our  under- 
standings, and  divide  our  spirits  from  God.  Were  our  hearts 
balanced  with  a  love  to  God,  the  world  could  never  steal  our 
hearts  so  much  from  his  worship,  but  his  worship  would  draw 
our  hearts  to  it. 

It  shows  a  base  neutrality  in  the  greatest  concernments,  a 
halting  between  God  and  Baal,  a  contrariety  between  affection 
Vol.  I.— 3S 


298  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

and  conscience,  when  natural  conscience  presses  a  man  to  du- 
ties of  worship,  and  his  other  affections  pull  him  back,  draw 
him  to  carnal  objects,  and  make  him  slight  that  whereby  he 
may  honour  God.  God  argues  the  profaneness  of  the  Jews' 
hearts,  from  the  wickedness  they  brought  into  his  house,  and 
acted  there.  "  Yea,  in  my  house,"  that  is,  my  worship,  "  have 
I  found  their  wickedness,  saith  the  Lord,"  Jer.  xxiii.  11.  Car- 
nality in  worship  is  a  kind  of  an  idolatrous  frame;  when  the 
heart  is  renewed,  idols  are  cast  to  the  moles  and  the  bats,  Isa. 
ii.  20. 

It  shows  much  hypocrisy  to  have  our  spirits  off  from  God. 
The  mouth  speaks  and  the  carriage  pretends  what  the  heart 
does  not  think;  there  is  a  dissent  of  the  heart  from  the  pretence 
of  the  body. 

Instability  is  a  sure  sign  of  hypocrisy.  Double  thoughts 
argue  a  double  heart.  The  wicked  are  compared  to  chaff, 
Psal.  i.  4,  for  the  uncertain  and  various  motions  of  their  minds, 
by  the  least  wind  of  fancy.  The  least  motion  of  a  carnal  ob- 
ject diverts  the  spirit  from  God,  as  the  scent  of  carrion  does  the 
raven  from  the  flight  it  was  set  upon. 

The  people  of  God  are  called  God's  spouse,  and  God  calls 
himself  their  Husband;  whereby  is  noted  the  most  intimate 
union  of  the  soul  with  God,  and  that  there  ought  to  be  the 
highest  love  and  affection  to  him,  and  faithfulness  in  his  wor- 
ship; but  when  the  heart  does  start  from  him  in  worship,  it  is 
a  sign  of  the  unsteadfastness  of  it  with  God,  and  a  disrelish  of 
any  communion  with  him;  it  is,  as  God  complains  of  the 
Israelites,  a  going  a  whoring  after  our  own  imaginations. 

As  grace  respects  God  as  the  object  of  worship,  so  it  looks 
most  upon  God  in  approaching  to  him.  Where  there  is  a  like- 
ness and  love,  there  is  a  desire  of  converse  and  intimacy:  if 
there  be  no  spiritual  entwining  about  God  in  our  worship,  it  is 
a  sign  there  is  no  likeness  to  him,  no  true  sense  of  him,  no  re- 
newed image  of  God  in  us.  Every  living  image  will  move 
strongly  to  join  itself  with  its  original  copy,  and  be  glad  with 
Jacob  to  sit  steadily  in  those  chariots  that  shall  convey  him  to 
his  beloved  Joseph. 

[3.]  Consider  the  danger  of  a  carnal  worship. 

We  lose  the  comfort  of  worship.  The  soul  is  a  great  gainer 
when  it  offers  a  spiritual  worship,  and  as  great  a  loser  when  it 
is  unfaithful  with  God.  Treachery  and  perfidiousness  hinder 
commerce  among  men;  so  does  hypocrisy  in  its  own  nature, 
communion  with  God.  God  never  promised  any  thing  to  the 
carcass  but  to  the  spirit  of  worship.  God  has  no  obligation 
upon  him  by  any  word  of  his,  to  reward  us  with  himself,  when 
wo  perform  it  not  to  himself:  when  we  give  an  outside  wor- 
ship, we  have  only  the  outside  of  an  ordinance:  we  can  expect 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  >_><)(> 

no  kernel,  when  we  give  God  only  the  shell:  he  that  only  licka 
the  outside  of  the  glass,  can  never  be  refreshed  with  the  rich 
cordial  enclosed  within.  A  cold  and  lazy  formality  will  make 
God  to  withdraw  the  light  of  his  countenance,  and  not  slum; 
with  any  delightful  communications  upon  our  souls;  but  if  we 
come  before  him  with  a  liveliness  of  affections,  and  steadiness 
of  heart,  he  will  draw  the  veil,  and  canse  his  glory  to  display 
itself  before  us.  An  humble  praying  Christian,  and  a  warm 
affectionate  Christian  in  worship,  will  soon  find  a  God  who  is 
delighted  with  such  frames,  and  cannot  long  withhold  himself 
from  the  soul:  when  our  hearts  are  inflamed  with  love  to  him 
in  worship,  it  is  a  preparation  to  some  act  of  love  on  his  pail 
whereby  he  intends  further  to  gratify  us.  When  John  was  in 
the  Spirit  on  the  Lord's  day,  that  is,  in  spiritual  employment 
and  meditation  and  other  duties,  he  had  that  great  revelation 
of  what  should  happen  to  the  church  in  all  ages,  Rev.  i.  10. 
His  being  in  the  Spirit,  intimates  his  ordinary  course  on  that 
day,  and  not  an  extraordinary  act  in  him,  though  it  was  fol- 
lowed with  an  extraordinary  discovery  of  God  to  him;  when 
he  was  thus  engaged,  he  heard  a  voice  behind  him. 

God  does  not  require  of  us  spirituality  in  worship  to  advan- 
tage himself,  but  that  we  might  be  prepared  to  be  advantaged 
by  him.  If  we  have  a  clear  and  well  disposed  eye,  it  is  not  a 
benefit  to  the  sun,  but  fits  us  to  receive  benefits  from  his  beams. 
Worship  is  an  act  that  perfects  our  own  souls;  they  are  (hen 
most  widened  by  spiritual  frames,  to  receive  the  influence  of 
Divine  blessings,  as  an  eye  most  opened  receives  the  fruit  of 
the  sun's  light  better  than  the  eye  that  is  shut.  The  communi- 
cations of  God  are  more  or  less,  according  as  our  spiritual 
frames  are  more  or  less  in  our  worship:  God  will  not  give  his 
blessings  to  unsuitable  hearts.  What  a  filthy  vessel  is  a  carnal 
heart  for  a  spiritual  communication!  The  chief  end  of  every 
duty  enjoined  by  God,  is  to  have  communion  with  him;  and 
therefore  it  is  called  a  drawing  near  to  God:  it  is  impossible, 
therefore,  that  the  outward  parts  of  any  duty  can  answer  the 
end  of  God  in  his  institution.  It  is  not  a  bodily  appearance  or 
gesture  whereby  men  can  have  communion  with  God,  but  by 
the  impressions  of  the  heart,  and  reflections  of  the  heart  upon 
God:  without  this,  all  the  rich  streams  of  grace  will  run  beside 
us,  and  the  growth  of  the  soul  be  hindered  and  impaired.  A 
diligent  hand  makes  rich,  says  the  wise  man;  a  diligent  heart 
in  spiritual  worship,  brings  in  rich  incomes  to  the  humble  and 
spiritual  soul. 

It  renders  the  worship  not  only  unacceptable,  but  abomina- 
ble to  God.  It  makes  our  gold  to  become  dross;  it  soils  our 
duties,  and  bespots  our  souls.  A  carnal  and  unsteady  frame 
shows  an  indifferency  of  spirit  at  best;  and  lukewarmness  is  as 


300  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

ungrateful  to  God,  as  heavy  and  nauseous  meat  is  to  the 
stomach;  he  spues  them  out  of  his  mouth,  Rev.  iii.  16.  As  our 
gracious  God  doth  overlook  infirmities  where  intentions  are 
good,  and  endeavours  serious  and  strong;  so  he  lothes  the 
services  where  the  frames  are  naught;  "  If  I  regard  iniquity  in 
my  heart,  the  Lord  will  not  hear  me,"  Psal.  lxvi.  18.  Luke- 
warm and  indifferent  services  stink  in  the  nostrils  of  God.  The 
heart  seems  to  lothe  God  when  it  starts  from  him  upon  every 
occasion,  when  it  is  unwilling  to  employ  itself  about  and  stick 
close  to  him.  And  can  God  be  pleased  with  such  a  frame? 
The  more  of  the  heart  and  spirit  is  in  any  service,  the  more  real 
goodness  there  is  in  it,  and  the  more  savoury  it  is  to  God;  the 
less  of  the  heart  and  spirit — the  less  of  goodness,  and  the  more 
nauseous  to  God,  who  loves  righteousness  and  truth  in  the  in- 
ward parts,  Psal.  li.  6.  And  therefore  infinite  goodness  and  holi- 
ness cannot  but  hate  worship  presented  to  him  with  deceitful, 
carnal,  and  flitting  affections.  They  must  be  more  nauseous  to 
God,  than  a  putrefied  carcass  can  be  to  man:  they  are  the  pro- 
fanings  of  that  which  should  be  the  habitation  of  the  Spirit: 
they  make  the  spirit,  the  seat  of  duty — a  filthy  dunghill;  and 
are  as  lothsome  to  God  as  money-changers  in  the  temple  were 
to  our  Saviour. 

We  see  the  evil  of  carnal  frames,  and  the  necessity  and 
benefit  of  spiritual  frames;  for  further  help  in  this  last,  let  us 
practise  these  following  directions. 

Keep  up  spiritual  frames  out  of  worship.  To  avoid  low  affec- 
tions, we  must  keep  our  hearts  as  much  as  we  can  in  a  settled 
elevation.  If  we  admit  unworthy  dispositions  at  one  time,  we 
shall  not  easily  be  rid  of  them  at  another:1  as  he  that  would 
not  be  bitten  with  gnats  in  the  night,  must  keep  his  windows 
shut  in  the  day;  when  they  are  once  entered,  it  is  not  easy  to 
expel  them.  In  which  respect,  one  advises  to  be  such  out  of 
worship  as  we  would  be  in  worship.  If  we  mix  spiritual  affec- 
tions with  our  worldly  employments,  worldly  affections  will 
not  mingle  themselves  so  easily  with  our  heavenly  engagements. 
If  our  hearts  be  spiritual  in  our  outward  calling,  they  will 
scarce  be  carnal  in  our  religious  service.  If  we  walk  in  the 
Spirit,  we  shall  not  fulfil  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  Gal.  v.  16.  A 
spiritual  walk  in  the  day,  will  hinder  carnal  lustings  in  worship. 
The  fire  was  to  be  kept  alive  upon  the  altar  when  sacrifices 
were  not  offered,  from  morning  till  night,  from  night  till  morn- 
ing, as  well  as  in  the  very  time  of  sacrifice.  A  spiritual  life  and 
vigour  out  of  worship,  would  render  it  at  its  season  sweet  and 
easy,  and  preserve  a  spontaneity  and  preparedness  to  it,  and 
make  it  both  natural  and  pleasant  to  us. 

Any  thing  that  does  unhinge  and  discompose  our  spirits,  is 

1  Fitzhcrhert.  Pol.  in  Relig.  Part.  2.  Cap.  19.  §  12. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  391 

inconsistent  with  religious  services)  Which  arc  to  be  performed 
with  the  greatest  scdateness  and  gravity.  All  irregular  passions 
disturb  the  serenity  of  tin-  spirit,  and  open  the  door  for  Satan. 
"  Let  not  the  sun  go  down  upon  your  wrath,"  says  the  Apostle, 
"  neither  give  place  to  the  devil,"  Eph.  iv.  26,27.  Where  wrath 
breaks  the  lock,  the  devil  will  quickly  be  over  the  threshold; 
and  though  they  be  allayed,  yet  they  leave  the  heart  some  time 
after  like  the  sea  rolling  and  swelling  after  the  storm  is  ceased. 

Mixture  with  ill  company  leaves  a  tincture  upon  us  in  wor- 
ship. Ephraim's  allying  himself  with  the  gentiles,  bred  an 
indifferency  in  religion.  "  Ephraim,  he  hath  mixed  himself 
among  the  people;  Ephraim  is  a  cake  not  turned,"  Hos.  vii.  S. 
It  will  make  our  hearts,  and  consequently  our  services,  half 
dough,  as  well  as  half  baked.  These  and  the  like  make  the 
Holy  Spirit  withdraw  himself,  and  then  the  soul  lies  like  a 
wind-bound  vessel,  and  can  make  no  way.  When  the  sun 
departs  from  us,  it  carries  its  beams  away  with  it;  then  does 
darkness  spread  itself  over  the  earth,  and  the  beasts  of  the 
forests  creep  out,  Psal.  civ.  20.  When  the  Spirit  withdraws  a 
while  from  a  good  man,  it  carries  away,  (though  not  habitual, 
yet)  much  of  the  exciting  and  assisting  grace;  and  then  carnal 
dispositions  perk  up  themselves  from  the  bosom  of  natural  cor- 
ruption. To  be  spiritual  in  worship,  we  must  bar  the  door  at 
other  times  against  that  which  is  contrary  to  it.  As  he  that 
would  not  be  infected  with  a  contagious  disease,  carries  some 
preservative  about  with  him,  and  inures  himself  to  good  scents. 

To  this  end,  be  much  in  secret  ejaculations  to  God;  these 
are  the  purest  flights  of  the  soul,  that  have  more  of  fervour 
and  less  of  carnality;  they  preserve  a  liveliness  in  the  spirit, 
and  make  it  more  fit  to  perform  solemn  stated  worship  with 
greater  freedom  and  activity:  a  constant  use  of  this  would 
make  our  whole  lives,  lives  of  worship.  As  frequent  sinful  acts 
strengthen  habits  of  sin,  so  frequent  religious  acts  strengthen 
habits  of  grace. 

Excite  and  exercise  particularly  a  love  to  God,  and  depen- 
dence on  him. 

Love  is  a  commanding  affection,  a  uniting  grace;  it  draws 
all  the  faculties  of  the  soul  to  one  centre.  The  soul  that  loves 
God,  when  it  has  to  do  with  him,  is  bound  to  the  beloved 
object;  it  can  mind  nothing  else  during  such  impressions. 
When  the  affection  is  set  to  the  worship  of  God,  every  thing 
the  soul  has  will  be  bestowed  upon  it;  as  David's  disposition 
was  to  the  temple,  1  Chron.  xxix.  3.  Carnal  frames,  like  the 
fowls,  will  be  lighting  upon  the  sacrifice,  but  not  when  it  is 
inflamed.  Though  the  scent  of  the  flesh  invite  them,  yet  the 
heat  of  the  fire  drives  them  to  their  distance.  A  flaming  love 
will  singe  the  flies  that  endeavour  to  interrupt  and  disturb  us. 


302  ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

The  happiness  of  heaven  consists  in  a  full  attraction  of  the  soul 
to  God,  by  his  glorious  influence  upon  it;  there  will  be  such  a 
diffusion  of  his  goodness  throughout  the  souls  of  the  blessed, 
as  will  unite  the  affections  perfectly  to  him.  These  affections 
which  are  scattered  here,  will  be  there  gathered  into  one  flame, 
moving  to  him  and  centring  in  him:  therefore  the  more  of  a 
heavenly  frame  possesses  our  affections  here,  the  more  settled 
and  uniform  will  our  hearts  be  in  all  their  motions  to  God,  and 
operations  about  him. 

Excite  a  dependence  on  him.  "  Commit  thy  works  unto  the 
Lord,  and  thy  thoughts  shall  be  established,"  Prov.  xvi.  3. 
Let  us  go  out  in  God's  strength,  and  not  in  our  own;  vain  is 
the  help  of  man  in  any  thing,  and  vain  is  the  help  of  the  heart. 
It  is  through  God  only  we  can  do  valiantly  in  spiritual  con- 
cerns as  well  as  temporal;  the  want  of  this  makes  but  slight 
impressions  upon  the  spirit. 

Nourish  right  conceptions  of  the  majesty  of  God  in  your 
minds.  Let  us  consider  that  we  are  drawing  to  God;  the  most 
amiable  object,  the  best  of  beings,  worthy  of  infinite  honour, 
and  highly  meriting  the  highest  affections  we  can  give;  a  God 
that  made  the  world  by  a  word,  that  upholds  the  great  frame 
of  heaven  and  earth;  a  majesty  above  the  conception  of  an- 
gels, who  uses  not  his  power  to  strike  us  to  our  deserved  pun- 
ishment, but  his  love  and  bounty  to  allure  us;  a  God  that  gave 
all  the  creatures  to  serve  us,  and  can  in  a  trice  make  them  as 
much  our  enemies  as  he  has  now  made  them  our  servants.  Let 
us  view  him  in  his  greatness  and  in  his  goodness,  that  our 
hearts  may  have  a  true  value  of  the  worship  of  so  great  a  Ma- 
jesty, and  count  it  the  most  worthy  employment  with  all  dili- 
gence to  attend  upon  him.  When  we  have  a  fear  of  God,  it 
will  make  our  worship  serious;  when  we  have  a  joy  in  God, 
it  will  make  our  worship  durable.  Our  affections  will  be  raised 
when  we  represent  God  in  the  most  reverential,  endearing,  and 
obliging  circumstances.  We  honour  the  majesty  of  God,  when 
we  consider  him  with  due  reverence  according  to  the  greatness 
and  perfection  of  his  works;  and  in  this  reverence  of  his  ma- 
jesty does  worship  chiefly  consist.  Low  thoughts  of  God  will 
make  low  frames  in  us  before  him.  If  we  thought  God  an 
infinite,  glorious  Spirit,  how  would  our  hearts  be  lower  than 
our  knees  in  his  presence!  How  humbly,  how  believingly 
pleading  is  the  Psalmist,  when  he  considers  God  to  be  without 
comparison  in  the  heavens;  to  whom  none  of  the  sons  of  the 
mighty  can  be  likened ;  when  there  was  none  like  to  him  in 
strength  or  faithfulness  round  about!  Psal.  lxxxix.  6 — 8.  We 
should  have  also  deep  impressions  of  the  omniscience  of  God; 
and  remember  we  have  to  deal  with  a  God  that  searches  the 
heart  and  tries  the  reins;  to  whom  the  most  secret  temper  is 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  |}()3 

as  visible  as  the  loudest  words  are  audible;  that  though  man 
judges  by  outward  expressions,  God  judges  by  inward  affec- 
tions. As  the  law  of  God  regulates  the  inward  frames  of  the 
heart,  so  the  eye  of  God  pitches  upon  the  inward  intentions  of 
the  soul.  If  God  were  visibly  present  with  us,  should  we  not 
approach  to  him  with  strong  affections;  summon  our  spirits  to 
attend  upon  him;  behave  ourselves  modestly  before  him?  Let 
us  consider,  he  is  as  really  present  with  us  as  if  he  were  visi- 
ble to  us;  let  us  therefore  preserve  a  strong  sense  of  the  pre- 
sence of  God.  No  man  but  one  out  of  his  wits,  when  he  was 
in  the  presence  of  a  prince,  and  making  a  speech  to  him,  would 
break  oil'  at  every  period,  and  run  after  the  catching  of  butter- 
flies. Remember,  in  all  worship  you  are  before  the  Lord,  to 
whom  all  things  are  open  and  naked. 

Let  us  take  heed  of  inordinate  desires  after  the  world.  As 
the  world  steals  away  a  man's  heart  from  the  word,  so  it  does 
from  all  other  worship;  it  chokes  the  word,  Matt.  xiii.  22;  it 
stifles  all  the  spiritual  breathings  after  God  in  every  duty.  The 
edge  of  the  soul  is  blunted  by  it,  and  made  too  dull  for  such 
sublime  exercises.  The  apostle's  rule  in  prayer,  when  he  joins 
sobriety  with  watching  unto  prayer,  1  Pet.  iv.  7,  is  of  concern 
in  all  worship,  sobriety  in  the  pursuit  and  use  of  all  worldly 
things.  A  man  drunk  with  worldly  fumes  cannot  watch,  can- 
not be  heavenly,  affectionate,  spiritual  in  service.  There  is  a 
magnetic  force  in  the  earth,  to  hinder  our  flights  to  heaven. 
Birds,  when  they  take  their  first  flights  from  the  earth,  have 
more  flutterings  of  their  wings,  than  when  they  are  mounted 
further  in  the  air,  and  got  more  without  the  sphere  of  the  earth's 
attractiveness;  the  motion  of  their  wings  is  more  steady,  that 
you  can  scarce  perceive  them  stir;  they  move  like  a  ship  with 
a  full  gale.  The  world  is  a  clog  upon  the  soul,  and  a  bar  to 
spiritual  frames:  it  is  as  hard  to  elevate  the  heart  to  God  in  the 
midst  of  a  hurry  of  worldly  affairs,  as  it  is  difficult  to  meditate 
when  we  are  near  a  great  noise  of  waters  falling  from  a  preci- 
pice, or  in  the  midst  of  a  volley  of  muskets.  Thick  clay-like 
affections  bemire  the  heart,  and  make  it  unfit  for  such  high 
flights  it  is  to  take  in  worship:  therefore  get  your  hearts  clear 
from  worldly  thoughts  and  desires,  if  you  would  be  more  spi- 
ritual in  worship. 

Let  us  be  deeply  sensible  of  our  present  wants,  and  the  sup- 
plies we  may  meet  with  in  worship.  Cold  affections  to  the 
things  we  would  have,  will  grow  cooler:  weakness  of  desire  for 
the  communications  in  worship,  will  freeze  our  hearts  at  the 
time  of  worship,  and  make  way  for  vain  and  foolish  diversions. 
A  beggar  that  is  ready  to  perish,  and  knows  he  is  next  door  to 
ruin,  will  not  slightly  and  dully  beg  an  alms;  and  will  not  be 
diverted  from  his  importunity  by  every  slight  call,  or  the  mov- 


304  0N  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP. 

ing  of  an  atom  in  the  air.  Is  it  pardon  we  would  have?  Let 
us  apprehend  the  blackness  of  sin,  with  the  aggravations  of  it  as 
it  respects  God;  let  us  be  deeply  sensible  of  the  want  of  pardon 
and  worth  of  mercy,  and  get  our  affections  into  such  a  frame 
as  a  condemned  man  would  do:  let  us  consider,  that  as  we  are 
now  at  the  throne  of  God's  grace,  we  shall  shortly  be  at  the 
bar  of  God's  justice;  and  if  the  soul  should  be  forlorn  there, 
how  fixedly  and  earnestly  would  it  plead  for  mercy!  Let  us 
endeavour  to  stir  up  the  same  affections  now,  which  we  have 
seen  some  dying  men  have,  and  which  we  suppose  despairing 
souls  would  have  done  at  God's  tribunal.  We  must  be  sensible 
that  the  life  or  death  of  our  souls  depends  upon  worship.1 
Would  we  not  be  ashamed  to  be  ridiculous  in  our  carriage 
while  we  are  eating;  and  shall  we  not  be  ashamed  to  be  cold 
or  garish  before  God,  when  the  salvation  of  our  souls  as  well 
as  the  honour  of  God  is  concerned?  If  we  but  saw  the  heaps 
of  sins,  the  eternity  of  punishment  due  to  them;  if  we  but  saw 
an  angry  and  offended  Judge;  if  we  but  saw  the  riches  of  mercy, 
the  glorious  outgoings  of  God  in  the  sanctuary,  the  blessed  doles 
he  gives  out  to  men  when  they  spiritually  attend  upon  him; 
both  the  one  and  the  other  would  make  us  perform  our  duties 
humbly,  sincerely,  earnestly,  and  affectionately,  and  wait  upon 
him  with  our  whole  souls,  to  have  misery  averted  and  mercy 
bestowed.  Let  our  sense  of  this  be  encouraged  by  the  con- 
sideration of  our  Saviour  presenting  his  merits.  With  what 
affection  does  he  present  his  merits,  his  blood  shed  upon  the 
cross,  now  in  heaven!  And  shall  our  hearts  be  cold  and  frozen, 
flitting  and  unsteady,  when  his  affections  are  so  much  con- 
cerned? Christ  does  not  present  any  man's  case  and  duties  with- 
out a  sense  of  his  wants;  and  shall  we  have  none  of  our  own? 

Let  me  add  this;  let  us  affect  our  hearts  with  a  sense  of  what 
supplies  we  have  met  with  in  former  worship.  The  delightful 
remembrance  of  what  converse  we  have  had  with  God  in 
former  worship,  would  spiritualize  our  hearts  for  the  present 
worship.  Had  Peter  had  a  view  of  Christ's  glory  in  the  mount, 
fresh  in  his  thoughts,  he  would  not  so  easily  have  turned  his 
back  upon  his  Master:  nor  would  the  Israelites  have  been  at 
leisure  for  their  idolatry,  had  they  preserved  the  sense  of  the 
majesty  of  God  discovered  in  his  late  thunders  from  mount 
Sinai. 

If  any  thing  intrudes  that  may  choke  the  worship,  cast  it 
speedily  out.  We  cannot  hinder  Satan  and  our  own  corruption 
from  presenting  coolers  to  us,  but  we  may  hinder  the  success 
of  them.  We  cannot  hinder  the  gnats  from  buzzing  about  us 
when  we  are  in  our  business,  but  we  may  prevent  them  from 
settling  upon  us.     A  man  that  is  running  on  a  considerable 

'  Guliel.  Paris,  Rhetor.  Divin.  cap.  26,  p.  350.  col.  1. 


ON  SPIRITUAL  WORSHIP.  }Q5 

errand  will  shun  all  unnecessary  discourse  that  may  make  him 
forget  or  loiter  in  his  business.  What  though  there  may  be 
something  offered  that  is  good  in  itself;  yet  if  it  has  a  tendency 
to  despoil  God  of  his  honour,  and  ourselves  of  the  spiritual 
intentness  in  worship,  send  it  away.  Those  that  weed  a  field 
of  corn,  examine  not  the  nature  and  particular  virtues  of  the 
weeds;  but  consider  only  how  they  choke  the  com,  to  which 
the  native  juice  of  the  soil  is  designed.  Consider  what  you  are 
about;  and  if  any  thing  interpose  that  may  divert  you,  or  cool 
your  affections  in  your  present  worship,  cast  it  out. 

As  to  private  worship,  let  us  lay  hold  of  the  most  melting 
opportunities  and  frames. 

When  we  find  our  hearts  in  a  more  than  ordinary  spiritual 
frame,  let  us  look  upon  it  as  a  call  from  God  to  attend  him; 
such  impressions  and  motions  are  God's  voice,  inviting  us  into 
communion  with  him  in  some  particular  act  of  worship,  and 
promising  us  some  success  in  it.  When  the  psalmist  had  a 
secret  motion  to  seek  God's  face,  and  complied  with  it,  Psal. 
xxvii.  8;  the  issue  is  the  encouragement  of  his  heart,  which 
breaks  out  into  an  exhortation  to  others  to  be  of  good  courage, 
and  wait  on  the  Lord:  "Wait  on  the  Lord;  be  of  good  courage, 
and  he  shall  strengthen  thine  heart:  wait,  I  say,  on  the  Lord," 
ver.  14. 

One  blow  will  do  more  on  the  iron  when  it  is  hot,  than  a 
hundred  when  it  is  cold. '  Melted  metals  may  be  stamped  with 
any  impression  ;  but  once  hardened,  will  with  difficulty  be 
brought  into  the  figure  we  intend. 

Let  us  examine  ourselves  at  the  end  of  every  act  of  worship, 
and  chide  ourselves  for  any  carnality  we  perceive  in  them. 
Let  us  take  a  review  of  them,  and  examine  the  reason;  why  art 
thou  so  low  and  carnal,  0  my  soul?  As  David  did  of  his  dis- 
quietedness;  "Why  art  thou  cast  down,  0  my  soul?  and  why 
art  thou  disquieted  in  me?"  Psal.  xlii.  5.  If  any  unworthy 
frames  have  surprised  us  in  worship,  let  us  seek  them  out  after 
worship;  call  them  to  the  bar;  make  an  exact  scrutiny  into  the 
causes  of  them,  that  we  may  prevent  their  incursions  another 
time  :  let  our  pulses  beat  quick,  by  way  of  anger  and  indignation 
against  them:  this  would  be  a  repairing  what  has  been  amiss; 
otherwise  they  may  grow,  and  clog  an  after-worship  more  than 
they  did  a  former.  Daily  examination  is  an  antidote  against 
the  temptations  of  the  following  day,  and  constant  examination 
of  ourselves  after  duty,  is  a  preservative  against  vain  encroach- 
ments in  following  duties;  and  upon  the  finding  them  out,  let 
us  apply  the  blood  of  Christ  by  faith  for  our  cure,  and  draw 
strength  from  the  death  of  Christ  for  the  conquest  of  them,  and 
let  us  also  be  humbled  for  them.     God  lifts  up  the  humble : 

1    Rrvnolrta. 
VoT..    T.— .IP 


306  ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

when  we  are  humbled  for  our  carnal  frames  in  one  duty,  we 
shall  find  ourselves  by  the  grace  of  God  more  elevated  in  the 
next. 


DISCOURSE  V. 

ON      THE      ETERNITY     OF      GOD. 

Psalm  xc.  2. — Before  the  mountains  were  brought  forth,  or  ever  thou  hadst  formed 
the  earth  and  the  world,  even  from  everlasting  to  everlasting,  thou  art  God. 

The  title  of  this  psalm  is,  A  prayer;  the  author,  Moses.  Some 
think  not  only  this,  but  the  ten  following  psalms  were  composed 
by  him.  The  title  wherewith  he  is  dignified,  is,  The  man  of 
God,  as  also  in  Deut.  xxxiii.  1.  One  inspired  by  him,  to  be  his 
interpreter,  and  deliver  his  oracles;  one  particularly  directed  by 
him;  one  who,  as  a  servant,  did  diligently  employ  himself  in  his 
Master's  business,  and  acted  for  the  glory  of  God;1  he  was  the 
minister  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  prophet  of  the  New.2 

There  are  two  parts  of  this  psalm. 

A  complaint  of  the  frailty  of  man's  life  in  general,  ver.  3 — 6  ;3 
and  then  a  particular  complaint  of  the  condition  of  the  church, 
ver.  S — 10.     A  prayer,  ver.  12. 

But  before  he  speaks  of  the  shortness  of  human  life,  he  forti- 
fies them  by  the  consideration  of  the  refuge  they  had,  and  should 
find  in  God;  "Lord  thou  hast  been  our  dwelling-place  in  all 
generations,"  ver.  1.  We  have  had  no  settled  abode  in  the 
earth  since  the  time  of  Abraham's  being  called  out  from  Ur  of 
the  Chaldees:  we  have  had  Canaan  in  a  promise,  we  have  it  not 
yet  in  possession;  we  have  been  exposed  to  the  cruelties  of  an 
oppressing  enemy,  and  the  incommodities  of  a  desert  wilderness; 
we  have  wanted  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  but  not  the  dews  of 
heaven.  "Thou  hast  been  our  dwelling-place  in  ail  genera- 
tions." Abraham  was  under  thy  conduct;  Isaac  and  Jacob  un- 
der thy  care;  their  posterity  were  multiplied  by  thee,  and  that 
under  their  oppressions.  Thou  hast  been  our  shield  against 
dangers,  our  security  in  the  time  of  trouble:  when  we  were 
pursued  to  the  Red  Sea,  it  was  not  a  creature  delivered  us;  and 
when  we  feared  the  pinching  of  our  bowels  in  the  desert,  it  was 
no  creature  rained  manna  upon  us.  "  Thou  hast  been  our 
dwelling-place."  Thou  hast  kept  open  house  for  us,  sheltered  us 
against  storms,  and  preserved  us  from  mischief,  as  a  house  does 
an  inhabitant  from  wind  and  weather;  and  that  not  in  one  or 
two,  but  in  all  generations. — Some  think  an  allusion  is  here 

1  Coccei.  in  loc.  2  Austin  in  loc.  3  Parous  in  loc. 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD.  ;j()7 

made  to  the  ark,  to  which  they  were  to  have  recourse  in  all 
emergencies.  Our  refuge  and  defence  has  not  been  from  created 
things;  not  from  the  ark,  but  from  the  God  of  the  ark. 

Observe  from  it, 

God  is  a  perpetual  refuge  and  security  to  his  people.  His 
providence  is  not  confined  to  one  generation;  it  is  not  one  age 
only  that  tasles  of  his  bounty  and  compassion.  His  eye  never 
yet  slept,  nor  has  he  suffered  the  little  ship  of  his  church  to  be 
swallowed  up,  though  it  has  been  tossed  upon  the  waves.  He 
has  always  bees  a  haven  to  preserve  us,  a  house  to  secure  us;  he 
has  always  had  compassion  to  pity  us,  and  power  to  protect  us; 
he  has  had  a  face  to  shine,  when  the  world  has  had  an  angry 
countenance  to  frown:  he  brought  Enoch  home  by  an  extraor- 
dinary translation  from  a  brutish  world;1  and  when  he  was 
resolved  to  reckon  with  men  for  their  brutish  lives,  he  lodged 
Noah,  the  phoenix  of  the  world,  in  an  ark,  and  kept  him  alive 
as  a  spark  in  the  midst  of  many  waters,  whereby  to  rekindle 
a  church  in  the  world.  In  all  generations  he  is  a  dwelling- 
place,  to  secure  his  people  here,  or  entertain  them  above. 

His  providence  is  not  wearied  nor  his  care  fainting.  He 
never  wanted  will  to  relieve  us,  for  he  has  been  our  refuge:  nor 
ever  can  want  power  to  support  us,  for  he  is  a  God  from  ever- 
lasting to  everlasting.  The  church  never  wanted  a  pilot  to  steer 
her,  and  a  rock  to  shelter  her,  and  dash  in  pieces  the  waves 
which  threaten  her. 

How  worthy  is  it  to  remember  former  benefits,  when  we 
come  to  beg  lor  new!  Never  are  the  records  of  God's  mercies  so 
exactly  revised,  as  when  his  people  stand  in  need  of  new  edi- 
tions of  his  power.  How  necessary  are  our  wants  to  stir  us  up 
to  pay  the  cent  of  thankfulness  in  arrear!  He  renders  himself 
doubly  unworthy  of  the  mercies  he  wants,  that  does  not  grate- 
fully acknowledge  the  mercies  he  has  received.  God  scarce 
promised  any  deliverance  to  the  Israelites,  and  they  in  their  dis- 
tress scarce  prayed  for  any  deliverance,  but  that  from  Egypt 
was  mentioned  on  both  sides;  by  God  to  encourage  them,  and 
by  them  to  acknowledge  their  confidence  in  him.  The  greater 
our  dangers,  the  more  we  should  call  to  mind  God's  former 
kindness.  We  are  not  only  thankfully  to  acknowledge  the 
mercies  bestowed  upon  our  persons,  or  in  our  age,  but  those  of 
former  times.  "  Thou  hast  been  our  dwelling-place  in  all  gene- 
rations." 

Moses  was  not  living  in  the  former  generations,  yet  he  ap- 
propriates the  former  mercies  to  the  present  age.  Mercies,  as 
well  as  generations,  proceed  out  of  the  loins  of  those  that  have 
gone  before.  All  mankind  are  but  one  Adam;  the  whole  church 
but  one  body. 

1  Thcodorct  in  loc. 


308  ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

In  the  second  verse  he  backs  his  former  consideration — by 
the  greatness  of  his  power  in  forming  the  world,  and — by  the 
boundlessness  of  his  duration;  "from  everlasting  to  everlast- 
ing." As  thou  hast  been  our  dwelling-place,  and  expended 
upon  us  the  strength  of  thy  power,  and  riches  of  thy  love,  so 
we  have  no  reason  to  doubt  the  continuance  on  thy  part,  if  we 
be  not  wanting  on  our  parts:  for  the  vast  mountains  and  fruit- 
ful earth  are  the  works  of  thy  hands;  and  there  is  less  power 
requisite  for  our  relief,  than  there  was  for  their  creation;  and 
though  so  much  strength  has  been  upon  various  occasions  mani- 
fested, yet  thy  arm  is  not  weakened;  for  "from  everlasting  to 
everlasting  thou  art  God."1 

Thou  hast  always  been  God,  and  no  time  can  be  assigned 
as  the  beginning  of  thy  being:  the  mountains  are  not  of  so 
long  a  standing  as  thyself;  they  are  the  effects  of  thy  power, 
and  therefore  cannot  be  equal  to  thy  duration;  since  they  are 
effects,  they  suppose  a  precedency  of  their  cause.2  If  we  would 
look  back,  we  can  reach  no  further  than  the  beginning  of  the 
creation,  and  account  the  years  from  the  first  foundation  of  the 
world;  but  after  that  we  must  lose  ourselves  in  the  abyss  of 
eternity;  we  have  no  clue  to  guide  our  thoughts;  we  can  see 
no  bounds  in  thy  eternity.  But  as  for  man,  he  traverses  the 
world  a  few  days,  and  by  thy  order  pronounced  concerning  all 
men,  returns  to  the  dust,  and  moulders  into  the  grave. 

By  mountains  some  understand  angels,  as  being  creatures  of 
a  more  elevated  nature:  by  earth,  they  understand  human  na- 
ture, the  earth  being  the  habitation  of  men.  There  is  no  need 
to  divert  in  this  place  from  the  letter  to  such  a  sense.  The  de- 
scription seems  to  be  poetical,  and  amounts  to  this,  he  neither 
began  with  the  beginning  of  time,  nor  will  expire  with  the  end 
of  it:3  he  did  not  begin  when  he  made  himself  known  to  our 
fathers ;  but  his  being  did  precede  the  creation  of  the  world, 
before  any  created  being  was  formed,  or  any  time  settled. 

"  Before  the  mountains  were  brought  forth,"  or  before  they 
were  begotten  or  born,  (the  word  being  used  in  those  senses  in 
Scripture,)  before  they  stood  up  higher  than  the  rest  of  the 
earthly  mass  God  had  created.  It  seems  that  mountains  were 
not  casually  cast  up  by  the  force  of  the  deluge,  softening  the 
ground,  and  driving  several  parcels  of  it  together  to  grow  up 
into  a  massy  body,  as  the  sea  does  the  sand  in  several  places; 
but  they  were  at  first  formed  by  God. 

The  eternity  of  God  is  here  described — in  his  priority,  "  be- 
fore the  world; — in  the  extension  of  his  duration,  "from  ever- 
lasting to  everlasting  thou  art  God."  He  was  before  the  world, 
yet  he  neither  begins  nor  ends.     He  is  not  a  temporary,  but  an 

1  Sn  strong.  2  Amyrald.  in  loc. 

3  avo.px°i  *<*'  wffXsvriyi'oj,  Theodoret  in  loc 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  SOD.  309 

eternal  God:  it  takes  in  both  parts  of  eternity,  what  was  before 
the  creation  of  the  world,  and  what  is  after.  Though  the  eter* 
uity  of  God  be  one  permanent  state  without  succession,  yet  die 
Spirit  of  God  suiting  himself  to  the  weakness  of  our  concep- 
tion, divides  it  into  two  parts, one  passed  before  the  foundation 
of  the  world,  another  to  come  after  the  destruction  of  the  world; 
as  he  did  exist  before  all  ages,  and  as  he  will  exist  after  all 
ages. 

Many  truths  lie  couched  in  the  verse. 

The  world  has  a  beginning  of  being.  It  was  not  from  eter- 
nity, it  was  once  nothing;  had  it  been  of  a  very  long  duration, 
some  records  would  have  remained  of  some  memorable  actions 
done  of  a  longer  date  than  any  extant.  The  world  owes  its 
being  to  the  creating  power  of  God.  "  Thon  hadst  formed  it" 
out  of  nothing  into  being.  Thou,  that  is,  God.  It  could  not 
spring  into  being  of  itself;  it  was  nothing;  it  must  have  a 
former. — God  was  in  being  before  the  world.  The  cause  must  be 
before  the  effect;  that  word  which  gives  being  must  be  before 
that  which  receives  being.  This  Being  was  from  eternity, 
"from  everlasting." — This  Being  shall  endure  to  eternity,  "to 
everlasting."  There  is  but  one  God,  one  Eternal;  "from  ever- 
lasting to  everlasting  thou  art  God."  None  else  but  one  has 
the  property  of  eternity:  the  gods  of  the  heathen  cannot  lay 
claim  to  it. 

Doctrine.  God  is  of  an  eternal  duration.  The  eternity  of 
God  is  the  foundation  of  the  stability  of  the  covenant,  the  great 
comfort  of  a  Christian.  The  design  of  God  in  Scripture  is  to 
set  forth  his  dealing  with  men  in  the  way  of  a  covenant.  The 
priority  of  God  before  all  things  begins  the  Bible:  "  In  the 
beginning  God  created,"  Gen.  i.  1.  His  covenant  can  have  no 
foundation,  but  in  his  duration  before  and  after  the  world.1 
And  Moses  here  mentions  his  eternity,  not  otdy  with  respect  to 
the  essence  of  God,  but  to  his  federal  providence: — as  he  is  the 
dwelling-place  of  his  people  in  all  generations.  The  duration 
of  God  for  ever,  is  more  spoken  of  in  Scripture  than  his  eter- 
nity a  parte  ante,  that  is,  eternity  past;  though  that  is  the 
foundation  of  all  the  comfort  we  can  take  from  his  immortality: 
for  if  he  had  a  beginning,  he  might  have  an  end;  and  so  all  our 
happiness,  hope,  and  being  would  expire  with  him;  but  the 
Scripture  sometimes  takes  notice  of  his  being  without  begin- 
ning as  well  as  without  end.  "Thou  art  from  everlasting," 
Psal.  xciii.  2.  "  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  from  ever 
lasting,  and  to  everlasting,"  Psal.  xli.  13.  "I  was  set  up 
from  everlasting,"  Pro  v.  viii.  23.  If  his  wisdom  were  from 
everlasting,  himself  was  from  everlasting.  Whether  we  under- 
stand it  of  Christ  the  Son  of  God,  or  of  the  essential  wisdom  of 

1  Coir,  in  loc. 


310  ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

God,  it  is  all  one  to  the  present  purpose.  The  wisdom  of  God 
suppose th  the  essence  of  God,  as  habits  in  creatures  suppose 
the  being  of  some  power  or  faculty  as  their  subject.  The  wis- 
dom of  God  supposeth  mind  and  understanding,  essence  and 
substance. 

The  notion  of  eternity  is  difficult,  as  Austin  said1  of  time: 
"  If  no  man  will  ask  me  the  question  what  time  is,  I  know  well 
enough  what  it  is;  but  if  any  ask  me  what  it  is,  I  know  not  how 
to  explain  it."  So  may  I  say  of  eternity;  it  is  easy  in  the  word 
pronounced,  but  hardly  understood,  and  more  hardly  expressed; 
it  is  better  expressed  by  negative  than  positive  words. 

Though  we  cannot  comprehend  eternity,  yet  we  may  com- 
prehend that  there  is  an  eternity;  as,  though  we  cannot  com- 
prehend the  essence  of  God,  what  he  is,  yet  we  may  compre- 
hend that  he  is;  we  may  understand  the  notion  of  his  existence, 
though  we  cannot  understand  the  infiniteness  of  his  nature. 
Yet  we  may  better  understand  eternity  than  infiniteness;  we 
can  better  conceive  a  time  with  the  addition  of  numberless  days 
and  years,  than  imagine  a  being  without  bounds:  whence  the 
apostle  joins  his  eternity  with  his  power;  "  his  eternal  power 
and  godhead,"  Rom.  i.  20.  Because  next  to  the  power  of  God 
apprehended  in  the  creature,  we  come  necessarily  by  reasoning 
to  acknowledge  the  eternity  of  God.  He  that  hath  an  incom- 
prehensible power,  must  needs  have  an  eternity  of  nature.  His 
power  is  most  sensible  in  the  creatures  to  the  eye  of  man,  and 
his  eternity  easily  from  thence  deducible  by  the  reason  of  man. 

Eternity  is  a  perpetual  duration,  which  has  neither  begin- 
ning nor  end.  Time  has  both.  Those  things  we  say  are  in 
time,  that  have  beginning,  grow  up  by  degrees,  have  succession 
of  parts.  Eternity  is  contrary  to  time,  and  is  therefore  a  per- 
manent and  immutable  state;  a  perfect  possession  of  life  with- 
out any  variation.  It  comprehends  in  itself  all  years,  all  ages, 
all  periods  of  ages:  it  never  begins!  It  endures  after  every 
duration  of  time,  and  never  ceases;  it  does  as  much  outrun 
time  as  it  went  before  the  beginning  of  it.  Time  supposes 
something  before  it,  but  there  can  be  nothing  before  eternity;  it 
were  not  then  eternity.  Time  has  a  continual  succession;  the 
former  time  passes  away,  and  another  succeeds;  the  year  is 
not  this  year,  nor  this  year  the  next.  We  must  conceive  of 
eternity  contrary  to  the  notion  of  time;  as  the  nature  of  time 
consists  in  the  succession  of  parts,  so  the  nature  of  eternity  in 
an  infinite  immutable  duration.2  Eternity  and  time  differ  as 
the  sea  and  rivers:  the  sea  never  changes  place,  and  is  always 
one  water;  but  the  rivers  glide  along,  and  are  swallowed  up 
in  the  sea;  so  is  time  by  eternity. 

A  thing  is  said  to  be  eternal,  or  everlasting  rather,  in  Scripture, 

"  Consul.  Lib.  11.  Confes.  15.  2  Moulin.  Coo.  1.  Ser.  2.  p-  52. 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  OOD.  ;{]  ] 

When  it  is  of  a  long  duration,  though  it  will  have  an  end; 
whea  it  has  no  measure  of  time  determined  to  it;  so  circumci- 
sion is  said  to  be  in  the  flesh  for  an  everlasting  covenant,  Gen. 
xvii.  1.3;  not  purely  everlasting,  but  so  long  as  that  administra- 
tion of  the  covenant  should  endure. 

And  so  when  a  servant  would  not  leave  his  master,  but 
would  have  his  ear  bored,  it  is  said,  he  should  be  a  servant  for 
ever,  Deut.  xv.  17,  that  is,  till  the  jubilee,  which  was  every 
fiftieth  year.  So  the  meat-offering  they  were  to  offer,  is  said 
to  be  perpetual,  Lev.  vi.  20.  Canaan  is  said  to  be  given  to 
Abraham  for  an  everlasting  possession,  Gen.  xvii.  8,  whereas 
the  Jews  are  expelled  from  Canaan,  which  is  given  a  prey  to 
the  barbarous  nations.  Indeed  circumcision  was  not  everlast- 
ing; yet  the  substance  of  the  covenant  whereof  this  was  a  sign, 
namely,  that  God  would  be  the  God  of  believers,  endures  for 
ever;  and  that  circumcision  of  the  heart  which  was  signified 
by  circumcision  of  the  flesh,  shall  remain  for  ever  in  the  king- 
dom of  glory;  it  was  not  so  much  the  lasting  of  the  sign,  as  of 
the  thing  signified  by  it,  and  the  covenant  sealed  by  it:  the  sign 
had  its  abolition,  so  that  the  apostle  is  so  peremptory  in  it,  that 
he  asserts,  that  if  any  went  about  to  establish  it,  he  excluded 
himself  from  a  participation  of  Christ,  Gal.  v.  2.  The  sacrifices 
were  to  be  perpetual,  in  regard  of  the  thing  signified  by  them, 
namely,  the  death  of  Christ,  which  was  to  endure  in  the  efficacy 
of  it;  and  the  passover  was  to  be  for  ever,  Exod.  xii.  24,  in 
regard  of  the  redemption  signified  by  it,  which  was  to  be  of 
everlasting  remembrance.  Canaan  was  to  be  an  everlasting 
possession  in  regard  of  the  glory  of  heaven  typified,  to  be  tor 
ever  conferred  upon  the  spiritual  seed  of  Abraham. — Again, 

When  a  thing  has  no  end,  though  it  has  a  beginning.  So 
angels  and  souls  are  everlasting;  though  their  being  shall  never 
cease,  yet  there  was  a  time  when  their  being  began;  they  were 
nothing  before  they  were  something,  though  they  shall  never 
be  nothing  again,  but  shall  live  in  endless  happiness  or  misery. 
But  that  properly  is  eternal  that  has  neither  beginning  nor 
end:  and  thus  eternity  is  a  property  of  God.  In  this  doctrine 
I  shall  show — How  God  is  eternal,  or  in  what  respects  eternity 
is  his  property. — That  he  is  eternal,  and  must  be  so. — That 
eternity  is  proper  only  to  God,  and  not  common  to  him  with 
any  creature. — The  use  of  the  whole. 

1.  How  God  is  eternal,  or  in  what  respects  he  is  so.  Eternity 
is  a  negative  attribute,  and  is  a  denying  of  God  any  measures 
of  time,  as  immensity  is  a  denying  of  him  any  bounds  of  place. 
As  immensity  is  the  diffusion  of  his  essence,  so  eternity  is  the 
duration  of  his  essence.  And  when  we  say  God  is  eternal,  we 
exclude  from  him  all  possibility  of  beginning  and  ending,  all 
flux  and  change:  as  the  essence  of  God  cannot  be  bounded  by 


312  s        ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

any  place,  so  it  is  not  to  be  limited  by  any  time;  as  it  is  his 
immensity  to  be  every  where,  so  it  is  his  eternity  to  be  always. 
As  created  things  are  said  to  be  somewhere  in  regard  of  place, 
and  to  be  present,  past,  or  future,  in  regard  of  time,  so  the  Cre- 
tor,  in  regard  of  place,  is  every  where;  in  regard  of  time,  is 
semper — always:1  his  duration  is  as  endless  as  his  essence  is 
boundless.2  He  always  was,  and  always  will  be,  and  will  no 
more  have  an  end  than  he  had  a  beginning;  and  this  is  an  ex- 
cellency belonging  to  the  Supreme  Being:  as  his  essence  com- 
prehends all  beings  and  exceeds  them,  and  his  immensity 
surmounts  all  places;3  so  his  eternity  comprehends  all  times,  all 
durations,  and  infinitely  excels  them. 

(1.)  God  is  without  beginning. 

In  the  beginning  God  created  the  world,  Gen.  i.  1.  God  was 
then  before  the  beginning  of  it;  and  what  point  can  be  set 
wherein  God  began,  if  he  were  before  the  beginning  of  created 
things?  God  was  without  beginning,  though  all  other  things 
had  time  and  beginning  from  him.  As  unity  is  before  all  num- 
bers, so  is  God  before  all  his  creatures.  Abraham  called  upon 
the  name  of  the  everlasting  God,  Gen.  xxi.  33;  the  eternal 
God:  it  is  opposed  to  the  heathen  gods,  which  were  but  of  yes- 
terday, new  coined,  and  so  new;  but  the  eternal  God  was  be- 
fore the  world  was  made.  In  that  sense  it  is  to  be  understood. 
"  The  mystery,  which  was  kept  secret  since  the  world  began, 
but  now  is  made  manifest,  and  by  the  Scriptures  of  the  pro- 
phets, according  to  the  commandment  of  the  everlasting  God, 
made  known  to  all  nations  for  the  obedience  of  faith,"  Rom. 
xvi.  25,  26.  The  gospel  is  not  preached  by  the  command  of  a 
new  and  temporary  God,  but  of  that  God  that  was  before  all 
ages:  though  the  manifestation  of  it  be  in  time,  yet  the  pur- 
pose and 'resolve  of  it  was  from  eternity. 

If  there  were  decrees  before  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
there-  was  a  Decreer  before  the  foundation  of  the  world.  Be- 
fore the  foundation  of  the  world  he  loved  Christ  as  a  Mediator, 
John  xvii.  24:  a  foreordination  of  him  was  before  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world:  a  choice  of  men,  and  therefore  a  chooser, 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  Eph.  i.  4;  a  grace  given  in 
Christ  before  the  world  began,  2  Tim.  i.  9,  and  therefore  a  do- 
nor of  that  grace.  From  those  places,  says  Crellius,  it  appears 
that  God  was  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  but  they  do 
not  assert  an  absolute  eternity;4  but  to  be  before  all  creatures, 
is  equivalent  to  his  being  from  eternity.  Time  began  with  the 
foundation  of  the  world,  but  God  being  before  time,  could  have 
no  beginning  in  time:  before  the  beginning  of  the  creation  and 
the  beginning  of  time,  there  could  be  nothing  but  eternity;  no- 

1  Gassend.        2  Crellius  de  Deo,  cap.  18.  p.  41.        3  Lingend.  torn.  2.  p.  496. 
4  Coccei.  Sum.  Theol.  p.  48.    Gerhard,  Exeges.  cap.  86.  4.  p.  266. 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  HOD.  313 

thing  but  what  was  uncreated,  that  is,  nothing  but  what  was 
without  beginning.  To  be  in  time,  is  to  have  a  beginning;  to  be 
before  all  time,  is  never  to  have  a  beginning,  but  always  to  be: 
for  as  between  the  Creator  and  creatures  there  is  no  medium, 
so  between  time  and  eternity  there  is  no  medium.  It  is  as  easily 
deduced,  that  he  that  was  before  all  creatures  is  eternal,  as  he 
that  made  all  creatures  is  God:  if  he  had  a  beginning,  he  must 
have  it  from  another,  or  from  himself;  if  from  another,  that 
from  whom  he  received  his  being  would  be  better  than  he,  so 
more  a  God  than  he.  He  cannot  be  God  that  is  not  supreme; 
he  cannot  be  supreme  that  owes  his  being  to  the  power  of  an- 
other: he  would  not  be  said  only  to  have  immortality  as  he  is, 
1  Tim.  vi.  16,  if  he  had  it  dependent  upon  another.  Nor  could 
he  have  a  beginning  from  himself:  if  he  had  given  a  begin- 
ning to  himself,  then  he  was  once  nothing,  there  was  a  time 
when  he  was  not;  if  he  was  not,  how  could  he  be  the  cause 
of  himself?  It  is  impossible  for  any  to  give  a  beginning  and 
being  to  itself.  If  it  acts,  it  must  exist;  and  so  exist  before  it 
existed;  a  thing  would  exist  as  a  cause  before  it  existed  as  an 
effect.  He  that  is  not,  cannot  be  the  cause  that  he  is.  If  there- 
fore God  does  exist,  and  lias  not  his  being  from  another,  he 
must  exist  from  eternity:  therefore  when  we  say  God  is  of  and 
from  himself,  we  mean  not  that  God  gave  being  to  himself; 
but  it  is  negatively  to  be  understood  that  he  has  no  cause  of 
existence  without  himself. 

Whatsoever  number  of  millions  of  millions  of  years  we  can 
imagine  before  the  creation  of  the  world,  yet  God  was  infinitely 
before  those:  he  is  therefore  called  the  Ancient  of  days,  Dan. 
vii.  9,  as  being  before  all  days  and  time,  and  eminently  contain- 
ing in  himself  all  times  and  ages;  though  indeed  God  cannot 
properly  be  called  ancient,  for  that  will  testify  that  he  is  decay- 
ing, and  shortly  will  not  be,  no  more  than  he  can  be  called 
young,  which  would  signify  that  he  was  not  long  before.  All 
created  things  are  new  and  fresh ;  but  no  creature  can  find  out 
any  beginning  of  God:  it  is  impossible  there  should  be  any 
beginning  of  him. 

(2.)  God  is  without  end.  He  always  was,  always  is,  and 
always  will  be  what  he  is;  he  remains  always  the  same  in 
being;  so  far  from  any  change,  that  no  shadow  of  it  can  touch 
him,  James  i.  17.  He  will  continue  in  being  as  long  as  he  has 
already  enjoyed  it;  and  if  we  could  add  never  so  many  millions 
of  years  together,  we  are  still  as  far  from  an  end  as  from  a 
beginning;  for  "the  Lord  shall  endure  for  ever,"  Psal.  ix.  7. 
As  it  is  impossible  he  should  not  be,  being  from  all  eternity;  so 
it  is  impossible  that  he  should  not  be  to  all  eternity.  The  Scrip- 
ture is  most  plentiful  in  testimonies  of  this  eternity  of  God,  a 
parte  post,  OT  after  the  creation  of  the  world.  He  is  said  to 
Vol.  I. — 10 


314  ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

live  for  ever,  Rev.  iv.  9,  10.  The  earth  shall  perish,  but  God 
shall  endure  for  ever,  and  his  years  shall  have  no  end,  Psal.  cii. 
27.  Plants  and  animals  grow  up  from  small  beginnings,  arrive 
to  their  full  growth  and  decline  again,  and  have  always  remark- 
able alterations  in  their  nature;  but  there  is  no  declination  in 
God  by  all  the  revolutions  of  time:  hence  some  think  the  in- 
corruptibility of  the  Deity  was  signified  by  the  shittim  or  cedar 
wood,  whereof  the  ark  was  made,  it  being  of  an  incorruptible 
nature,  Exod.  xxv.  10. 

That  which  had  no  beginning  of  duration  can  never  have 
an  end,  or  any  interruptions  in  it.  Since  God  never  depended 
upon  any,  what  should  make  him  cease  to  be  what  eternally  he 
has  been,  or  put  a  stop  to  the  continuance  of  his  perfections? 
He  cannot  will  his  own  destruction;  that  is  against  universal 
nature  in  all  things  to  cease  from  being,  if  they  can  preserve 
themselves.  He  cannot  desert  his  own  being,  because  he  can- 
not but  love  himself  as  the  best  and  chiefest  good.  The  reason 
that  any  thing  decays,  is  either  its  own  native  weakness,  or 
superior  power  of  something  contrary  to  it.  There  is  no  weak- 
ness in  the  nature  of  God  that  can  introduce  any  corruption, 
because  he  is  infinitely  simple  without  any  mixture.1  Nor  can 
he  be  overpowered  by  any  thing  else;  a  weaker  cannot  hurt 
him,  and  a  stronger  than  he  there  cannot  be:  nor  can  he  be 
outwitted  or  circumvented,  because  of  his  infinite  wisdom.  As 
he  received  his  being  from  none,  so  he  cannot  be  deprived  of 
it  by  any;  as  he  does  necessarily  exist,  so  he  does  necessarily 
always  exist:  this  indeed  is  the  property  of  God;  nothing  so 
proper  to  him  as  always  to  be.  Whatsoever  perfection  any 
being  has,  if  it  be  not  eternal,  it  is  not  divine.  God  only  is  immor- 
tal, 1  Tim.  vi.  16 ;2  he  only  is  so  by  a  necessity  of  nature. 
Angels,  souls,  and  bodies  too,  after  the  resurrection  shall  be 
immortal,  not  by  nature,  but  grant:  they  are  subject  to  return 
to  nothing,  if  that  word  that  raised  them  from  nothing  should 
speak  them  into  nothing  again:  it  is  as  easy  with  God  to  strip 
them  of  it,  as  to  invest  them  with  it;  nay,  it  is  impossible  but 
that  they  should  perish,  if  God  should  withdraw  his  power  from 
preserving  them,  which  he  exerted  in  creating  them.  But  God 
is  immovably  fixed  in  his  own  being;  that  as  none  gave  him 
his  life,  so  none  can  deprive  him  of  his  life,  or  the  least  particle 
of  it:  not  a  jot  of  the  happiness  and  life  which  God  infinitely 
possesses,  can  be  lost;  it  will  be  as  durable  to  everlasting,  as  it 
has  been  possessed  from  everlasting. 

(3.)  There  is  no  succession  in  God.  God  is  without  succes- 
sion or  change;  it  is  a  part  of  eternity;  from  everlasting  to 
everlasting  he  is  God,  that  is,  the  same.  God  does  not  only 
always  remain  in  being,  but  he  always  remains  the  same  in 

1  Crellius  dc  Deo,  cap.  18.  p.  41.  2  Daille  in  loc. 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  COD.  315 

that  being;  "  Thou  art  the  same,"  Psal.  cii.  27.  The  being  of 
creatures  is  successive;  the  being  of  God  is  permanent, and  re- 
mains  entire  with  all  its  perfections,  unchanged  in  an  infinite 
duration.  Indeed  the  first  notion  of  eternity  is,  to  be  without 
beginning  and  end,  which  notes  to  us  the  duration  of  a  being 
in  regard  of  its  existence;  but  to  have  no  succession,  nothing 
first  or  last,  notes  rather  the  perfection  of  a  being  in  regard  of 
its  essence. 

The  creatures  are  in  a  perpetual  flux;  something  is  acquired, 
or  something  lost  every  day.  A  man  is  the  same  in  regard  of 
existence  when  he  is  a  man,  as  he  was  when  he  was  a  child; 
but  there  is  a  new  succession  of  quantities  and  qualities  in  him; 
every  day  he  acquires  something  till  he  comes  to  his  maturity  ; 
every  day  he  loses  something  till  he  comes  to  his  period.  A 
man  is  not  the  same  at  night  that  he  was  in  the  morning; 
something  is  expired,  and  something  is  added;  every  day  there 
is  a  change  in  his  age,  a  change  in  his  substance,  a  change  in 
his  accidents.  But  God  has  his  whole  being  in  one  and  the 
same  point,  or  moment  of  eternity ;  he  receives  nothing  as  an 
addition  to  what  he  was  before;  he  loses  nothing  of  what  he 
was  before;  he  is  always  the  same  excellency  and  perfection 
in  the  same  infiniteness  as  ever:  his  years  do  not  fail,  Heb.  i. 
12;  his  years  do  not  come  and  go  as  others  do;  there  is  not  this 
day,  to-morrow,  or  yesterday  with  him.  As  nothing  is  past  or 
future  with  him  in  regard  of  knowledge,  but  all  things  are  pre- 
sent; so  nothing  is  past  or  future  in  regard  of  his  essence;  he 
is  not  in  his  essence  this  day  what  he  was  not  before,  or  will  be 
the  next  day  and  year  what  he  is  not  now.  All  his  perfections 
are  most  perfect  in  him  every  moment,  before  all  ages,  after  all 
ages: '  as  he  has  his  whole  essence  undivided  in  everyplace  as 
well  as  in  immense  space;  so  he  has  all  his  being  in  one  mo- 
ment of  time,  as  well  as  in  infinite  intervals  of  time.  Some 
illustrate  the  difference  between  eternity  and  time,  by  the  simi- 
litude of  a  tree,  or  a  rock,  standing  upon  the  side  of  a  river  or 
shore  of  the  sea;  the  tree  stands  always  the  same  and  un- 
moved, while  the  waters  of  the  river  glide  along  at  the  foot; 
the  flux  is  in  the  river,  but  the  tree  acquires  nothing  but  a  di- 
verse respect  and  relation  of  presence  to  the  various  parts  of 
the  river  as  they  flow :  the  waters  of  the  river  press  on,  and 
push  forward  one  another,  and  what  the  river  had  this  minute 
it  has  not  the  same  the  next.2  So  are  all  sublunary  things  in  a 
continual  flux;  and  though  the  angels  have  no  substantial 
change,  yet  they  have  an  accidental;  for  the  actions  of  the 
angels  this  day  are  not  the  same  individual  actions  which  they 


1  Lessius  de  Perfect.  Divin.  lib.  4.  cap.  1. 

2  Gamacheus  in  Arjuin.  part    1.  qu.  10.  cap. 


31G  ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

performed  yesterday.  But  in  God  there  is  no  change,  he 
always  remains  the  same. 

Of  a  creature  it  may  be  said,  he  was,  or  he  is,  or  he  shall 
be;1  of  God  it  cannot  be  said,  but  only  he  is:  he  is  what  he 
always  was,  and  he  is  what  he  always  will  be;  whereas  a 
creature  is  what  he  was  not,  and  will  be  what  he  is  not  now; 
as  it  may  be  said  of  the  flame  of  a  candle,  it  is  flame;  but  it  is 
not  the  same  individual  flame  as  was  before,  nor  is  it  the  same 
that  will  be  presently  after;  there  is  a  continual  dissolution  of 
it  into  air,  and  a  continual  supply  for  the  generation  of  more. 
While  it  continues,  it  may  be  said  there  is  a  flame;  yet  not  en- 
tirely one,  but  in  a  succession  of  parts.  So  of  a  man  it  may  be 
said,  he  is  in  a  succession  of  parts;  but  he  is  not  the  same  that 
he  was,  and  will  not  be  the  same  that  he  is :  but  God  is  the 
same  without  any  succession  of  part  and  of  time ;  of  him  it 
may  be  said,  he  is;  he  is  no  more  now  than  he  was,  and  he 
shall  be  no  more  hereafter  than  he  is.  God  possesses  a  firm 
and  absolute  being,  always  constant  to  himself;  he  sees  all 
things  sliding  under  him  in  continual  variation  ;  he  beholds  the 
revolutions  in  the  world  without  any  change  of  his  most  glo- 
rious and  immovable  nature:  all  other  things  pass  from  one 
state  to  another;  from  their  original,  to  their  eclipse  and  de- 
struction.2 But  God  possesses  his  being  in  one  indivisible 
point,  having  neither  beginning,  end,  nor  middle. 

[1.]  There  is  no  succession  in  the  knowledge  of  God.  The 
variety  of  successions  and  changes  in  the  world,  make  not 
succession  or  new  objects  in  the  Divine  mind:  for  all  things  are 
present  to  him  from  eternity  in  regard  of  his  knowledge,  though 
they  are  not  actually  present  in  the  world  in  regard  to  their  ex- 
istence. He  does  not  know  one  thing  now,  and  another  anon; 
he  sees  all  things  at  once:  known  unto  God  are  all  things  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world,  Acts  xv.  18;  but  in  their  true  order 
of  succession,  as  they  lie  in  the  eternal  counsel  of  God,  to  be 
brought  forth  in  time.  Though  there  be  a  succession  and  order 
of  things  as  they  are  wrought,  yet  there  is  no  succession  in  God 
in  regard  to  his  knowledge  of  them.  God  knows  the  things 
that  shall  be  wrought,  and  the  order  of  them  in  their  being 
brought  upon  the  stage  of  the  world;  yet  both  the  things  and 
the  order  he  knows  by  one  act.  Though  all  things  be  present 
with  God,  yet  they  are  present  in  him  in  the  order  of  their  ap- 
pearance in  the  world,  and  not  so  present  with  him  as  if  they 
should  be  wrought  at  once.  The  death  of  Christ  was  to  pre- 
cede his  resurrection  in  order  of  time;  there  is  a  succession  in 
this;  both  at  once  are  known  by  God,  yet  the  act  of  his  know- 
ledge is  not  exercised  about  Christ  as  dying  and  rising  at  the 

i  Gassend.  torn.  1.  Physic.  §  1.  I.  2.  c.  7.  p.  223. 
2  Daille,  Melange  de  Sermon,  p.  2.r>2. 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 


317 


same  time:  so  there  is  succession  in  things,  when  there  is  no 
succession  in  Clod's  knowledge  of  them.  Since  God  knows 
time,  he  knows  all  things  as  they  are  in  time;  he  does  not  know 
all  things  to  be  at  once,  though  he  knows  at  once  what  is,  has 
been,  and  will  he.  All  things  are  past,  present,  and  to  come, 
in  regard  of  their  existence:  but  there  is  not  past,  present,  and 
to  come  in  regard  to  God's  knowledge  of  them;  because  he 
sees  and  knows  not  by  any  other,  hut  by  himself; '  he  is  his  own 
light  by  which  he  sees,  his  own  glass  wherein  he  sees;  behold- 
ing himself,  he  beholds  all  things. 

[2.]  There  is  no  succession  in  the  decrees  of  God.  He  does 
not  decree  this  now,  which  he  decreed  not  before;  for  as  his 
works  were  known  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  so  his 
works  were  decreed  from  the  beginning  of  the  world;  as  they 
are  known  at  once  so  they  are  decreed  at  once.  There  is  a 
succession  in  the  execution  of  them,  first  grace,  then  glory;  but 
the  purpose  of  God  for  the  bestowing  of  both,  was  in  one  and 
the  same  moment  of  eternity.  "He  hath  chosen  us  in  him 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  that  we  should  be  holy,'* 
Eph.  i.  14.  The  choice  of  Christ,  and  the  choice  of  some  in 
him  to  be  holy,  and  to  be  happy,  were  before  the  foundation  of 
the  world.  It  is  by  the  eternal  counsel  of  God,  all  things  ap- 
pear in  time;  they  appear  in  their  order  according  to  the  coun- 
sel and  will  of  God  from  eternity.  The  redemption  of  the 
world  is  after  the  creation  of  the  world  ;  but  the  decree  whereby 
the  world  was  created,  and  whereby  it  was  redeemed,  was 
from  eternity. 

(4.)  God  is  his  own  eternity.  He  is  not  eternal  by  grant, 
and  the  disposal  of  any  other,  but  by  nature  and  essence.  The 
eternity  of  God  is  nothing  else  but  the  duration  of  God;2  and 
the  duration  of  God  is  nothing  else  but  his  existence  enduring.3 
If  eternity  were  any  thing  distinct  from  God,  and  not  of  the 
essence  of  God;  then  there  would  be  something  which  was  not 
God;  necessary  to  perfect  God.  As  immortality  is  the  great 
perfection  of  a  rational  creature,  so  eternity  is  the  choice  per- 
fection of  God,  yea,  the  gloss  and  lustre  of  all  others.  Every 
perfection  would  be  imperfect,  if  it  were  not  always  a  perfec- 
tion. 

God  is  essentially  whatsoever  he  is;  and  there  is  nothing  in 
God  but  his  essence.  Duration,  or  continuance  in  being  in 
creatures,  differs  from  their  l>ein<r;  for  tiny  might  exist  but  for 
one  instant;  in  which  case  they  maybe  said  to  have  being,  but 
not  duration,  because  all  duration  includes  prius  et  paaieriu*, 
"  before  and  after."  All  creatures  may  cease  from  being,  if  it 
be  the  pleasure  of  God;  they  are  not  therefore  durable  by  their 
essence,  and  therefore  are  not  their  own  duration,  no  more  than 

1  Parisiensis.  2  Calov.  Socinian.  3  Existtntia  durans. 


318  ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

they  are  their  own  existence.  And  though  some  creatures,  as 
angels,  and  souls,  may  be  called  everlasting,  as  a  perpetual  life 
is  communicated  to  them  by  God;  yet  they  can  never  be  called 
their  own  eternity;  because  such  a  duration  is  not  simply 
necessary,  nor  essential  to  them,  but  accidental,  depending  upon 
the  pleasure  of  another ;  there  is  nothing  in  their  nature  that 
can  hinder  them  from  losing  it,  if  God,  from  whom  they  re- 
ceived it,  should  design  to  take  it  away.  But  as  God  is  his 
own  necessity  of  existing,  so  he  is  his  own  duration  in  existing. 
As  he  does  necessarily  exist  by  himself,  so  he  will  always 
necessarily  exist  by  himself.1 

(5.)  Hence  all  the  perfections  of  God  are  eternal.  In  regard 
of  the  Divine  eternity,  all  things  in  God  are  eternal,  his  power, 
mercy,  wisdom,  justce,  knowledge.  God  himself  were  not 
eternal,  if  any  of  his  perfections  which  are  essential  to  him 
were  not  eternal  also ;  he  had  not  else  been  a  perfect  God  from 
all  eternity,  and  so  his  whole  self  had  not  been  eternal.  If  any 
thing  belonging  to  the  nature  of  a  thing  be  wanting,  it  cannot 
be  said  to  be  that  thing  which  it  ought  to  be.  If  any  thing  re- 
quisite to  the  nature  of  God  had  been  wanting  one  moment,  he 
could  not  have  been  said  to  be  an  eternal  God. 

2.  God  is  eternal.  The  Spirit  of  God  in  Scripture  conde- 
scends to  our  capacities  in  signifying  the  eternity  of  God  by  days 
and  years,  which  are  terms  belonging  to  time,  whereby  we 
measure  it,  Psal.  cii.  27.  But  we  must  no  more  conceive  that 
God  is  bounded,  or  measured  by  time,  and  has  succession  of 
days,  because  of  those  expressions,  than  we  can  conclude  him 
to  have  a  body,  because  members  are  ascribed  to  him  in  Scrip- 
ture, to  help  our  conceptions  of  his  glorious  nature  and  opera- 
tions. 

Though  years  are  ascribed  to  him ;  yet  they  are  such  as  can- 
not be  numbered,  cannot  be  finished,  since  there  is  no  propor- 
tion between  the  duration  of  God  and  the  years  of  men.  "  The 
number  of  his  years  cannot  be  searched  out.  For  he  makes 
small  the  drops  of  water:  they  pour  down  rain  according  to  the 
vapour  thereof,"  Job  xxxvi.  26,  27.  The  number  of  the  drops 
of  rain  which  have  fallen  in  all  parts  of  the  earth  since  the 
creation  of  the  world,  if  subtracted  from  the  number  of  the 
years  of  God,  would  be  found  a  small  quantity,  a  mere  nothing 
to  the  years  of  God.  As  all  the  nations  in  the  world,  compared 
with  God,  are  but  as  the  drop  of  a  bucket  worse  than  nothing, 
and  vanity,  Isa.  xl.  15;  so  all  the  ages  of  the  world,  if  compared 
with  God,  amount  not  to  so  much  as  the  one  hundred  thou- 
sandth part  of  a  minute.  The  minutes  from  the  creation  may 
be  numbered,  but  the  years  of  the  duration  of  God,  being  infi- 
nite, are  without  measure. 

1  Gassencl. 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD.  ;j|9 

As  one  day  is  to  the  life  of  man,  so  are  a  thousand  years  to 
the  life  of  God,  Psal.  xc.  5.  The  Holy  Ghost  expresses  himself 
to  the  capacity  of  man,  to  give  us  some  notion  of  an  infinite 
duration,  by  a  resemblance  suited  to  the  capacity  of  man.1  If 
a  thousand  years  be  but  as  a  day  to  the  Life  of  God,  then  as  a 
year  is  to  the  life  of  man,  so  are  three  hundred  sixty-five  thou- 
sand years  to  the  life  of  God;  and  as  seventy  years  are  to  the 
life  of  man,  so  are  twenty-five  millions  four  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  years  to  the  life  of  God.  Yet  still,  since  there  is  no 
proportion  between  time  and  eternity,  we  must  dart  our  thoughts 
beyond  all  those;  for  years  and  days  measure  only  the  duration 
of  created  things,  and  of  those  only  that  are  material  and  corpo- 
real, subject  to  the  motion  of  the  heavens,  which  makes  days 
and  years.2 

Sometimes  this  eternity  is  expressed  by  parts,  as  looking 
backward  and  forward;  by  the  differences  of  time,  past,  present, 
and  to  come3  "  which  was,  and  is,  and  is  to  come,"  Rev.  i.  8; 
iv.  S.  Though  this  might  be  spoken  of  any  thing  in  being, 
though  but  for  an  hour;  it  was  the  last  minute,  it  is  now,  and  it 
will  be  the  next  minute;  yet  the  Holy  Ghost  would  declare 
something  proper  to  God,  as  including  all  parts  of  time.  He 
always  was,  is  now,  and  always  shall  be;  it  might  always  be 
said  of  him,  he  was,  and  it  may  always  be  said  of  him,  he  will 
be:  there  is  no  time  when  he  began,  no  time  when  he  shall 
cease.  It  cannot  be  said  of  a  creature,  he  always  was,  he 
always  is  what  he  was,  and  he  always  will  be  what  he  is:  but 
God  always  is  what  he  was,  and  always  will  be  what  he  is;  so 
that  it  is  as  significant  an  expression  of  the  eternity  of  God 
as  can  be  suited  to  our  capacities. 

(1.)  His  eternity  is  evident  by  the  name  God  gives  himself. 
"And  God  said  unto  Moses,  I  am  that  I  am:  and  he  said,  Thus 
shalt  thou  say  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  I  AM  hath  sent  me 
unto  you,"  Exod.  iii.  14.  This  is  the  name  whereby  he  is  dis- 
tinguished from  all  creatures;  Iain  is  his  proper  name.  This 
description  being  in  the  present  tense,  shows  that  his  essence 
knows  no  past  nor  future:  if  it  were  "  he  was,"  it  would  inti- 
mate he  were  not  now  what  he  once  was;  if  it  were  "he  will 
be,"  it  would  intimate  he  were  not  yet  what  he  will  be.  But 
"  I  am;"  I  am  the  only  being,  the  root  of  all  beings;  he  is  there- 
fore at  the  greatest  distance  from  not  being,  and  that  is  eternal. 
So  that  is  signifies  his  eternity,  as  well  as  his  perfection  and 
immutability.  As  I  am  speaks  the  want  of  no  blessedness,  so 
it  speaks  the  want  of  no  duration;  and  therefore  the  French, 
wherever  they  find  this  word  Jehovah  in  the  Scripture,  which 

1  Amyrald.  Trin.  p.  44. 

2  Daille,  Vent.  Sermons,  Ser.  1.  sur.  102.  Psal.  27.  p.  21. 

3  Crcllius  weakens  this  argument.  De  Deo.  cap.  18.  p.  42. 


320  0N  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

we  translate  <•'  Lord,"  and  "  Lord  eternal,"  render  it  the  "  Eter- 
nal." lam  always,  and  immutably  the  same.  The  eternity 
of  God  is  opposed  to  the  volubility  of  time,  which  is  extended 
into  past,  present,  and  to  come.  Our  time  is  but  a  small  drop, 
as  sand  to  all  the  atoms  and  small  particles  of  which  the  world 
is  made;  but  God  is  an  unbounded  sea  of  being;  "  I  am  that 
I  am,"  that  is,  an  infinite  life.  I  have  not  that  now  which  I 
had  not  formerly;  I  shall  not  afterwards  have  that  which  I  have 
not  now;  I  am  that  in  every  moment  which  I  was,  and  will  be 
in  all  moments  of  time;  nothing  can  be  added  to  me,  nothing 
can  be  detracted  from  me:  there  is  nothing  superior  to  him, 
which  can  detract  from  him;  nothing  desirable  that  can  be 
added  to  him.  Now  if  there  were  any  beginning  and  end  of 
God,  any  succession  in  him,  he  could  not  be  I  am;  for  in  regard 
of  what  was  past  he  would  not  be,  in  regard  of  what  was  to 
come  he  is  not  yet.1  And  upon  this  account,2  a  heathen  argues 
well,  of  all  creatures  it  may  be  said  they  were,  or  they  will  be; 
but  of  God  it  cannot  be  said  any  thing  else  but  Est,  God  is,  be- 
cause he  fills  an  eternal  duration:  a  creature  cannot  be  said  to 
be,  if  it  be  not  yet,  nor  if  it  be  not  now,  but  has  been.3 

God  only  can  be  called  I  am:  all  creatures  have  more  of  not 
being  than  being;  for  every  creature  was  nothing  from  eternity, 
before  it  was  made  something  in  time;  and  if  it  be  corruptible 
in  its  whole  nature,  it  will  be  nothing  to  eternity  after  it  has 
been  something  in  time;  and  if  it  be  not  corruptible  in  its  nature, 
as  the  angels,  or  in  every  part  of  its  nature,  as  man  in  regard  of 
his  soul,  yet  it  has  not  properly  a  being,  because  it  is  dependent 
upon  the  pleasure  of  God  to  continue  it,  or  deprive  it  of  it;  and 
while  it  is,  it  is  mutable,  and  all  mutability  is  a  mixture  of  not 
being.  If  God  therefore  be  properly  I  am,  that  is,  being,  it  fol- 
lows that  he  always  was;  for  if  he  were  not  always,  he  must, 
as  was  argued  before,  be  produced  by  some  other,  or  by  him- 
self: by  another  he  could  not,  then  he  had  not  been  God,  but  a 
creature;  nor  by  himself,  for  then  as  producing,  he  must  be 
before  himself  as  produced;  he  had  been  before  he  was.  And 
he  always  will  be;  for  being  "  I  am,"  having  all  being  in  him- 
self, and  the  fountain  of  all  being  to  every  thing  else,  how  can 
he  ever  have  his  name  changed  to  "  I  am  not?" 

(2.)  God  hath  life  in  himself.  •'<  The  Father  hath  life  in  him- 
self," John  v.  26.  He  is  the  living  God,  therefore  steadfast  for 
ever,  Dan.  vi.  26.  He  has  life  by  his  essence,  not  by  partici- 
pation; he  is  a  Sun  to  give  light  and  life  to  all  creatures,  but 
receives  not  light  or  life  from  any  thing;  and  therefore  he  has 
an  unlimited  life;  not  a  drop  of  life,  but  a  fountain;  not  a  spark 
of  a  limited  life,  but  a  life  transcending  all  bounds.   He  has  life 

i  Thes.  Salmur.  p.  1.  p.  145.  Thes.  14.  2  Plutarch  de  'Et,  1.  p.  462. 

3  Perer.  in  Exo.  3.  Disput.  13. 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD.  32  [ 

in  himself;  all  creatures  have  their  life  in  him  and  from  him. 
He  that  has  life  in  himself  does  necessarily  exist  and  could 
never  be  made  to  exist;  for  then  he  had  not  life  in  himself,  but 
in  that  which  made  him  to  exist,  and  gave  him  life.  What  does 
necessarily  exist  therefore,  exists  from  eternity;  what  has  being 
of  itself,  could  never  be  produced  in  time,  could  not  want  being 
one  moment,  because  it  has  being  from  its  essence,  without  in- 
fluence of  any  efficient  cause.  When  God  pronounced  his  name, 
"  I  am  that  I  am,"  angels  and  men  were  in  being;  the  world 
had  been  created  above  two  thousand  four  hundred  years; 
Moses,  to  whom  he  then  speaks,  was  in  being;  yet,  God  only 
is,  because  he  only  hath  the  fountain  of  being  in  himself,  but 
all  that  they  were  was  a  rivulet  from  him.1  He  has  from  nothing 
else,  that  he  does  subsist:  every  thing  else  has  its  subsistence 
from  him  as  their  root,  as  the  beam  from  the  sun,  as  the  rivers 
and  fountains  from  the  sea.  All  life  is  seated  in  God,  as  in  its 
proper  throne;  in  its  most  perfect  purity.  God  is  life;  it  is  in 
him  originally,  radically,  therefore  eternally.  He  is  a  pure  act, 
nothing  but  vigour  and  act:  he  has  by  his  nature  that  life 
which  others  have  by  his  grant:  whence  the  apostle  says, 
1  Tim.  vi.  16,  not  only  that  he  is  immortal,  but  he  has  immor- 
tality in  a  full  possession;  fee-simple,  not  depending  upon  the 
will  of  another,  but  containing  all  things  within  himself.  He 
that  has  life  in  himself,  and  is  from  himself,  cannot  but  be:  he 
always  was,  because  he  received  his  being  from  no  other,  and 
none  can  take  away  that  being  which  was  not  given  by  ano- 
ther.2 If  there  were  any  space  before  he  did  exist,  then  there 
were  something  which  made  him  to  exist;  life  would  not  then 
be  in  him,  but  in  that  which  produced  him  into  being;  he  could 
not  then  be  God,  but  that  other  which  gave  him  being  would 
be  God.  And  to  say,  God  sprang  into  being  by  chance,  when 
we  see  nothing  in  the  world  that  is  brought  forth  by  chance, 
but  has  some  cause  of  its  existence — would  be  vain ;  for  since 
God  is  a  being,  chance,  which  is  nothing,  could  not  bring  forth 
something,  and,  by  the  same  reason  that  he  sprang  up  by  chance, 
he  might  totally  vanish  by  chance.  What  a  strange  notion  of 
a  God  would  this  be,  such  a  God  that  had  no  life  in  himself, 
but  from  chance. 

Since  he  had  life  in  himself,  and  that  there  was  no  cause  of 
his  existence;  he  can  have  no  cause  of  his  limitation,  and  can 
no  more  be  determined  to  a  time,  than  he  can  to  a  place.  What 
hath  life  in  itself,  hath  life  without  bounds,  and  can  never  de- 
sert it,  nor  be  deprived  of  it:  so  that  he  lives  necessarily,  and 
it  is  absolutely  impossible  that  he  should  not  live;  whereas  all 
other  things  live,  and  move,  and  have  their  being  in  him,  Acts 

1  Pctav.  Thcol.  Dogm.  torn.  1.  lib.  1.  c.  6.  §  6,  7. 
*  Amy  raid.  dcTrinit.  p.  48. 

Vol.  I.— 41 


322  ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

xvii.  28;  and  as  they  live  by  his  will,  so  they  can  return  to  no- 
thing at  his  word. 

(3.)  If  God  were  not  eternal,  he  were  not  immutable  in  his 
nature.  It  is  contrary  to  the  nature  of  immutability  to  be 
without  eternity;  for  whatsoever  begins,  is  changed  in  its  pass- 
ing from  not  being  to  being.  It  began  to  be  what  it  was  not, 
and  if  it  ends  it  ceaseth  to  be  what  it  was;  it  cannot  therefore 
be  said  to  be  God,  if  there  were  either  beginning,  or  ending,  or 
succession  in  it.  "  I  am  the  Lord,  I  change  not,"  Mai.  iii. 
6.  "Touching  the  Almighty,  we  cannot  find  him  out,"  Job 
xxxvii.  23.  God  argues  here,  says  Calvin,  from  his  unchange- 
able nature  as  Jehovah,  to  his  immutability  in  his  purpose:  had 
he  not  been  eternal,  there  had  been  the  greatest  change  from 
nothing  to  something:  a  change  of  the  essence  is  greater  than 
a  change  of  purpose.  God  is  a  sun  glittering  always  in  the 
same  glory;  no  growing  up  in  youth;  no  passing  on  to  age. 
If  he  were  not  without  succession,  standing  in  one  point  of 
eternity,  there  would  be  a  change  from  past  to  present,  from 
present  to  future.  The  eternity  of  God  is  a  shield  against  all 
kind  of  mutability.  If  any  thing  sprang  up  in  the  essence  of 
God  that  was  not  there  before,  he  could  not  be  said  to  be  either 
an  eternal  or  an  unchanged  substance. 

(4.)  God  could  not  be  an  infinitely  perfect  being,  if  he  were 
not  eternal.  A  finite  duration  is  inconsistent  with  infinite  per- 
fection. Whatsoever  is  contracted  within  the  limits  of  time, 
cannot  swallow  up  all  perfections  in  itself.  God  hath  an  un- 
searchable perfection.  "  Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out  God  ? 
canst  thou  find  out  the  Almighty  unto  perfection?"  Job  xi.  7. 
He  cannot  be  found  out,  he  is  infinite,  because  he  is  incompre- 
hensible: incomprehensibility  arises  from  an  infinite  perfec- 
tion, which  cannot  be  fathomed  by  the  short  lines  of  man's 
understanding:  his  essence,  in  regard  of  its  diffusion,  and  in 
regard  of  its  duration,  is  incomprehensible  as  well  as  his  action. 
If  God  therefore  had  beginning,  he  could  not  be  infinite;  if  not 
infinite,  he  did  not  possess  the  highest  perfection,  because  a 
perfection  might  be  conceived  beyond  it.  If  his  being  could 
fail,  he  were  not  perfect.  Can  that  deserve  the  name  of  the 
highest  perfection,  which  is  capable  of  corruption  and  dissolu- 
tion ?  To  be  finite  and  limited,  is  the  greatest  imperfection,  for 
it  consists  in  a  denial  of  being.  He  could  not  be  the  most 
blessed  being,  if  he  were  not  always  so,  and  should  not  for  ever 
remain  to  be  so;  and  whatsoever  perfections  he  had,  would  be 
soured  by  the  thoughts,  that  in  time  they  would  cease;  and  so 
could  not  be  pure  perfections,  because  not  permanent:  but  he 
is  blessed  from  everlasting  to  everlasting,  Psal.  xli.  13.  Had 
he  a  beginning,  he  could  not  have  all  perfection  without  limi- 
tation; he  would  have  been  limited  by  that  which  gave  him 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD.  303 

beginning;  that  which  gave  him  being  would  be  God,  and 
not  himself,  and  so  more  perfect  than  he.  But  since  God  is  the 
most  sovereign  perfection,  than  which  nothing  can  be  imagined 
more  perfect  by  the  most  capacious  understanding,  lie  is  cer- 
tainly eternal;  being  infinite,  nothing  can  be  added  to  him, 
nothing  detracted  from  him. 

(5.)  God  could  not  be  omnipotent,  almighty,  if  he  were  not 
eternal.  The  title  of  Almighty  agrees  not  with  a  nature  that 
had  a  beginning;  whatsoever  has  a  beginning  was  once  no- 
thing, and  when  it  was  nothing  could  act  nothing.  Where 
there  is  no  being,  there  is  no  power.  Neither  does  the  title  of 
Almighty  agree  with  a  perishing  nature:  he  can  do  nothing  to 
purpose,  that  cannot  preserve  himself  against  the  outward  force 
and  violence  of  enemies,  or  against  the  inward  causes  of  cor- 
ruption and  dissolution.  No  account  is  to  be  made  of  man, 
because  his  breath  is  in  his  nostrils,  Isa.  ii.  22.  Could  a  better 
account  be  made  of  God,  if  he  were  of  the  like  condition  ?  He 
could  not  properly  be  almighty,  that  were  not  always  mighty. 
If  he  be  omnipotent,  nothing  can  impair  him;  he  that  has  all 
power,  can  have  no  hurt.'  If  he  does  whatsoever  he  pleases, 
nothing  can  make  him  miserable,  since  misery  consists  in  those 
things  which  happen  against  our  will.  The  almightiness  and 
eternity  of  God  are  linked  together:  "  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega, 
the  beginning  and  the  ending,  saith  the  Lord,  which  is,  and 
which  was,  and  which  is  to  come,  the  Almighty,"  Rev.  i.  8: 
almighty  because  eternal,  and  eternal  because  almighty. 

(6.)  God  would  not  be  the  first  cause  of  all  if  he  were  not 
eternal.  But  he  is  the  first  and  the  last;  the  first  cause  of  all 
things,  the  last  end  of  all  things,  Rev.  i.  8.  That  which  is  the 
first  cannot  begin  to  be,  it  were  not  then  the  first. 2  It  cannot 
cease  to  be  ;  whatsoever  is  dissolved,  is  dissolved  into  that 
whereof  it  does  consist,  which  was  before  it,  and  then  it  was 
not  the  first.  The  world  might  not  have  been,  it  was  once  no- 
thing; it  must  have  some  cause  to  call  it  out  of  nothing;  no- 
thing has  no  power  to  make  itself  something;  there  is  a 
superior  cause,  by  whose  will  and  power  it  comes  into  being, 
and  so  gives  all  the  creatures  their  distinct  forms.3 

This  power  cannot  but  be  eternal;  it  must  be  before  the 
world;  the  founder  must  be  before  the  foundation;4  and  his  ex- 
istence must  be  from  eternity,  or  we  must  say  nothing  did  exist 
from  eternity.  And  if  there  were  no  being  from  eternity,  there 
could  not  now  be  any  being  in  time:  what  we  see,  and  what 
we  are,  must  arise  from  itself  or  some  other.  It  cannot  from 
itself:  if  any  thing  made  itself,  it  had  a  power  to  make  itself; 
it  then  had  an  active  power  before  it  had  a  being;  it  was  some- 

•  Voct.  Natural.  Thcol.  p.  SIS.  *  Ficin.  de  Immort.  1.2.  cap.  5. 

3  Coccei.  Sum.  Thcol.  *  Crellius  de  Deo,  cap.  18.  p.  13. 


324  ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

thing  in  regard  of  power,  and  was  nothing  in  regard  of  exist- 
ence at  the  same  time:  suppose  it  had  a  power  to  produce  itself, 
this  power  must  be  conferred  upon  it  by  another;  and  so  the 
power  of  producing  itself  was  not  from  itself,  but  from  another; 
but  if  the  power  of  being  was  from  itself,  why  did  it  not  pro- 
duce itself  before?  why  was  it  one  moment  out  of  being?  If 
there  be  any  existence  of  things,  it  is  necessary  that  that  which 
was  the  first  cause  should  exist  from  eternity.1  Whatsoever 
was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  world,  yet  the  first  and  chief 
cause,  wherein  we  must  rest,  must  have  nothing  before  it;  if 
it  had  any  thing  before  it,  it  were  not  the  first.  He  therefore  that 
is  the  first  cause  must  be  without  beginning,  nothing  must  be 
before  him;  if  he  had  a  beginning  from  some  other,  he  could 
not  be  the  first  principle  and  author  of  all  things;  if  he  be  the 
first  cause  of  all  things,  he  must  give  himself  a  beginning,  or 
be  from  eternity.  He  could  not  give  himself  a  beginning; 
whatsoever  begins  in  time  was  nothing  before,  and  when  it 
was  nothing  it  could  do  nothing ;  it.  could  not  give  itself  any 
thing,  for  then  it  gave  what  it  had  not,  and  did  what  it  could 
not.  If  he  made  himself  in  time,  why  did  he  not  make  him- 
self before?  What  hindered  him?  It  was  either  because  he 
could  not,  or  because  he  would  not.  If  he  could  not,  he  always 
wanted  power,  and  always  would,  unless  it  were  bestowed 
upon  him,  and  then  he  could  not  be  said  to  be  from  himself. 
If  he  would  not  make  himself  before,  then  he  might  have  made 
himself  when  he  would.  How  had  he  the  power  of  willing 
and  nilling  without  a  being  ?  Nothing  cannot  will  or  nill,  nothing 
has  no  faculties:  so  that  it  is  necessary  to  grant  some  eternal 
being,  or  run  into  inextricable  labyrinths  and  mazes.  If  we 
deny  some  eternal  being,  we  must  deny  all  being;  our  own 
being,  the  being  of  every  thing  about  us;  inconceivable  absur- 
dities will  arise. 

So  then  if  God  were  the  cause  of  all  things,  he  did  exist  be- 
fore all  things,  and  that  from  eternity. 

3.  Eternity  is  only  proper  to  God,  and  not  communicable. 
It  is  as  great  a  madness  to  ascribe  eternity  to  the  creature,  as 
to  deprive  the  Lord  of  the  creature  of  eternity.2  It  is  so  pro- 
per to  God,  that  when  the  apostle  would  prove  the  deity  of 
Christ,  he  proves  it  by  his  immutability  and  eternity,  as  well 
as  his  creating  power:  "  Thou  art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall 
not  fail,"  Heb.  i.  10.  12.  The  argument  had  no  strength,  if 
eternity  belonged  essentially  to  any  but  God,  and  therefore  he 
is  said  only  to  have  immortality,  1  Tim.  vi.  16.  All  other  things 
receive  their  being  from  him,  and  can  be  deprived  of  their  be- 
ing by  him:  all  things  depend  on  him,  he  on  none:  all  other 
things  are  like  clothes,  which  would  consume  if  God  preserved 

i  Pctav.  Theol.  Dogmat.  torn    1.  1.  1.  c.  10,  II.  2  Bapt. 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD.  32") 

them  not.  Immortality  is  appropriated  to  God,  that  is,  an  in- 
dependent immortality.  Angels  and  souls  have  an  immortality, 
but  by  donation  from  God,  not  by  their  own  essence;  depen- 
dent upon  their  Creator,  not  necessary  in  their  own  nature. 
God  might  have  annihilated  them  after  he  had  created  them; 
so  that  their  duration  cannot  properly  be  called  an  eternity,  it 
being  extrinsical  to  them,  and  depending  upon  the  will  of  their 
Creator,  by  whom  they  may  be  extinguished;  it  is  not  an  ab- 
solute and  necessary,  but  a  precarious  immortality.  Whatso- 
ever is  not  God,  is  temporary:  whatsoever  is  eternal,  is  God. 

It  is  a  contradiction  to  say  a  creature  can  be  eternal:  as  no- 
thing eternal  is  created,  so  nothing  created  is  eternal.  What  is 
distinct  from  the  nature  of  God  cannot  be  eternal,  eternity  be- 
ing the  essence  of  God.  Every  creature  in  the  notion  of  a 
creature  speaks  a  dependence  on  some  cause,  and  therefore 
cannot  be  eternal.  As  it  is  repugnant  to  the  nature  of  God 
not  to  be  eternal,  so  it  is  repugnant  to  the  nature  of  a  creature 
to  be  eternal;  for  then  a  creature  would  be  equal  to  the  Cre- 
ator, and  the  Creator,  or  the  cause,  would  not  be  before  the 
creature  or  effect.1 

It  would  be  all  one  to  admit  many  gods  as  many  eternals; 
and  all  one  to  say  God  can  be  created,  as  to  say  a  creature  can 
be  uncreated,  which  is  to  be  eternal. 

(1.)  Creation  is  a  producing  something  from  nothing.  What 
was  once  nothing,  cannot  therefore  be  eternal;  not  being  was 
eternal;  therefore  its  being  could  not  be  eternal,  for  it  should 
be  then  before  it  was,  and  would  be  something  when  it  was 
nothing.  It  is  the  nature  of  a  creature  to  be  nothing  before  it 
was  created;  what  was  nothing  before  it  was,  cannot  be  equal 
with  God  in  an  eternity  of  duration. 

(2.)  There  is  no  creature  but  is  mutable,  therefore  not  eternal. 
As  it  had  a  change  from  nothing  to  something,  so  it  may  be 
changed  from  being  to  not  being.  If  the  creature  were  not 
mutable  it  would  be  most  perfect,  and  so  would  not  be  a  crea- 
ture, but  God ;  for  God  only  is  most  perfect.  It  is  as  much 
the  essence  of  a  creature  to  be  mutable,  as  it  is  the  essence  of 
God  to  be  immutable:  mutability  and  eternity  are  utterly  in- 
consistent. 

(3.)  No  creature  is  infinite,  therefore  not  eternal.  To  be  infi- 
nite in  duration  is  all  one  to  be  infinite  in  essence  :  it  is  as  rea- 
sonable to  conceive  a  creature  immense,  filling  all  places  at  once, 
as  eternal,  extended  to  all  ages;a  because  neither  can  be  with- 
out infiniteness,  which  is  the  property  of  the  Deity.  A  creature 
may  as  well  be  without  bounds  of  place  as  limitations  of  time. 

(4.)  No  effect  of  an  intellectual  free  agent,  can  be  equal  in 
duration  to  its  cause.  The  production  of  natural  agents  are  as 
1  Lessius  dc  Perfect  1.  4.  c.  2.  *  Ibid. 


326  ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

ancient  often  as  themselves;  the  sun  produces  a  beam  as  old 
in  time  as  itself;  but  who  ever  heard  of  a  piece  of  wise  work- 
manship as  old  as  the  wise  artificer?  God  produced  a  crea- 
ture, not  necessarily  and  naturally,  as  the  sun  does  a  beam,  but 
freely,  as  an  intelligent  agent.  The  sun  was  not  necessary  ;  it 
might  be  or  not  be,  according  to  the  pleasure  of  God.  A  free 
act  of  the  will  is  necessary  to  precede  in  order  of  time  as  the 
cause  of  such  effects  as  are  purely  voluntary.1  Those  causes 
that  act  as  soon  as  they  exist,  act  naturally,  necessarily,  not 
freely,  and  cannot  cease  from  acting. 

But  suppose  a  creature  might  have  existed  by  the  will  of 
God  from  eternity;  yet, as  some  think,  it  could  not  be  said  abso- 
lutely, and  in  its  own  nature,  to  be  eternal;  because  eternity 
was  not  of  the  essence  of  it.  The  creature  could  not  be  its  own 
duration;  for  though  it  were  from  eternity,  it  might  not  have 
been  from  eternity;  because  its  existence  depended  upon  the 
free  will  of  God,  who  might  have  chosen  whether  he  would 
have  created  it  or  no. 

God  only  is  eternal,  the  first  and  the  last,  the  beginning  and 
the  end;  who,  as  he  subsisted  before  any  creature  had  a  being, 
so  he  will  eternally  subsist  if  all  creatures  were  reduced  to 
nothing. 

4.    Use. 

(1.)  Information. 

If  God  be  of  an  eternal  duration,  then  Christ  is  God.  Eter- 
nity is  the  property  of  God,  but  it  is  ascribed  to  Christ ;  "  He  is 
before  all  things,"  Col.  i.  17;  that  is,  all  created  things.  He  is 
therefore  no  creature;  and  if  no  creature,  eternal.  "  All  things 
were  created  by  him,"  both  in  heaven  and  in  earth,  angels  as 
well  as  men,  whether  they  be  thrones  or  dominions,  Col.  i.  16. 
If  all  things  were  his  creatures,  then  he  is  no  creature;  if  he 
were,  all  things  were  not  created  by  him,  or  he  must  create 
himself. 

He  hath  no  difference  of  time  ;  for  he  is  "  the  same  yesterday, 
and  to-day,  and  for  ever,"  Heb.  xiii.  8;2  the  same  with  the 
name  of  God,  "  I  am,"  which  signifies  his  eternity:  he  is  no 
more  to-day  than  he  was  yesterday,  nor  will  be  any  other  to- 
morrow than  he  is  to-day.  And  therefore  Melchisedek,  whose 
descent,  birth  and  death,  father  and  mother,  beginning  and  end 
of  days,  are  not  upon  record,  was  a  type  of  the  existence  of 
Christ  without  difference  of  time:  "  Having  neither  beginning  of 
days,  nor  end  of  life;  but  made  like  unto  the  Son  of  God,"  Heb. 
vii.  3.  The  suppression  of  his  birth  and  death,  was  intended  by 
the  Holy  Ghost  as  a  type  of  the  excellency  of  Christ's  person 
in  regard  of  his  eternity,  and  the  duration  of  his  charge  in  re- 

1  Ciellius  de  Deo.  cap.  18.  p.  43. 

2  "He  which  is,  and  which  was,  and  which  is  to  come,"  Rev.  i.8. 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 


327 


gard  ofhis  priesthood.  As  there  was  an  appearance  of  an  eter- 
nity in  the  suppression  of  the  race  of  Melchisedek,  so  there  is  a 
true  eternity  in  the  Son  of  God.  How  could  the  eternity  of  the 
Son  of  God  be  expressed  by  any  resemblance  so  well,  as  by  such 
a  suppression  of  the  beginning  and  end  of  this  great  person,  dif- 
ferent from  the  custom  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  Old  Testament, 
who  often  records  the  generations  and  ends  of  holy  men;  and 
why  mighl  not  this  which  was  a  kind  of  a  shadow  of  eternity,  be 
a  representation  of  the  true  eternity  of  Christ  as  well  as  the  res- 
toration of  Isaac  to  his  father  without  death,  is  said  to  be  a 
figure  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  after  a  real  death  ?  Mel- 
chisedek is  only  mentioned  once  (without  any  record  of  his 
extraction)  in  his  appearance  to  Abraham  after  his  victory,  as 
if  he  came  from  heaven  only  for  that  action,  and  instantly  dis- 
appeared again,  as  if  he  had  been  an  eternal  person.1 

And  Christ  himself  hints  his  one  eternity;  "I  came  forth 
from  the  Father,  and  am  come  into  the  world  :  again,  I  leave 
the  world,  and  go  to  the  Father,"  John  xvi.  28.  He  goes  to 
the  Father  as  he  came  from  the  Father;  he  goes  to  the  Father 
for  everlasting,  so  lie  came  from  the  Father  from  everlasting; 
there  is  the  same  duration  in  coming  forth  from  the  Father,  as 
in  returning  to  the  Father.  But  more  plainly;  he  speaks  of  a 
glory  that  he  had  with  the  Father  before  the  world  was,  John 
xvii.  5,  when  there  was  no  creature  in  being  :  this  is  an  actual 
glory,  and  not  only  in  decree;  for  a  decreed  glory  believers 
had,  and  why  may  not  every  one  of  them  say  the  same  words, 
"  Father,  glorify  me  with  that  glory  which  I  had  with  thee  be- 
fore the  world  was,"  if  it  were  only  a  glory  in  decree?  Nay, 
it  may  be  said  of  every  man,  he  was  before  the  world  was,  be- 
cause he  was  so  in  decree.  Christ  speaks  of  something  pecu- 
liar to  him,  a  glory  in  actual  possession  before  the  world  was; 
glorify  me,  embrace,  honour  me  as  thy  Son,  whereas  I  have 
now  been  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  handled  disgracefully  as  a 
servant:  if  it  were  only  in  decree,  why  is  not  the  like  expres- 
sion used  of  others  in  Scripture  as  well  as  of  Christ?  Why 
did  he  not  use  the  same  words  for  his  disciples  that  were  then 
with  him,  who  had  a  glory  in  decree?  His  eternity  is  also 
mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament.  "The  Lord  possessed  me  in 
the  beginning  ofhis  way,  before  his  works  of  old,"  Prov.  viii. 
22.  If  he  were  the  work  of  God,  he  existed  before  himself  if  he 
existed  before  all  the  works  of  God.  It  is  not  so  properly 
meant  of  the  essential  wisdom  of  God,  since  the  discourse  runs 
in  the  name  of  a  person;  and  several  passages  there  are  which 
belong  not  so  much  to  the  essential  wisdom  of  God  ;  as,  "  The 
evil  way  and  the  froward  mouth  do  I  hate,"  ver.  13;  which 
belongs  rather  to  the  holiness  of  God  than  to  the  essential  wis- 

1  Mestreezat.  in  loc. 


328  ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

dom  of  God :  besides,  it  is  distinguished  from  Jehovah,  as  pos- 
sessed by  him,  and  rejoicing  before  him.  Yet  plainer,  "  Out 
of  thee,"  that  is,  Bethlehem,  "  shall  he  come  forth  unto  me  that 
is  to  be  Ruler  in  Israel ;  whose  goings  forth  have  been  from  of 
old,  from  everlasting,"  from  the  ways  of  eternity,  Micah  v.  2. 
There  are  two  goings  forth  of  Christ  described,  one  from  Beth- 
lehem in  the  days  of  his  incarnation,  and  another  from  eternity. 
The  Holy  Ghost  adds  after  his  prediction  of  his  incarnation, 
his  going  out  from  everlasting,  that  none  should  doubt  of  his 
Deity.  If  this  going  out  from  everlasting  were  only  in  the  pur- 
pose of  God,  it  might  be  said  of  David,  and  of  every  creature. 
And  in  Isa.  ix.  6,  he  is  particularly  called  the  everlasting  or 
eternal  Father.  Not  the  Father  in  the  Trinity,  but  a  Father 
to  us:  yet  eternal,  the  Father  of  eternity.  As  he  is  the  mighty 
God,  so  he  is  the  everlasting  Father.  Can  such  a  title  be  as- 
cribed to  any,  whose  being  depends  upon  the  will  of  another, 
and  may  be  dashed  out  at  the  pleasure  of  a  superior  ? 

As  the  eternity  of  God  is  the  ground  of  all  religion,  so  the 
eternity  of  Christ  is  the  ground  of  the  Christian  religion. 
Could  our  sins  be  perfectly  expiated,  had  he  not  an  eternal 
Divinity  to  answer  for  the  offences  committed  against  an  eter- 
nal God?  Temporary  sufferings  had  been  of  little  validity, 
without  an  infiniteness  and  eternity  in  his  person  to  add  weight 
to  his  passion. 

If  God  be  eternal,  he  knows  all  things  as  present.  All  things 
are  present  to  him  in  his  eternity;  for  this  is  the  notion  of  eter- 
nity, to  be  without  succession.1  If  eternity  be  one  indivisible 
point,  and  is  not  diffused  into  preceding  and  succeeding  parts, 
then  that  which  is  known  in  it  or  by  it,  is  perceived  without 
any  succession.  For  knowledge  is  as  the  substance  of  the  per- 
son knowing;  if  that  has  various  actions  and  distinct  from 
itself,  then  it  understands  things  in  differences  of  time  as  time 
presents  them  to  view.  But  since  God's  being  depends  not 
upon  the  revolutions  of  time,  so  neither  does  his  knowledge; 
it  exceeds  all  motions  of  years  and  days,  comprehends  infinite 
spaces  of  past  and  future.  God  considers  all  things  in  his  eter- 
nity in  one  simple  knowledge,  as  if  they  were  now  acted  before 
him:  'Known  unto  God  are  all  his  works  from  the  beginning 
of  the  world,"  «*'  aiSvoi,  &  seculo,  from  eternity,  Acts  xv.  18. 
God's  knowledge  is  co-eternal  with  him:  if  he  knows  that  in 
time  which  he  did  not  know  from  eternity,  he  would  not  be 
eternally  perfect,  since  knowledge  is  the  perfection  of  an  intel- 
ligent nature. 

How  bold  and  foolish  is  it  for  a  mortal  creature  to  censure 
the  counsels  and  actions  of  an  eternal  God,  or  be  too  curious 
in  his  inquisitions!    It  is  by  the  consideration  of  the  unsearcha- 

i  Petav. 


ON  THK  ETKRNITY  OF  <;<)]>.  ;;.M> 

ble  number  of  the  years  of  God  that  Elihu  cheeks  too  bold 
inquiries:  "Who  hath  enjoined  him  his  way?  01  who  can  Bay, 
Thou  hast  wrought  iniquity?     Behold,  God  is  great,  and  we 

know  him  not,  neither  ran  the  number  of  his  years  be  searched 
out,"  Job  xxxvi.  23.  2<>.  Eternity  sets  God  above  our  inqui- 
ries and  censures.  Infants  of  a  day  old  are  not  able  to  under- 
stand the  acts  of  wise  and  grey  heads:  shall  we,  that  are  of  so 
short  a  being  and  understanding  as  yesterday,  presume  to  mea- 
sure the  motions  of  eternity  by  our  scanty  intellects?  We  that 
cannot  foresee  an  unexpected  accident  which  falls  in  to  blast  a 
well  laid  design,  and  run  a  ship  many  leagues  back  from  the 
intended  harbour;  we  that  cannot  understand  the  reason  of 
things  we  see  done  in  time,  the  motions  of  the  sea,  the  genera- 
tion of  rain,  the  nature  of  light,  the  sympathies  and  antipathies 
of  the  creatures;  shall  we  dare  to  censure  the  actions  of  an 
eternal  God  so  infinitely  beyond  our  reach?  The  counsels  of  a 
boundless  being  are  not  to  be  scanned  by  the  brain  of  a  silly 
worm,  that  has  breathed  but  a  few  minutes  in  the  world. 
Since  eternity  cannot  be  comprehended  in  time,  it  is  not  to  be 
judged  by  a  creature  of  time.  Let  us  remember  to  magnify 
his  works  which  we  behold,  because  he  is  eternal,  which  is  the 
exhortation  of  Elihu,  backed  by  this  doctrine  of  God's  eternity, 
Job  xxxvi.  24;  and  not  accuse  any  work  of  him  who  is  the 
Ancient  of  days,  or  presume  to  direct  him  of  whose  eternity  we 
come  infinitely  short.  Whenever,  therefore,  any  unworthy 
notion  of  the  counsels  and  works  of  God  is  suggested  to  us  by 
Satan,  or  our  own  corrupt  hearts,  let  us  look  backward  to 
God's  eternal,  and  our  own  short  duration,  and  silence  our- 
selves with  the  same  question  wherewith  God  put  a  stop  to  the 
reasoning  of  Job,  u  Where  wast  thou  when  I  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  the  earth?"  Job  xxxviii.  4,  and  reprove  ourselves  for 
our  curiosity;  since  we  are  of  so  short  a  standing,  and  were 
nothing  when  the  eternal  God  laid  the  first  stone  of  the  world. 
What  a  folly  and  boldness  is  there  in  sin,  since  an  eternal 
God  is  offended  thereby!  All  sin  is  aggravated  by  God's  eter- 
nity: the  blackness  of  the  heathen  idolatry  was  in  changing  the 
glory  of  the  incorruptible  God,  Rom.  i.  23,  erecting  resemblances 
of  him  contrary  to  his  immortal  nature;  as  if  the  eternal  God, 
whose  life  is  as  unlimited  as  eternity,  were  like  those  creatures 
whose  beings  are  measured  by  the  short  ell  of  time,  which  are 
of  a  corruptible  nature,  and  daily  passing  on  to  corruption. 
They  could  not  really  deprive  God  of  his  glory  and  immortality, 
but  they  did  in  estimation.  There  is  in  the  nature  of  every  sin 
a  tendency  to  reduce  God  to  a  not  being.  He  that  thinks  un- 
worthily of  God,  or  acts  unworthily  towards  him,  does  (as 
much  as  in  him  lies)  sully  and  destroy  these  two  perfections  of 
his,  immutability  and  eternity.  It  is  a  carriage,  as  if  he  were 
Vol.  I.— 42 


330  ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

as  contemptible  as  a  creature  that  were  but  of  yesterday,  and 
shall  not  remain  in  being  to-morrow.  He  that  would  put  an 
end  to  God's  glory  by  darkening  it,  would  put  an  end  to  God's 
life  by  destroying  it.  He  that  should  love  a  beast  with  as  great 
an  affection  as  he  loves  a  man,  contemns  a  rational  nature;  and 
he  that  loves  a  perishing  thing  with  the  same  affection  he 
should  love  an  everlasting  God,  contemns  his  eternity;  he  de- 
bases the  duration  of  God  below  that  of  the  world.  The  low 
valuation  of  God  speaks  him,  in  his  esteem,  no  better  than 
withering  grass,  or  a  gourd,  which  lasts  for  a  night;  and  the 
creature  which  possesses  his  affection,  to  be  a  good  that  lasts 
for  ever.  How  foolish  then  is  every  sin,  that  tends  to  destroy 
a  Being  that  cannot  destroy  or  desert  himself;  a  Being,  without 
whose  eternity  the  sinner  himself  could  not  have  had  the  capa- 
city of  a  being,  to  affront  him!  How  base  is  that,  which  would 
not  let  the  works  of  God  remain  in  their  established  posture! 
How  much  more  base  in  not  enduring  the  fountain  and  glory 
of  all  beings;  that  would  not  only  put  an  end  to  the  beauty  of 
the  world,  but  the  eternity  of  God! 

How  dreadful  is  it  to  lie  under  the  stroke  of  an  eternal  God! 
His  eternity  is  as  great  a  terror  to  him  that  hates  him,  as  it  is 
a  comfort  to  him  that  loves  him;  because  he  is  the  living  God, 
an  everlasting  King,  the  nations  shall  not  be  able  to  abide  his 
indignation,  Jer.  x.  10.  Though  God  be  least  in  their  thoughts, 
and  is  made  light  of  in  the  world,  yet  the  thoughts  of  God's 
eternity,  when  he  comes  to  judge  the  world,  shall  make  the 
slighters  of  him  tremble.  That  the  Judge  and  punisher  lives 
for  ever,  is  the  greatest  grievance  to  a  soul  in  misery,  and  adds 
an  inconceivable  weight  to  it,  above  what  the  infiniteness  of 
God's  executive  power  could  do  without  that  duration.  His 
eternity  makes  the  punishment  more  dreadful  than  his  power: 
his  power  makes  it  sharp,  but  his  eternity  renders  it  perpetual: 
ever  to  endure,  is  the  sting  at  the  end  of  every  lash. 

And  how  sad  is  it,  to  think  that  God  lays  his  eternity  to  pawn 
for  the  punishment  of  obstinate  sinners,  and  engages  it  by  an 
oath,  that  he  will  whet  his  glittering  sword,  that  his  hand  shall 
take  hold  of  judgment,  that  he  will  render  vengeance  to  his 
enemies,  and  a  reward  to  them  that  hate  him;  a  reward  pro- 
portioned to  the  greatness  of  their  offences,  and  the  glory  of  an 
eternal  God!  "  I  lift  up  my  hand  to  heaven,  and  say,  I  live  for 
ever;"  that  is,  As  surely  as  I  live  for  ever,  I  will  whet  my  glit- 
tering sword,  Deut.  xxxii.  40,  41.  As  none  can  convey  good 
with  a  perpetuity,  so  none  can  convey  evil  with  such  a  lasting- 
ness  as  God.  It  is  a  great  loss  to  lose  a  ship  richly  fraught  in 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  never  to  be  cast  upon  the  shore;  but  how 
much  greater  is  it,  to  lose  eternally  a, sovereign  God,  which  we 
were  capable  of  eternally  enjoying,  and  undergo  an  evil  as 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD.  331 

durable  as  that  God  we  slighted,  and  were  in  a  possibility  of 
avoiding!  The  miseries  of  men  after  this  life  are  not  eased,  but 
sharpened  by  the  life  and  eternity  ©fGod. 

(2.)  For  comfort.  What  foundation  of  comfort  can  we  have 
in  any  of  God's  attributes,  were  it  not  for  his  infiniteness  and 
eternity;  though  he  be  merciful,  good,  wise,  faithful?  What 
support  could  there  be,  if  they  were  perfections  belonging  to  a 
corruptible  God?  What  hopes  of  a  resurrection  to  happiness 
can  we  have,  or  of  the  duration  of  it;  if  that  God  that  promised 
it  were  not  immortal  to  continue  it,  as  well  as  powerful  to 
effect  it?  His  power  were  not  almighty,  if  his  duration  were  not 
eternal. 

If  God  be  eternal,  his  covenant  will  be  so.  It  is  founded 
upon  the  eternity  of  God;  the  oath  whereby  he  confirms  it,  is 
by  his  life:  since  there  is  none  greater  than  himself,  he  swears 
by  himself,  Heb.  vi.  13,  or  by  his  own  life  which  he  engages 
together  with  his  eternity  for  the  full  performance;  so  that  if  he 
lives  for  ever,  the  covenant  shall  not  be  disannulled,  it  is  an 
immutable  counsel,  Heb.  vi.  16,  17.  The  immutability  of  his 
counsel  follows  the  immutability  of  his  nature.  Immutability 
and  eternity  go  hand  in  hand  together.  The  promise  of  eternal 
life  is  as  ancient  as  God  himself  in  regard  of  the  purpose  of  the 
promise,  or  in  regard  of  the  promise  made  to  Christ  for  us: 
"Eternal  life,  which  God — promised  before  the  world  began," 
Tit.  i.  2.  As  it  has  an  ante-eternity,  so  it  has  a  post-eternity; 
therefore  the  gospel,  which  is  the  new  covenant  published,  is 
termed  the  everlasting  gospel,  Rev.  xiv.  6 ;  which  can  no  more 
be  altered  and  perish,  than  God  can  change  and  vanish  into 
nothing.  He  can  as  little  morally  deny  his  truth,  as  he  can 
naturally  desert  his  life.  The  covenant  is  there  represented  in 
a  green  colour,  to  note  his  perpetual  verdure:  the  rainbow,  the 
emblem  of  the  covenant,  about  the  throne,  was  like  to  an  emer- 
ald, a  stone  of  a  green  colour,  Rev.  iv.  3;  whereas  the  natural 
rainbow  has  many  colours,  this  but  one,  to  signify  its  eternity. 

If  God  be  eternal,  he  being  our  God  in  covenant  is  an  eternal 
good  and  possession.  "This  God  is  our  God  for  ever  and 
ever,"  Psal.  xlviii.  14.  He  is  a  dwelling-place  in  all  genera- 
tions. We  shall  traverse  the  world  awhile,  and  then  arrive  at 
the  blessings  Jacob  wished  for  Joseph,  the  blessings  of  the  ever- 
lasting hills,  Gen.  xlix.  20.  If  an  estate  of  a  thousand  pounds 
per  annum  render  a  man's  life  comfortable  for  a  short  term, 
how  much  more  may  the  soul  be  swallowed  up  with  joy  in  the 
enjoyment  of  the  Creator,  whose  years  never  fail,  who  lives  for 
ever  to  be  enjoyed,  and  can  keep  us  in  life  for  ever  to  enjoy 
him?  Death  indeed  will  seize  upon  us  by  God's  irreversible 
order,  but  the  immortal  Creator  will  make  him  disgorge  his  mor- 
sel, and  land  us  in  a  glorious  immortality;  our  souls  at  their 


332  ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

dissolution,  and  our  bodies  at  the  resurrection;  after  which  they 
shall  remain  for  ever,  and  employ  the  extent  of  that  boundless 
eternity  in  the  fruition  of  the  sovereign  and  eternal  God.  For 
it  is  impossible  that  the  believer,  who  is  united  to  the  immortal 
God  that  is  from  everlasting  to  everlasting,  can  ever  perish;  for 
being  in  conjunction  with  him  who  is  an  ever-flowing  fountain 
of  life,  he  cannot  sutler  him  to  remain  in  the  jaws  of  death. 
While  God  is  eternal,  and  always  the  same,  it  is  not  possible 
that  those  that  partake  of  his  spiritual  life  should  not  also  par- 
take of  his  eternal.  It  is  from  the  consideration  of  the  endless- 
ness of  the  years  of  God  that  the  church  comforts  herself,  that 
her  children  shall  continue,  and  their  seed  be  established  for 
ever,  Psal.  cii.  27,  2S.  And  from  the  eternity  of  God,  Habak- 
kuk,  chap.  i.  12,  concludes  the  eternity  of  believers,  "Art  thou 
not  from  everlasting,  0  Lord  my  God,  mine  Holy  One?  we 
shall  not  die."  After  they  are  retired  from  this  world,  they 
shall  live  for  ever  with  God,  without  any  change  by  the  multitude 
of  those  imaginable  years  and  ages  that  shall  run  for  ever.  It 
is  that  God  that  has  neither  beginning  nor  end,  that  is  our  God; 
who  has  not  only  immortality  in  himself,  but  immortality  to 
give  out  to  others.  As  he  has  abundance  of  spirit  to  quicken 
them,  Mai.  ii.  15,  so  he  has  abundance  of  immortality  to  con- 
tinue them.  It  is  only  in  the  consideration  of  this  a  man  can 
with  wisdom  say,  Soul,  take  thine  ease,  thou  hast  goods  laid  up 
for  many  years;  to  say  it  of  any  other  possession,  is  the  greatest 
folly  in  the  judgment  of  our  Saviour,  Luke  xii.  19,  20.  Mor- 
tality shall  be  swallowed  up  of  immortality;  rivers  of  pleasure 
shall  be  for  evermore.  Death  is  a  word  never  spoken  there  by 
any,  never  heard  by  any  in  that  possession  of  eternity;  it  is  for 
ever  put  out,  as  one  of  Christ's  concpaered  enemies. 

The  happiness  depends  upon  the  presence  of  God,  with 
whom  believers  shall  be  for  ever  present.  Happiness  cannot 
perish  as  long  as  God  lives:  he  is  the  first  and  the  last;  the  first 
of  all  delights,  nothing  before  him;  the  last  of  all  pleasures,  no- 
thing beyond  him:  a  paradise  of  delights  in  every  point,  with- 
out a  flaming  sword. 

The  enjoyment  of  God  will  be  as  fresh  and  glorious  after 
many  ages,  as  it  was  at  first.  God  is  eternal,  and  eternity  knows 
no  change;  there  will  then  be  the  fullest  possession,  without 
any  decay  in  the  object  enjoyed.  There  can  be  nothing  past, 
nothing  future;  time  neither  adds  to  it,  nor  detracts  from  it; 
that  infinite  fulness  of  perfection  which  flourishes  in  him  now, 
will  flourish  eternally,  without  any  discolouring  of  it  in  the  least 
by  those  innumerable  ages  that  shall  run  to  eternity,  much  less 
any  despoiling  him  of  it.  He  is  the  same  in  his  endless  dura- 
tion, Psal.  cii.  27.  As  God  is,  so  will  the  eternity  of  him  be, 
without  succession,  without  division.     The  fulness  of  joy  will 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  OOD.  ;>;>;> 

be  always  present;  without  past  to  be  thought  f  with  regret 
for  being  gone;  without  future  to  be  expected  with  tormenting 
desires.  When  we  enjoy  God,  we  enjoy  him  in  his  eternity 
without  any  flux;  an  entire  possession  of  all  together,  without 
the  passing  away  of  pleasures  that  may  be  wished  to  return, 
or  expectation  of  future  joys  which  might  be  desired  to  hasten. 
Time  is  tlnid,  but  eternity  is  stable;  and  after  many  ages,  the 
joys  will  be  as  savoury  and  satisfying,  as  if  they  had  been  but 
that  moment  first  tasted  by  our  hungry  appetites.  When  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  shall  rise  upon  you,  it  shall  be  so  far  from 
ever  setting,  that  after  millions  of  years  are  expired,  as  nume- 
rous as  the  sands  on  the  sea  shore,  the  Sun,  in  the  light  of 
whose  countenance  you  shall  live,  shall  be  as  bright  as  at  the 
first  appearance.  He  will  be  so  far  from  ceasing  to  How,  that 
he  will  ilow  as  strong,  as  full  as  at  the  first  communication  of 
himself  in  glory  to  the  creature.  God  therefore,  as  sitting  upon 
his  throne  of  grace,  and  acting  according  to  his  covenant,  is  like 
a  jasper-stone,  which  is  of  a  green  colour,  a  colour  always  de- 
lightful, Rev.  iv.  3.  Because  God  is  always  vigorous  and 
flourishing;  a  pure  act  of  life,  sparkling  new  and  fresh  rays  of 
life  and  light  to  the  creature,  flourishing  with  a  perpetual 
spring,  and  contenting  the  most  capacious  desire;  forming  your 
interest,  pleasure,  and  satisfaction,  with  an  infinite  variety, 
without  any  change  or  succession — he  will  have  variety  to  in- 
crease delights,  and  eternity  to  perpetuate  them.  This  will  be 
the  fruit  of  the  enjoyment  of  an  infinite,  an  eternal  God:  he  is 
not  a  cistern,  but  a  fountain,  wherein  water  is  always  living 
and  never  putrifies. 

If  God  be  eternal,  here  is  a  strong  ground  of  comfort  against 
all  the  distresses  of  the  church  and  the  threats  of  the  church's 
enemies.  God's  abiding  for  ever,  is  the  plea  Jeremy  makes  for 
his  return  to  his  forsaken  church.  "  Thou,  0  Lord,  remainest 
for  ever;  thy  throne  from  generation  to  generation,"  Lam.  v. 
19.  The  church  is  weak;  created  things  are  easily  cut  off. 
What  prop  is  there,  but  that  God  that  lives  for  ever?  What 
though  Jerusalem  lost  its  bulwarks,  the  temple  were  defaced, 
the  land  wasted,  yet  the  God  of  Jerusalem  sits  upon  an  eternal 
throne,  and  from  everlasting  to  everlasting  there  is  no  diminu- 
tion of  his  power.  The  prophet  intimates  in  this  complaint, 
that  it  is  not  agreeable  to  God's  eternity  to  forget  his  people,  to 
whom  he  has  from  eternity  borne  good  will.  In  the  greatest 
confusions,  the  church's  eyes  are  to  be  fixed  upon  the  eternity 
of  God's  throne,  where  he  sits  as  Governor  of  the  world.  No 
creature  can  take  any  comfort  in  this  perfection,  but  the  church; 
other  creatures  depend  upon  God,  but  the  church  is  united  to 
him. 

The  first  discovery  of  the  name  "  I  am."  which  signifies  the 


334  ON  TIIE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

Divine  eternity  as  well  as  immutability,  was  for  the  comfort  of 
the  oppressed  Israelites  in  Egypt,  Exod.  iii.  14,  15.  It  was  then 
published  from  the  secret  place  of  the  Almighty,  as  the  only 
strong  cordial  to  refresh  them:  it  hath  not  yet,  it  shall  not  ever 
lose  its  virtue  in  any  of  the  miseries  that  have,  or  shall  succes- 
sively befall  the  church.  It  is  a  comfort  as  durable  as  the  God 
whose  name  it  is;  he  is  still  "I  am,"  and  the  same  to  the 
church  as  he  was  then  to  his  Israel.  His  spiritual  Israel  have 
a  greater  right  to  the  glories  of  it,  than  the  carnal  Israel  could 
have.  No  oppression  can  be  greater  than  theirs:  what  was  a 
comfort  suited  to  that  distress,  has  the  same  suitableness  to 
every  other  oppression.  It  was  not  a  temporary  name,  but  a 
name  for  ever;  his  "  memorial  to  all  generations,"  ver.  15;  and 
reaches  to  the  church  of  the  gentiles,  with  whom  he  treats  as 
the  God  of  Abraham,  ratifying  that  covenant  by  the  Messiah, 
which  he  made  with  Abraham  the  father  of  the  faithful. 

The  church's  enemies  are  not  to  be  feared;  they  may  spring 
as  the  grass,  but  soon  after  do  wither  by  their  own  inward 
principles  of  decay,  or  are  cut  down  by  the  hand  of  God.  They 
may  be  instruments  of  the  anger  of  God,  but  they  shall  be 
scattered  as  the  workers  of  iniquity  by  the  hand  of  the  Lord, 
that  is  high  for  evermore,  Psal.  xcii.  7 — 9,  and  is  engaged,  by 
his  promise,  to  preserve  a  church  in  the  world.  They  may 
threaten,  but  their  breath  may  vanish  as  soon  as  their  threat- 
enings  are  pronounced;  for  they  carry  their  breath  in  no  surer 
a  place  than  their  own  nostrils,  upon  which  the  eternal  God 
can  put  his  hand,  and  sink  them,  with  all  their  rage.  Do  the 
prophets  and  instructers  of  the  church  live  for  ever?  Zech.  i.  5. 
No.  Shall  then  the  adversaries  and  disturbers  of  the  church 
live  for  ever?  They  shall  vanish  as  a  shadow;  their  being  de- 
pends upon  the  eternal  God  of  the  faithful,  and  the  everlasting 
Judge  of  the  wicked.  He  that  inhabits  eternity,  is  above  them 
that  inhabit  mortality,  and  must,  whether  they  will  or  no,  "say 
to  corruption,  Thou  art  my  father;  and  to  the  worm,  Thou  art 
my  mother,  and  my  sister,"  Job  xvii.  14.  When  they  will  act 
with  a  confidence,  as  if  they  were  living  gods,  he  will  not  be 
rivalled,  but  evidence  himself  to  be  a  living  God  above  them. 
Why  then  should  mortal  men  be  feared  in  their  frowns,  when 
an  immortal  God  has  promised  protection  in  his  word,  and 
lives  for  ever  to  perform  it? 

Hence  follows  another  comfort;  since  God  is  eternal,  he  has 
as  much  power  as  will  to  be  as  good  as  his  word.  His  pro- 
mises are  established  upon  his  eternity,  and  this  perfection  is  a 
main  ground  of  trust;  "Trust  ye  in  the  Lord  for  ever:  for  in 
the  Lord  Jehovah  is  everlasting  strength,  Isa.  xxvi.  4.  His 
name  is  doubled,  that  name  "Jah"  and  "Jehovah,"  which 
was  always  the  strength  of  his  people ;  and  not  a  single  one, 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD.  ;;;;, 

but  the  strength  or  rock  of  eternities;  not  a  failing  but  an  eter- 
nal truth  and  power;  that  as  his  strength  is  eternal,  so  our  trust 
in  him  should  imitate  his  eternity  in  its  perpetuity:  and  there- 
fore in  the  despondency  of  his  people,  as  if  God  had  forgot  his 
promises,  and  made  no  account  of  them,  or  his  word,  and  were 
weary  of  doing  good,  he  calls  them  to  reilect  on  what  they  had 
heard  of  his  eternity,  which  is  attended  with  immutability,  who 
has  an  infiniteness  of  power  to  perform  his  will,  and  an  infi- 
niteness  of  understanding  to  judge  of  the  right  seasons  of  it, 
Isa.  xl.  27,  28.  His  wisdom,  will,  truth,  have  always  been, 
and  will  to  eternity  be  the  same.  lie  wants  not  life,  any  more 
than  love,  for  ever  to  help  us;  since  his  word  is  passed,  lie  will 
never  fail  us;  since  his  lite  continues,  he  can  never  be  out  of  a 
capacity  to  relieve  us:  and  therefore  whenever  we  foolishly 
charge  him  by  our  distrustful  thoughts,  we  forget  his  love, 
which  made  the  promise,  and  his  eternal  life,  which  can  ac- 
complish it.  As  his  word  is  the  bottom  of  our  trust,  and  his 
truth  is  the  assurance  of  his  sincerity,  so  his  eternity  is  the  as- 
surance of  his  ability  to  perform.  His  word  stands  for  ever, 
Isa.  xl.  S.  And  man  may  be  my  friend  this  day,  and  be  in  an- 
other world  to-morrow;  and  though  he  be  never  so  sincere  in 
his  word,  yet  death  snaps  his  life  asunder,  and  forbids  the  exe- 
cution. But  as  God  cannot  die,  so  he  cannot  lie,  because  he  is 
the  eternity  of  Israel.  The  Strength  of  Israel  will  not  lie,  nor 
repent,  the  perpetuity  or  eternity  of  Israel,  1  Sam.  xv.  29. 
Eternity  implies  immutability;  we  could  have  no  ground  for 
our  hopes,  if  we  knew  him  not  to  be  longer  lived  than  our- 
selves. The  Psalmist  beats  off  our  hands  from  trust  in  men, 
because  their  breath  goes  forth,  they  return  to  their  earth,  and 
in  that  day  their  thoughts  perish,  Psal.  cxlvi.  3,  4.  And  if  the 
God  of  Jacob  were  like  them,  what  happiness  could  we  have 
in  making  him  our  help?  As  his  sovereignty  in  giving  precepts 
had  not  been  a  strong  ground  of  obedience,  without  consider- 
ing him  as  an  eternal  Lawgiver,  who  could  maintain  his  rights, 
so  his  kindness  in  making  the  promises  had  not  been  a  strong 
ground  of  confidence,  without  considering  him  as  an  eternal 
promisor,  whose  thoughts  and  whose  life  can  never  perish. 
And  this  may  be  one  reason  why  the  Holy  Ghost  mentions  so 
often  the  post-eternity  of  God,  and  so  little  his  ante-eternity; 
because  that  is  the  strongest  foundation  of  our  faith  and  hope, 
which  respects  chiefly  that  which  is  future,  and  not  that  which 
is  past;  yet  indeed  no  assurance  of  his  after-eternity  can  be 
had,  if  his  ante-eternity  be  not  certain.1  If  he:  had  a  beginning, 
he  may  have  an  end;  and  ii  lie  had  a  change  in  his  nature,  he 
might  have  in  his  counsels.  But  since  all  the  resolves  of  God 
are  as  himself  is,  eternal,  and  all  the  promises  of  God  are  the 
1  Crcllius  dc  Deo,  cap.  18.  p.  44,  45. 


336  0N  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

fruits  of  his  counsel,  therefore  they  cannot  be  changed:  if  he 
should  change  them  for  the  better,  he  would  not  have  been 
eternally  wise,  to  know  what  was  best;  if  for  the  worse,  he 
had  not  been  eternally  good  or  just.  Men  may  break  their 
promises,  because  they  are  made  without  foresight;  but  God, 
that  inhabits  eternity,  foreknows  all  things  that  shall  be  done 
under  the  sun,  as  if  they  had  been  then  acting  before  him;  and 
nothing  can  intervene,  or  work  a  change  in  his  resolves,  be- 
cause the  least  circumstances  were  eternally  foreseen  by  him. 
Though  there  may  be  variations  and  changes  to  our  sight,  the 
winds  may  tack  about,  and  every  hour  new  and  cross  accidents 
happen,  yet  the  eternal  God,  who  is  eternally  true  to  his  word, 
sits  at  the  helm,  and  the  winds  and  the  waves  obey  him.  And 
though  he  should  defer  his  promise  a  thousand  years,  yet  he  is 
not  slack,  for  he  defers  it  but  a  day  to  his  eternity,  2  Pet.  hi.  8, 
9.  And  who  would  not  with  comfort  stay  a  day  in  expectation 
of  a  considerable  advantage? 

(3.)  For  exhortation. — To  something  which  concerns  us  in 
ourselves. — To  something  which  concerns  us  with  respect  to 
God. 

[1.]  To  something  which  concerns  us  in  ourselves. 

Let  us  be  deeply  affected  with  our  sins  long  since  committed. 
Though  they  are  past  with  us,  they  are  in  regard  of  God's  eter- 
nity present  with  him;  there  is  no  succession  in  eternity,  as 
there  is  in  time.  All  things  are  before  God  at  once;  our  sins 
are  before  him,  as  if  committed  this  moment,  though  committed 
long  ago.  As  he  is  what  he  is  in  regard  of  duration,  so  he 
knows  what  he  knows  in  regard  of  knowledge.  As  he  is  not 
more  than  he  was,  nor  shall  not  be  any  more  than  he  is,  so  he 
always  knew  what  he  knows,  and  shall  not  cease  to  know  what 
he  now  knows.  As  himself,  so  his  knowledge  is  one  indivisi- 
ble point  of  eternity.  He  knows  nothing,  but  what  he  did  know 
from  eternity;  he  shall  know  no  more  for  the  future,  than  he 
now  knows.  Our  sins  being  present  with  him  in  his  eternity, 
should  be  present  with  us  in  our  regard  of  remembrance  of 
them,  and  sorrow  for  them.  What  though  many  years  are 
lapsed,  much  time  run  out,  and  our  iniquities  almost  blotted 
out  of  our  memory;  yet  since  a  thousand  years  are  in  God's 
sight,  and  in  regard  of  his  eternity,  but  as  a  day,  ("  a  thousand 
years  in  thy  sight  are  but  as  yesterday  when  it  is  past,  and  as  a 
watch  in  the  night,"  Psal.  xc.  4,)  they  are  before  him.  For  sup- 
pose a  man  were  as  old  as  the  world,  above  five  thousand 
six  hundred  years,  the  sins  committed  five  thousand  years  ago, 
according  to  that  rule,  but  as  if  they  were  committed  five  days 
ago;  so  that  sixty-two  years  are  but  as  an  hour  and  half,  and 
the  sins  committed  forty  years  since,  are  as  if  they  were  com- 
mitted but  this  present  hour.  But  if  we  will  go  further,  and  con- 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD.  33-7 

siderthem  but  as  a  watch  of  the  night,  about  three  hours,  (for  the. 
night  consisting  of  twelve  hours,  was  divided  into  set  watches,) 
then  a  thousand  years  are  but  as  three  hours  in  the  sight  of 
God;  and  then  sins  committed  sixty  years  ago,  are  but  as  if 
they  were  committed  within  these  five  minutes. 

Let  none  of  us  set  light  by  the  iniquities  committed  many 
years  ago,  and  imagine  that  Length  of  time  can  wipe  out  their 
guilt.  No;  let  us  consider  them  in  relation  to  God's  eternity, 
ami  excite  an  inward  remorse,  as  if  they  had  been  but  the  birth 
of  this  moment. 

Let  the  consideration  of  God's  eternity  abate  our  pride.  This 
is  the  design  of  the  verses  following  the  text,  the  eternity  of 
God  being  so  sullicient  to  make  us  understand  our  own  nothing- 
ness, which  ought  to  be  one  great  end  of  man,  especially  as 
fallen;  the  eternity  of  God  should  make  us  as  much  disesteem 
ourselves,  as  the  excellency  of  God  made  Job  abhor  himself, 
Job  xlii.  5,  G.  His  excellency  should  humble  us  under  a  sense  of 
our  vanity,  and  his  eternity  under  a  sense  of  the  shortness  of 
our  duration.  If  man  compares  himself  with  other  creatures,  he 
may  be  too  sensible  of  his  greatness;  but  if  he  compares  him- 
self with  God,  he  cannot  but  be  sensible  of  his  baseness. 

In  regard  of  our  impotence  to  comprehend  this  eternity  of 
God.  How  little  do  we  know,  how  little  can  we  know  of  God's 
eternity!  We  cannot  fully  conceive  it,  much  less  express  it; 
we  have  but  a  brutish  understanding  in  all  those  things,  as 
Agur  said  of  himself,  Prov.  xxx.  2. 

What  is  infinite  and  eternal  cannot  be  comprehended  by 
finite  and  temporary  creatures.1  If  it  could,  it  would  not  be 
infinite  and  eternal;  for  to  know  a  thing,  is  to  know  the  extent 
and  cause  of  it.  It  is  repugnant  to  eternity  to  be  known,  be- 
cause it  has  no  limits,  no  causes;  the  most  soaring  understand- 
ing cannot  have  a  proportionable  understanding  of  it.  What 
disproportion  is  there  between  a  drop  of  water  and  the  sea  in 
their  greatness  and  motion!  yet  by  a  drop  we  may  arrive  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  sea,  which  is  a  mass  of  drops 
joined  together.  But  the  longest  duration  of  times  cannot  make 
us  know  what  eternity  is,  because  there  is  no  proportion  be- 
tween time  and  eternity.  The  years  of  God  are  as  numberless 
as  his  thoughts,  Psal.  xl.  5,  and  our  minds  as  far  from  reckon- 
ing the  one  as  the  other.  If  our  understandings  arc  too  gross  to 
comprehend  the  majesty  of  his  infinite  works,  they  are  much 
more  too  short  to  comprehend  the  infiniteness  of  his  eternity. 

In  regard  of  the  vast  disproportion  of  our  duration  to  this 
duration  of  God. 

We  have  more  of  not  being  than  being.  We  were  nothing 
from  an  unbegun  eternity,  and  we  might  have  been  nothing  to 

1  Charrontrois.  Vent.  livr.  1.  chap.  5.  p.  17,  &c. 

Vol.  I.— 43 


338  0N  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

an  endless  eternity,  had  not  God  called  ns  into  being;  and  if  he 
please,  we  may  be  nothing  by  as  short  an  annihilating  word, 
as  we  were  something  by  a  creating  word.  As  it  is  the  pre- 
rogative of  God  to  be,  "  1  am  that  I  am;"  so  it  is  the  property 
of  a  creature  to  be,  I  am  not  what  I  am ;  I  am  not  by  myself 
what  I  am,  but  by  the  indulgence  of  another.  I  was  nothing 
formerly,  I  may  be  nothing  again,  unless  he  that  is  "  I  am," 
make  me  to  subsist  what  I  now  am.  Nothing  is  as  much  the 
title  of  the  creature,  as  Being  is  the  title  of  God.  Nothing  is 
so  holy  as  God,  because  nothing  has  being  as  God.  "  There  is 
none  holy  as  the  Lord:  for  there  is  none  beside  thee,"  1  Sam. 
ii.  2.  Man's  life  is  an  image,  a  dream,  which  are  next  to  no- 
thing; and  if  compared  with  God,  worse  than  nothing;  a  nul- 
lity as  well  as  a  vanity,  because  with  God  only  is  the  fountain 
of  life,  Psal.  xxxvi.  9.  The  creature  is  but  a  drop  of  life  from 
him,  dependent  on  him.  A  drop  of  water  is  a  nothing,  if 
compared  with  the  vast  conflux  of  waters  and  numberless  drops 
in  the  ocean. 

How  unworthy  is  it  for  dust  and  ashes  kneaded  together  in 
time,  to  strut  against  the  Father  of  eternity!  Much  more  un- 
worthy for  that  which  is  nothing,  worse  than  nothing,  to  quar- 
rel with  that  which  is  only  being,  and  equal  himself  with  him 
that  inhabits  eternity. 

What  being  we  have,  had  a  beginning.  After  an  unaccount- 
able eternity  was  run  out,  in  the  very  dregs  of  time,  a  few  years 
ago  we  were  created,  and  made  of  the  basest  and  vilest  dross 
of  the  world,  the  slime  and  dust  of  the  earth;  made  of  that 
wherewith  birds  build  their  nests :  made  of  that  which  creeping 
things  make  their  habitation,  and  beasts  trample  upon.  How 
monstrous  is  pride  in  such  a  creature,  to  aspire  as  if  he  were 
the  Father  of  eternity,  and  as  eternal  as  God,  and  so  his  own 
eternity! 

What  being  we  have  is  but  of  a  short  duration  in  regard  of 
our  life  in  this  world.  Our  life  is  in  a  constant  change  and 
flux,  we  remain  not  the  same  an  entire  day.  Youth  quickly 
succeeds  childhood,  and  age  as  speedily  treads  upon  the  heels 
of  youth;  there  is  a  continual  defluxion  of  minutes,  as  there  is 
of  sands  in  a  glass.  He  is  as  a  watch  wound  up  at  the  beginning 
of  his  life,  and  from  that  time  is  running  down,  till  he  comes  to 
the  bottom:  some  part  of  our  lives  is  cut  off  every  day,  every 
minute.  Life  is  but  a  moment;  what  is  past  cannot  be  recalled; 
what  is  future  cannot  be  insured.  If  we  enjoy  this  moment, 
we  have  lost  that  which  is  past,  and  shall  presently  lose  this  by 
the  next  that  is  to  come. 

The  short  duration  of  men  is  set  out  in  Scripture  by  such 
creatures  as  soon  disappear.  A  worm,  Job  xxv.  6,  that  can 
scarce  outlive  a  winter;  grass,  that  withers  by  the  summer  sun; 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD.  339 

life  is  a  flower  soon  withering,  Job  xiv.  2,  a  vapour  soon  vanish- 
ing-, James  iv.  14,  a  smoke  soon  disappearing,  Psal.  cii.  3.  The 
strongest  man  is  but  compacted  dust,  the  fabric  must  moulder; 
the  highest  mountain  falls  and  comes  to  nought.  Time  gives 
place  to  eternity;  we  live  now,  and  die  to-morrow.  Not  a 
man,  since  the  world  began,  ever  lived  a  day  in  God's  sight; 
for  no  man  ever  lived  a  thousand  years.  The  longest  day  of 
any  man's  life  never  amounted  to  twenty-four  hours  in  the 
account  of  Divine  eternity.  A  life  of  so  many  hundred  years, 
with  the  addition  "he  died,"  makes  up  the  greatest  part  of  the 
history  of  the  patriarchs,  Gen.  v.  And  since  the  life  of  man 
has  been  curtailed,  if  any  be  in  the  world  eighty  years,  he 
scarce  properly  lives  sixty  of  them,  since  the  fourth  part  of  time 
is  at  least  consumed  in  sleep. 

A  greater  ditference  there  is  between  the  duration  of  God, 
and  that  of  a  creature,  than  between  the  life  of  one  for  a  minute, 
and  the  life  of  one  that  should  live  as  many  years  as  the  whole 
globe  of  heaven  and  earth,  if  changed  into  papers,  could  con- 
tain figures.  And  this  life,  though  but  of  a  short  duration 
according  to  the  period  God  hath  determined,  is  easily  cut  off; 
the  treasure  of  life  is  deposited  in  a  brittle  vessel:  a  small  stone 
hitting  against  Nebuchadnezzar's  statue,  will  tumble  it  down 
into  a  poor  and  nasty  grave.  A  grape-stone,  the  bone  of  a  fish, 
a  small  fly  in  the  throat,  a  moist  damp,  are  enough  to  destroy 
an  earthly  eternity,  and  reduce  it  to  nothing. 

What  a  nothing  then  is  our  shortness,  if  compared  with  God's 
eternity;  our  frailty,  with  God's  duration!  How  humble  then 
should  perishing  creatures  be  before  an  eternal  God,  with  whom 
our  days  are  as  a  handbreath,  and  our  age  as  nothing!  Psal. 
xxxix.  5.  The  angels  that  have  been  of  as  long  a  duration  as 
heaven  and  earth,  tremble  before  him,  the  heavens  melt  at  his 
presence;  and  shall  we  that  are  but  of  yesterday,  approach  a 
Divine  eternity  with  unhumbled  souls,  and  offer  the  calves  of 
our  lips  with  the  pride  of  devils,  and  stand  upon  our  terms  with 
him,  without  falling  upon  our  faces,  with  a  sense  that  we  are 
but  dust  and  ashes,  and  creatures  of  time?  How  easy  is  it  to 
reason  out  man's  humility,  but  how  hard  is  it  to  reason  man 
into  it! 

Let  the  consideration  of  God's  eternity  take  off  our  love  and 
confidence  from  the  world,  and  the  things  thereof.  The  eter- 
nity of  God  reproaches  a  pursuit  of  the  world,  as  preferring  a 
momentary  pleasure  before  an  everlasting  God;  as  though  a 
temporal  world  could  be  a  better  supply  than  a  God  whose 
years  never  fail.  Alas!  what  is  this  earth  men  are  so  greedy 
of,  and  will  get,  though  by  blood  and  sweat?  what  is  this 
whole  earth,  it  we  had  the  entire  possession  of  it,  if  compared 
with  the  vast  heavens,  the  seat  of  angels  and  blessed  spirits? 


340  0N  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

It  is  bat  as  an  atom  to  the  greatest  mountain,  or  as  a  drop  of 
dew  to  the  immense  ocean.  How  foolish  is  it,  to  prefer  a  drop 
before  the  sea,  or  an  atom  before  the  world!  The  earth  is  but 
a  point  to  the  sun;  the  sun,  with  its  whole  orb,  but  a  little  part 
of  the  heavens,  if  compared  with  the  whole  fabric.  If  a  man 
had  the  possession  of  all  those,  there  could  be  no  comparison 
between  those  that  have  had  a  beginning,  and  shall  have  an 
end,  and  God  who  is  without  either  of  them.  Yet,  how  many 
are  there,  that  make  nothing  of  the  Divine  eternity,  and  ima- 
gine an  eternity  of  nothing! 

The  world  has  been  but  of  a  short  standing.  It  is  not  yet 
six  thousand  years  since  the  foundations  of  it  were  laid;  and 
therefore  it  cannot  have  a  boundless  excellency,  as  that  God, 
who  has  been  from  everlasting,  does  possess.  If  Adam  had. 
lived  to  this  day,  and  been  as  absolute  lord  of  his  posterity  as 
he  was  of  the  other  creatures,  had  it  been  a  competent  object 
to  take  up  his  heart,  had  he  not  been  a  madman,  to  have  pre- 
ferred this  little  created  pleasure  before  an  everlasting  uncreated 
God  ?  a  thing  that  had  a  dependent  beginning,  before  that  which 
had  an  independent  eternity? 

The  beauties  of  the  world  are  transitory  and  perishing.  The 
whole  world  is  nothing  else  but  a  fluid  thing,  the  fashion  of  it 
is  a  pageantry,  passing  away,  1  Cor.  vii.  31 ;  though  the  glories 
of  it  might  be  conceived  greater  than  they  are,  yet  they  are  not 
consistent,  but  transient.  There  cannot  be  an  entire  enjoyment 
of  them;  because  they  grow  up,  and  expire  every  moment,  and 
slip  away  between  our  fingers  while  we  are  using  them.  Have 
we  not  heard  of  God's  dispersing  the  greatest  empires  like 
chaff  before  a  whirlwind,  or  as  smoke  out  of  a  chimney,  Hos. 
xiii.  3;  which  though  it  appears  as  a  compacted  cloud,  as  if  it 
would  choke  the  sun,  is  quickly  scattered  into  several  parts  of 
the  air,  and  becomes  invisible?  Nettles  have  often  been  heirs 
to  stately  palaces,  as  God  threatens  Israel,  Hos.  ix.  6.  We 
cannot  promise  ourselves  over  night  any  thing  the  next  day. 
A  kingdom,  with  the  glory  of  a  throne,  may  be  cut  off  in  a 
morning,  Hos.  x.  15.  The  new  wine  may  be  taken  from  the 
mouth,  when  the  vintage  is  ripe;  the  devouring  locust  may 
snatch  away  both  the  hopes  of  that  and  the  harvest,  Joel.  i.  10. 
They  are  therefore  things  which  are  not,  and  nothing  cannot  be 
a  fit  object  for  confidence  or  affection.  "  Wilt  thou  set  thine 
eyes  upon  that  which  is  not?  for  riches  certainly  make  them- 
selves wings,"  Prov.  xxiii.  5.  They  are  not  properly  beings; 
because  they  are  not  stable,  but  flitting.  They  are  not;  because 
they  may  not  be  the  next  moment  to  us  what  they  are  this; 
they  are  but  cisterns,  not  springs,  and  broken  cisterns,  not 
sound  and  stable;  no  solidity  in  their  substance,  nor  stability  in 
their  duration.     What  a  foolish  thing  is  it  then  to  prefer  a 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD.  34  j 

transient  felicity, a  mere  nullity, before  an  eternal  God!  What 
a  senseless  thing  would  it  be  in  a  man,  to  prefer  the  map  of  a 
kingdom,  which  the  hand  of  a  child  can  tear  in  pieces,  before 
the  kingdom  shadowed  by  it!  How  much  more  inexcusable  is 
it  to  value  things,  that  are  so  far  from  being  eternal,  that  they 
are  not  so  much  as  dusky  resemblances  of  an  eternity!  Were 
the  things  of  the  world  more  glorious  than  they  are,  yet  they 
arc  hut  as  a  counterfeit  sun  in  a  cloud,  which  comes  short  of 
the  true  sun  in  the  heavens  both  in  glory  and  duration;  and  to 
esteem  them  before  God,  is  inconceivably  baser,  than  if  a  man 
should  value  a  particoloured  bubble  in  the  air  before  a  durable 
rock  of  diamonds.  The  comforts  of  this  world  are  as  candles, 
that  will  end  in  a  snuff;  whereas  the  felicity  that  Hows  from 
an  eternal  God,  is  like  the  sun,  that  shines  more  and  more  to  a 
perfect  day. 

They  cannot  therefore  be  fit  for  a  soul,  which  was  made  to 
have  an  interest  in  God's  eternity.  The  soul  being  of  a  per- 
petual nature,  was  made  for  the  fruition  of  an  eternal  good; 
without  such  a  good  it  can  never  be  perfect.  Perfection,  that 
noble  thing,  rises  not  from  any  thing  in  this  world,  nor  is  it  a 
title  due  to  the  soul  while  in  this  world;  it.  is  then  they  are  said 
to  be  made  perfect,  when  they  arrive  at  that  entire  conjunction 
with  the  eternal  God  in  another  life,  Heb.  xii.  23.  The  soul 
cannot  be  ennobled  by  an  acquaintance  with  these  things,  or 
established  by  a  dependence  on  them;  they  cannot  confer,  what 
a  rational  nature  should  desire,  or  supply  it  with  what  it 
wants. 

The  soul  has  a  resemblance  to  God  in  a  post-eternity. 
Why  should  it  be  drawn  aside  by  the  blandishments  of  earthly 
things,  to  neglect  its  true  establishment,  and  lacquey  after  the 
body,  which  is  but  the  shadow  of  the  soul,  and  was  made  to 
follow  it  and  serve  it?  But  while  it  busieth  itself  altogether  in 
the  concerns  of  a  perishing  body,  and  seeks  satisfaction  in  things 
that  glide  away,  it  becomes  rather  a  body  than  soul,  descends 
below  its  nature,  reproaches  that  God  who  has  imprinted 
upon  it  an  image  of  his  own  eternity,  and  loses  the  comfort  of 
the  everlastingness  of  its  Creator.  How  shall  the  whole  world, 
if  our  lives  were  as  durable  as  that,  be  a  happy  eternity  to  us, 
who  have  souls  that  shall  survive  all  the  delights  of  it,  which 
must  be  tortured  in  those  flames,  that  shall  fire  the  whole 
frame  of  nature  at  the  general  conflagration  of  the  world?  2 
Pet.  iii.  10. 

Therefore  let  us  provide  for  a  happy  interest  in  the  eternity 
of  God.  Man  is  made  for  an  eternal  state.  The  soul  has  such 
a  perfection  in  its  nature  that  it  is  fit  for  eternity,  and  cannot 
display  all  its  operations  but  in  eternity.  To  an  eternity  it 
must  go,  and  live  as  long  as  God  himself  lives.     Things  of  a 


342  0N  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

short  duration  are  not  proportioned  to  a  soul  made  for  an  eter- 
nal continuance ;  to  see  that  it  be  a  comfortable  eternity  is 
worth  all  our  care.  Man  is  a  forecasting  creature,  considers 
not  only  the  present,  but  the  future  too,  in  his  provisions  for 
his  family;  and  shall  he  disgrace  his  nature  in  casting  oft"  all 
consideration  of  a  future  eternity  ?  Get  possession  therefore  of 
the  eternal  God.  A  portion  in  this  life  is  the  lot  of  those  who 
shall  be  for  ever  miserable,  Psal.  xvii.  14;  but  God,  an  ever- 
lasting portion  is  the  lot  of  them  that  are  designed  for  happi- 
ness.    "  God  is  my  portion  for  ever,"  Psal.  lxxiii.  26. 

Time  is  short,  1  Cor.  vii.  29.  The  whole  time  for  which 
God  designed  this  building  of  the  world  is  of  a  little  compass; 
it  is  a  stage  erected  for  rational  creatures  to  act  their  parts  upon 
for  a  few  thousand  years;  the  greatest  part  of  which  time  is 
run  out;  and  then  shall  time  like  a  rivulet  fall  into  the  sea  of 
eternity,  from  whence  it  sprung.  As  time  is  but  a  slip  of  eter- 
nity, so  it  will  end  in  eternity;  our  advantages  consist  in  the 
present  instant.  What  is  past  never  promised  a  return,  and 
cannot  be  fetched  back  by  all  our  vows.  What  is  future  we 
cannot  promise  ourselves  to  enjoy;  we  may  be  snatched  away 
before  it  comes.  Every  minute  that  passes  speaks  the  fewer 
remaining  till  the  time  of  death.  And  as  we  are  every  hour 
further  from  our  beginning,  we  are  nearer  our  end.  The  child 
born  this  day  grows  up,  to  grow  nothing  at  last.  In  all  ages 
there  is  but  a  step  between  us  and  death,  as  David  said  of  him- 
self, 1  Sam.  xx.  3.  The  little  time  that  remains  for  the  devil 
till  the  day  of  judgment,  envenoms  his  wrath ;  he  rages  be- 
cause his  time  is  short,  Rev.  xii.  12.  The  little  time  that  re- 
mains between  this  moment  and  our  death,  should  quicken  our 
diligence  to  inherit  the  endless  and  unchangeable  eternity  of 
God. 

Often  meditate  on  the  eternity  of  God.  The  holiness,  power, 
and  eternity  of  God,  are  the  fundamental  articles  of  all  religion, 
upon  which  the  whole  body  of  it  leans  ;  his  holiness  for  con- 
formity to  him,  his  power  and  eternity  for  the  support  of  faith 
and  hope.  The  strong  and  incessant  cries  of  the  four  beasts, 
representing  that  Christian  church,  are,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy, 
Lord  God  almighty,  which  was,  and  is,  and  is  to  come,"  Rev. 
iv.  S.  Though  his  power  is  intimated,  yet  the  chiefest  is  his 
holiness,  three  times  expressed;  and  his  eternity,  which  is  re- 
peated ver.  9,  "  who  lives  for  ever  and  ever."  This  ought  to 
be  the  constant  practice  in  the  church  of  the  gentiles,  which  this 
book  chiefly  respects.  The  meditation  of  his  converting  grace 
manifested  to  Paul,  ravished  the  apostle's  heart,  but  not  with- 
out the  triumphant  consideration  of  his  immortality  and  eter- 
nity, which  are  the  principal  parts  of  the  doxology;  "Now 
unto  the  King  eternal,  immortal,  invisible,  the  only  wise  God, 


ON  THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD.  ;>  j;; 

be  honour  and  glory  for  ever  and  ever,"  1  Tim.  i.  15 — 17.  It 
could  be  no  great  transport  to  tbe  spirit,  to  consider  him  glorious 
without  considering  him  immortal.  The  unconfinedness  of 
his  perfections  in  regard  of  time,  presents  the  soul  with  matter 
of  the  greatest  complacency.  The  happiness  of  our  souls  de- 
pends  upon  his  other  attributes,  but  the  perpetuity  of  it  upon 
his  eternity.  Is  it  a  comfort  to  view  his  immense  wisdom,  his 
overflowing  goodness,  his  tender  mercy,  his  unerring  truth? 
What  comfort  were  there  in  any  of  those,  if  it  were  a  wisdom 
that  could  be  batlled,  a  goodness  that  could  be  damped,  a 
mercy  that  can  expire,  and  a  truth  that  can  perish  with  the 
subject  of  it?  Without  eternity,  what  were  all  his  other  per- 
fections, but  as  glorious  yet  withering  flowers,  a  great  but  a 
decaying  beauty  ?  By  a  frequent  meditation  of  God's  eternity 
we  should  become  more  sensible  of  our  own  vanity  and  the 
world's  trillingncss.  How  nothing  would  ourselves,  how  no- 
thing would  all  other  things,  appear  in  our  eyes!  How  coldly 
should  we  desire  them!  How  feebly  should  we  place  any 
trust  in  them  !  Should  we  not  think  ourselves  worthy  of  con- 
tempt to  dote  upon  a  perishing  glory,  to  expect  support  from 
an  arm  of  llesh,  when  there  is  an  eternal  beauty  to  ravish  us, 
an  eternal  arm  to  protect  us?  Asaph,  when  he  considered  God 
a  portion  for  ever,  thought  nothing  of  the  glories  of  the  earth 
or  the  beauties  of  the  created  heavens  worth  his  appetite  or 
complacency,  but  God,  Psal.  lxxiii.  25,  26.  Besides,  an  ele- 
vated frame  of  heart  at  the  consideration  of  God's  eternity, 
would  batter  down  the  strong  hold  and  engines  of  any  tempta- 
tion. A  slight  temptation  will  not  know  where  to  find  and 
catch  hold  of  a  soul  high  and  hid  in  a  meditation  of  it;  and  if  it 
does,  there  will  not  be  wanting  from  hence  preservatives  to  re- 
sist and  conquer  it.  What  transitory  pleasures  will  not  the 
thoughts  of  God's  eternity  stifle  !  When  this  work  busieth  a 
soul,  it  is  too  great  to  suffer  it  to  descend,  to  listen  to  a  sleeve- 
less errand  from  hell  or  the  world.  The  wanton  allurements 
of  the  flesh  will  be  put  off  with  indignation.  The  proffers  of 
the  world  will  be  ridiculous  when  they  are  cast  into  the 
balance  with  the  eternity  of  God,  which  sticking  in  our  thoughts, 
we  shall  not  be  so  easy  a  prey  for  the  fowler's  gin. 

Let  us  therefore  often  meditate  upon  this,  but  not  in  a  bare 
speculation,  without  engaging  our  affections,  and  making  every 
notion  of  the  Divine  eternity  end  in  a  suitable  impression  upon 
our  hearts.  This  would  be  much  like  the  disciples  gazing  upon 
the  heavens  at  the  ascension  of  their  Master,  while  they  forgot 
the  practice  of  his  orders,  Acts  i.  11.  We  may  else  find  some- 
thing of  the  nature  of  God;  and  lose  ourselves,  not  only  in  eter- 
nity but  to  eternity. 


344  0N  TIIE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

[2.]  And  hence  the  second  part  of  the  exhortation  is  to  some- 
thing which  concerns  us  with  a  respect  to  God. 

If  God  be  eternal,  how  worthy  is  he  of  our  choicest  affections, 
and  strongest  desires  of  communion  with  him!  Is  not  every 
thing  to  be  valued  according  to  the  greatness  of  its  being?  How 
then  should  we  love  him,  who  is  not  only  lovely  in  his  nature, 
but  eternally  lovely,  having  from  everlasting  all  those  perfec- 
tions centred  in  himself  which  appear  in  time!  If  every  thing 
be  lovely  by  how  much  the  more  it  partakes  of  the  nature  of 
God  who  is  the  chief  good,  how  much  more  infinitely  lovely  is 
God,  who  is  superior  to  all  other  good,  and  eternally  so!  Not  a 
God  of  a  few  minutes,  months,  years,  or  millions  of  years;  not 
of  the  dregs  of  time  or  the  top  of  time,  but  of  eternity;  above 
time,  inconceivably  immense  beyond  time.  The  loving  him 
infinitely,  perpetually,  is  an  act  of  homage  due  to  him  for  his 
eternal  excellency.  We  may  give  him  the  one,  since  our  souls 
are  immortal,  though  we  cannot  the  other,  because  they  are 
finite.  Since  he  encloses  in  himself  all  the  excellencies  of 
heaven  and  earth  for  ever,  he  should  have  an  affection,  not  only 
of  time  in  this  world,  but  of  eternity  in  the  future ;  and  if  we 
did  not  owe  him  a  love  for  what  we  are  by  him,  we  owe  him 
a  love  for  what  he  is  in  himself;  and  more  for  what  he  is,  than 
for  what  he  is  to  us.  He  is  more  worthy  of  our  affections  be- 
cause he  is  the  eternal  God,  than  because  he  is  our  Creator;  be- 
cause he  is  more  excellent  in  his  nature  than  in  his  transient 
actions.  The  beams  of  his  goodness  to  us,  are  to  direct  our 
thoughts  and  affections  to  him;  but  his  own  eternal  excellency 
ought  to  be  the  ground  and  foundation  of  our  affections  to  him. 
And  truly,  since  nothing  but  God  is  eternal,  nothing  but  God  is 
worth  the  loving  ;  and  we  do  but  a  just  right  to  our  love,  to  pitch 
it  upon  that  which  can  always  possess  us,  and  be  possessed  by 
us;  upon  an  object  that  cannot  deceive  our  affection,  and  put  it 
out  of  countenance  by  a  dissolution. 

And  if  our  happiness  consists  in  being  like  God,  we  should 
imitate  him  in  loving  him  as  he  loves  himself,  and  as  long  as  he 
loves  himself.  God  cannot  do  more  to  himself  than  love  him- 
self; he  can  make  no  addition  to  his  essence,  nor  diminution 
from  it.  What  should  we  do  less  to  an  eternal  Being  than  to 
bestow  affections  upon  him  like  his  own  to  himself,  since  we 
can  find  nothing  so  durable  as  himself,  for  which  we  should 
love  it? 

He  only  is  worthy  of  our  best  service.  The  Ancient  of  days 
is  to  be  served  before  all  that  are  younger  than  himself;  our 
best  obedience  is  due  to  him  as  a  God  of  unconfmed  excellency. 
Every  thing  that  is  excellent  deserves  a  veneration  suitable  to 
its  excellency.  As  God  is  infinite,  he  has  right  to  a  boundless 
service;  as  he  is  eternal,  he  has  right  to  a  perpetual  service. 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  ;•  | ;, 

As  service  is  a  debt  of  justice  upon  the  account  of  the  excel- 
lency of  his  nature,  so  a  perpetual  service  is  as  much  a  debt  of 
justice  upon  the  account  of  his  eternity.  If  God  be  infinite  and 
eternal,  he  merits  an  honour  and  comportment  from  his  crea- 
tures suited  to  the  unlimited  perfection  of  his  nature  and  the 
duration  of  his  being.  How  worthy  is  the  psalmist's  resolu- 
tion! "  I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord  as  long  as  I  live:  I  will  sing 
praise  to  my  God  while  I  have  my  being,"  Psal.  civ.  33:  it  is 
the  use  he  makes  of  the  endless  duration  of  the  glory  of  God, 
and  will  extend  to  all  other  service  as  well  as  praise.  To  serve 
other  things,  or  to  serve  ourselves,  is  too  vast  a  service  upon 
that  which  is  nothing.  In  devoting  ourselves  to  God,  we  serve 
him  that  is;  that  was,  so  as  that  he  never  began;  is  to  come,  so 
as  that  he  never  shall  end;  by  whom  all  things  are  what  they 
arc;  who  has  both  eternal  knowledge  to  remember  our  service, 
and  eternal  goodness  to  reward  it. 


DISCOURSE  VI. 

ON      THE      IMMUTABILITY     OP      GOD. 

Psalm  cii.  26,  27. — They  shall  perish,  but  thou  shalt  endure:  yea,  all  of  them 
shall  wax  old  like  a  garment ;  as  a  vesture  shalt  thou  change  them,  and  they 
shall  be  changed:   but  thou  art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall  have  no  end. 

This  psalm  contains  a  complaint  of  a  people  pressed  with  a 
great  calamity;  some  think  of  the  Jewish  church  in  Babylon; 
others  think  the  psalmist  doth  here  personate  mankind  lying 
under  a  state  of  corruption,  because  he  wishes  for  the  coming 
of  the  Messiah,  to  accomplish  that  redemption  promised  by 
God  and  needed  by  them.  Indeed  the  title  of  the  psalm  is, 
"A  prayer  of  the  afflicted,  when  he  is  overwhelmed,  and 
poureth  out  his  complaint  before  the  Lord;"  whether  afflicted 
with  the  sense  of  corruption,  or  with  the  sense  of  oppression. 
And  the  redemption  by  the  Messiah,  which  the  ancient  church 
looked  upon  as  the  fountain  of  their  deliverance  from  a  sinful 
or  a  servile  bondage,  is  in  this  psalm  spoken  of:  a  set  time  ap- 
pointed for  the  discovery  of  his  mercy  to  Zion,  ver.  13;  an 
appearance  in  glory  to  build  up  Zion,  ver.  1(>;  the  loosening 
of  the  prisoner  by  redemption,  and  them  that  are  appointed  to 
death,  ver.  SO;  the  calling  of  the  gentiles,  ver.  22.  And  the 
latter  part  of  the  psalm,  wherein  are  the  verses  I  have  read, 
are  applied  to  Christ,  Hcb.  i.  Whatsoever  the  design  of  the 
psalm  might  be,  many  things  are  intermingled  that  concern  the 
kingdom  of  the  Messiah,  and  redemption  by  Christ. 
Vol.  I.— 44 


340  ON  TiIE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

Some  make  three  parts  of  the  psalm: 

A  petition  plainly  delivered,  ver.  1,2.  "  Hear  my  prayer, 
0  Lord,  and  let  my  cry  come  unto  thee,"  &c. — The  petition 
strongly  and  argnmentatively  enforced  and  pleaded,  ver.  3, 
from  the  misery  of  the  petitioner  in  himself,  and  his  reproach 
from  his  enemies. — An  acting  of  faith  in  the  expectation  of  an 
answer  in  the  general  redemption  promised,  ver.  12,  13,  15. 
"But  thou,  0  Lord,  shalt  endure  for  ever; — thou  shalt  arise, 
and  have  mercy  upon  Zion; — the  heathen  shall  fear  thy  name." 

The  first  part  is  the  petition  pleaded;  the  second  part  is  the 
petition  answered  in  an  assurance,  that  there  should  in  time 
be  a  full  deliverance.  The  design  of  the  sacred  penman  is  to 
confirm  the  church  in  the  truth  of  the  Divine  promises,  that 
though  the  foundations  of  the  world  should  be  ript  up,  and  the 
heavens  clatter  together,  the  whole  fabric  of  them  be  unpinned 
and  fall  to  pieces,  and  the  firmest  parts  of  it  dissolved;  yet  the 
Church  should  continue  in  its  stability,  because  it  stands  not 
upon  the  changeableness  of  creatures,  but  is  built  upon  the 
immutable  rock  of  the  truth  of  God,  which  is  as  little  subject  to 
change  as  his  essence.1 

"  They  shall  perish,  thou  shalt  change  them."  As  he  had 
before  ascribed  to  God  the  foundation  of  heaven  and  earth, 
ver.  25,  so  he  ascribes  to  God  here  the  destruction  of  them: 
both  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  world  are  here  ascertained. 
There  is  nothing  indeed  from  the  present  appearance  of  things 
that  can  demonstrate  the  cessation  of  the  world;  the  heaven 
and  earth  stand  firm;  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies  are 
the  same,  their  beauty  is  not  decayed  ;  individuals  corrupt,  but 
the  species  and  kinds  remain;  the  successions  of  the  year  ob- 
serve their  due  order;  but  the  sin  of  man  renders  the  change 
of  the  present  appearance  of  the  world  necessary,  to  accomplish 
the  design  of  God  for  the  glory  of  his  elect.  The  heavens  do 
not  naturally  perish,  as  some  fancied  an  old  age  of  the  world, 
wherein  it  must  necessarily  decay  as  the  bodies  of  animals  do; 
or  that  the  parts  of  the  heavens  are  broken  off  by  their  rubbing 
one  against  another  in  their  motion,  and,  falling  to  the  earth, 
are  the  seeds  of  those  things  that  grow  up  among  us.2 

"The  earth  and  heavens."  He  names  here  the  most  stable 
parts  of  the  world,  and  the  most  beautiful  parts  of  the  creation, 
those  that  are  freest  from  corruptibility  and  change,  to  illustrate 
thereby  the  immutability  of  God;  that  though  the  heavens  and 
earth  have  a  prerogative  of  fixedness  above  other  parts  of  the 
.^world  and  the  creatures  that  reside  below ;  though  the  heavens 
*^Temain  the  same  as  they  were  created,  and  the  centre  of  the 
earth  retains  its  fixedness,  and  are  as  beautiful  and  fresh  in  their 
age  as  they  were  in  their  youth  many  years  ago,  notwithstand- 

i  ParcuK  2  Plin.  Hist.  lib.  2.  cap.  3. 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF   GOD. 


347 


ing  the  change  of  the  elements,  fire  and  water  being  often 
turned  into  air,  so  that  there  may  remain  but  little  of  that  air 
which  was  first  created  by  reason  of  the  continual  transmuta- 
tion; yet  this  firmness  of  the  earth  and  heavens  is  not  to  be  re- 
garded in  comparison  of  the  unmovableness  and  fixedness  of 
the  being  of  God.  As  their  beauty  conies  short  of  the  glory  of 
his  being,  so  does  their  firmness  come  short  of  his  stability. 

Some  by  heavens  and  earth, understand  the  creatures  which 
reside  in  the  earth,  and  those  which  are  in  the  air,  which  is 
called  heaven  often  in  Scripture;  but  the  ruin  and  fall  of  these 
being  seen  every  day,  had  been  no  fit  illustration  of  the  un- 
changeableness  of  God." 

"  They  shall  perish,  they  shall  be  changed." 

They  may  perish,  say  some;  they  have  it  not  from  them- 
selves that  they  do  not  perish,  but  from  thee,  who  didst  indue 
them  with  an  incorruptible  nature;  they  shall  perish  if  thou 
speakest  the  word ;  thou  canst  with  as  much  ease  destroy 
them  as  thou  didst  create  them.  But  the  psalmist  speaks  not 
of  their  possibility,  but  the  certainty  of  their  perishing. 

They  shall  perish  in  their  qualities  and  motion,  not  in  their 
substance,  say  others.  They  shall  cease  from  that  motion 
which  is  designed  properly  for  the  generation  and  corruption 
of  things  in  the  earth;  but  in  regard  of  their  substance  and 
beauty  they  shall  remain:  as  when  the  strings  or  wheels  of  a 
clock  or  watch  are  taken  off,  the  material  parts  remain  ;  though 
the  motion  of  it,  and  the  use  for  discovering  the  time  of  the 
day  ceaseth.  To  perish,  doth  not  signify  always  a  falling  into 
nothing,  an  annihilation,  by  which  both  the  matter  and  the 
form  are  destroyed;  but  a  ceasing  of  the  present  appearance  of 
them ;  a  ceasing  to  be  what  they  now  arc,  as  a  man  is  said  to 
perish  when  he  dies,  whereas  the  better  part  of  man  does  not 
cease  to  be. '  The  figure  of  the  body  moulders  away,  and  the 
matter  of  it  returns  to  dust;  but  the  soul  being  immortal  ceases 
not  to  act,  when  the  body  by  reason  of  the  absence  of  the  soul 
is  incapable  of  acting.  So  the  heavens  shall  perish  ;  the  ap- 
pearance they  now  have  shall  vanish,  and  a  more  glorious  and 
incorruptible  frame  be  erected  by  the  power  and  goodness  of 
God.  The  dissolution  of  heaven  and  earth  is  meant  by  the 
word  "perish;"  the  raising  a  new  frame  is  signified  by  the 
word  "  changed;"  as  if  the  Spirit  of  God  would  prevenl  any 
wrong  meaning  of  the  word  "  perish,"  by  alleviating  ihe  sense 
of  that  by  another  which  signifies  only  a  mutation  and  change; 
as  when  we  change  a  habit  and  garment,  we  quit  the  old  to 
receive  the  new. 

"Asa  garment,  as  a  vesture."  Thou  shalt  change  them,2 
!x/?*ts,  thou  shalt  fold  them  up.    The  heavens  are  compared  to 

1  Cocccius  in  Ioc.  -  Septaag 


348  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

a  curtain,  Psal.  civ.  2,  and  shall  in  due  time  be  folded  up  as 
clothes  and  curtains  are.  As  a  garment  encompasses  the  whole 
body,  so  do  the  heavens  encircle  the  earth.  Some  say,  as  a 
garment  is  folded  up  to  be  laid  aside,  that  when  there  is  need 
it  may  be  taken  again  for  use;  so  shalt  thou  fold  up  the  hea- 
vens like  a  garment,  that  when  they  are  repaired  thou  mayst 
again  stretch  them  out  about  the  earth;  thou  shalt  fold  them 
up,  so  that  what  did  appear  shall  not  now  appear.1  It  may  be 
illustrated  by  the  metaphor  of  a  scroll  or  book,  which  the  Spirit 
of  God  uses,  Isa.  xxxiv.  4.  "  The  heaven  departed  as  a  scroll, 
when  it  is  rolled  together,"  Rev.  vi.  14.  When  a  book  is  rolled 
up  or  shut,  nothing  can  be  read  in  it  till  it  be  opened  again;  so 
the  face  of  the  heavens,  wherein  the  stars  are  as  letters  de- 
claring the  glory  of  God,  shall  be  shut  or  rolled  together,  so 
that  nothing  shall  appear  till  by  its  renovation  it  be  opened 
again.  As  a  garment  it  shall  be  changed,  not  to  be  used  in  the 
same  fashion  and  for  the  same  use  again.  It  seems  indeed  to 
be  for  the  worse;  an  old  garment  is  not  changed  but  into  rags, 
to  be  put  to  other  uses,  and  afterwards  thrown  upon  the  dung- 
hill: but  similitudes  are  not  to  be  pressed  too  far,  and  this  will 
not  agree  with  the  new  heavens  and  new  earth,  physically  so, 
as  well  as  metaphorically  so.  It  is  not  likely  the  heavens  will 
be  put  to  a  worse  use  than  God  designed  them  for  in  creation: 
however,  a  change  as  a  garment  speaks  not  a  total  corruption, 
but  an  alteration  of  qualities;  as  a  garment  not  to  be  used  in 
the  same  fashion  as  before.     We  may  observe, 

That  it  is  probable  the  world  shall  not  be  annihilated,  but  re- 
fined. It  shall  lose  its  present  form  and  fashion,  but  not  its 
foundation.  Indeed,  as  God  raised  it  from  nothing,  so  he  can 
reduce  it  to  nothing;  yet  it  does  not  appear  that  God  will  anni- 
hilate it,  and  utterly  destroy  both  the  matter  and  form  of  it; 
part  shall  be  consumed  and  part  purified,  "  The  heavens  being 
on  fire  shall  be  dissolved — nevertheless  we,  according  to  his 
promise,  look  for  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,"  2  Pet.  iii.  12, 
13.  They  shall  be  melted  down  as  gold  by  the  artificer,  to  be 
refined  from  its  dross,  and  wrought  into  a  more  beautiful 
fashion,  that  they  may  serve  the  design  of  God  for  those  that 
shall  reside  therein:  a  new  world  wherein  righteousness  shall 
dwell,  the  apostle  opposing  it  thereby  to  the  old  world,  wherein 
wickedness  did  reside.  The  heavens  are  to  be  purged,  as  the 
vessels  that  held  the  sin-offering  were  to  be  purified  by  the  fire 
of  the  sanctuary. 

God  indeed  will  take  down  this  scaffold  which  he  has  built 
to  publish  his  glory.  As  every  individual  has  a  certain  term 
of  its  duration,  so  an  end  is  appointed  for  the  universal  nature 
of  heaven  and  earth:  "The  heavens  shall  vanish  away  like 

1  Estius  in  Ileb.  I. 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  ;;  |<, 

smoke,"  which  disappears,  Isa.  li.  6.  As  smoke  is  resolved 
and  attenuated  into  air,  not  annihilated,  so  shall  the  world  as- 
sume a  new  lace,  and  have  a  greater  clearness  and  splendour: 
just  as  the  bodies  of  men  dissolved  into  dust,  shall  have  more 
glorious  qualities  at  their  resurrection;  or  as  a  vessel  of  gold 
is  melted  down  to  remove  the  batterings  in  it,  and  receive  a 
more  comely  form  by  the  skill  of  the  workman. 

The  world  was  not  destroyed  by  the  deluge.  It  was  rather 
washed  by  water  than  consumed:  so  it  shall  be  rather  refined 
by  the  last  fire,  than  lie  under  an  irrecoverable  ruin. 

It  is  not  likely  God  would  liken  the  everlastingness  of  his 
covenant,  and  the  perpetuity  of  his  spiritual  Israel,  to  the  dura- 
tion of  the  ordinances  of  the  heavens,  as  he  does  in  Jer.  xxxi. 
35,  36,  if  they  were  wholly  to  depart  from  before  him.  Though 
that  place  may  only  tend  to  an  assurance  of  a  church  in  the 
world  while  the  world  endures,  yet  it  would  be  but  small  com- 
fort, if  the  happiness  of  believers  should  endure  no  longer  than 
the  heavens  and  earth,  if  they  were  to  have  a  total  period. 

Besides,  the  bodies  of  the  saints  must  have  place  for  their 
support  to  move  in,  and  glorious  objects  suited  to  those  glori- 
ous senses  which  shall  be  restored  to  them;  not  in  any  carnal 
way  which  our  Saviour  rejects,  when  he  says  there  is  no  eat- 
ing, or  drinking,  or  marrying,  &c.  in  the  other  world,  but  where- 
by they  may  glorify  God;  though  how  or  in  what  manner  their 
senses  shall  be  used  would  be  rashness  to  determine;  only 
something  is  necessary  for  the  corporeal  state  of  men,  that  there 
may  be  an  employment  for  their  senses  as  well  as  their  souls. 

i in,  how  could  the  creature,  the  world,  or  any  part  of  it, 
be  said  to  be  "  delivered  from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the 
glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God,"  Rom.  viii.  21,  if  the  whole 
frame  of  heaven  and  earth  were  to  be  annihilated?  The  apostle 
also  says  that  the  creature  waits  with  an  earnest  expectation 
for  this  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God,  ver.  19,  which  would 
have  no  foundation  if  the  whole  frame  should  be  reduced  to 
nothing.  What  joyful  expectation  can  there  be  in  any  of  a 
total  ruin  ?  How  should  the  creature  be  capable  of  partaking 
in  this  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God?  As  the  world  for 
the  sin  of  man  lost  its  first  dignity,  and  was  cursed  after  the 
fall,  and  the  beauty  bestowed  upon  it  by  creation  defaced;  so 
it  shall  recover  that  ancient  glory,  when  he  shall  be  fully  re- 
stored by  the  resurrection  to  that  dignity  he  lost  by  his  first 
sin.1  As  man  shall  be  freed  from  his  corruptibility  to  receive 
that  glory  which  is  prepared  for  him;  so  shall  the  creatures  be 
freed  from  that  imperfection  or  corruptibility,  those  stains  and 
spots  upon  the  face  of  them,  to  receive  a  new  glory  suited  to 
their  nature  and  answerable  to  the  design  of  God,  when  the 

1  Hyper,  in  Heb.  i. 


350  0N  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

glorious  liberty  of  the  saints  shall  be  accomplished.  As  when 
a  prince's  nuptials  are  solemnized,  the  whole  country  echoes 
with  joy;  so  the  inanimate  creatures,  when  the  time  of  the  mar- 
riage of  the  Lamb  is  come,  shall  have  a  delight  and  pleasure 
from  that  renovation.1  The  apostle  sets  forth  the  whole  world 
as  a  person  groaning,  and  the  Scripture  is  frequent  in  such 
metaphors;  as  when  the  creatures  are  said  to  wait  upon  God, 
and  to  be  troubled,  Psal.  civ.  27.  29;  the  hills  are  said  to  leap, 
and  the  mountains  to  rejoice:  the  creature  is  said  to  groan,  as 
the  heavens  are  said  to  declare  the  glory  of  God,  passively, 
naturally,  not  rationally.  It  is  not  likely  angels  are  here  meant, 
though  they  cannot  but  desire  it:  since  they  are  affected  with 
the  dishonour  and  reproach  God  has  in  the  world,  they  cannot 
but  long  for  the  restoration  of  his  honour  in  the  restoration  of 
the  creature  to  its  true  end :  and  indeed  the  angels  are  employed 
to  serve  man  in  this  sinful  state,  and  cannot  but  in  holiness  wish 
the  creature  freed  from  his  corruption.  Nor  is  it  meant  of  the 
new  creatures  which  have  the  first  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  those  he 
brings  in  afterwards,  groaning  and  waiting  for  the  adoption, 
ver.  23;  where  he  distinguishes  the  rational  creature  from  the 
creature  he  had  spoken  of  before:  if  he  had  meant  the  believ- 
ing creature  by  that  creature  that  desired  the  liberty  of  the 
sons  of  God,  what  need  had  there  been  of  that  additional  dis- 
tinction. And  not  only  they,  but  we  also,  who  have  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  Spirit,  groan  within  ourselves?  Whereby  it  seems 
he  means  some  creatures  below  rational  creatures,  since  neither 
angels  nor  blessed  souls  can  be  said  to  travail  in  pain,  with  that 
distress  as  a  woman  in  travail  has,  as  the  word  signifies,  who 
perform  the  work  joyfully  which  God  sets  them  upon.2  If  the 
creatures  be  subject  to  vanity  by  the  sin  of  man,  they  shall  also 
partake  of  a  happiness  by  the  restoration  of  man.  The  earth 
has  borne  thorns  and  thistles,  and  venomous  beasts;  the  air  has 
had  its  tempests  and  infectious  qualities;  the  water  has  caused 
its  floods  and  deluges.  The  creature  has  been  abused  to  luxury 
and  intemperance,  and  been  tyrannized  over  by  man,  contrary 
to  the  end  of  its  creation.  It  is  convenient  that  some  time 
should  be  allotted  for  the  creature's  attaining  its  true  end,  and 
that  it  may  partake  of  the  peace  of  man,  as  it  has  done  of  the 
fruits  of  his  sin;  otherwise  it  would  seem  that  sin  had  prevailed 
more  than  grace,  and  would  have  had  more  power  to  deface, 
than  grace  to  restore  things  into  their  due  order. 

Again,  upon  what  account  should  the  Psalmist  exhort  the 
heavens  to  rejoice,  and  the  earth  to  be  glad,  when  God  comes 
to  judge  the  world  with  righteousness,  Psal.  xcvi.  11 — 13,  if 
they  should  be  annihilated  and  sunk  for  ever  into  nothing?  It 
would  seem,  says  Daille,  to  be  an  impertinent  figure,  if  the 

1  Mcstraezat  sur.  Heb.  i.  2  Ibid. 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  35] 

Judge  of  the  world  brought  them  to  a  total  destruction;  and. 
entire  ruin  could  not  be  matter  of  triumph  to  creatures,  who 
naturally  have  that  instinct  or  inclination  nut  into  them  by  their 
Creator  to  preserve  themselves,  and  to  affect  their  own  pre- 
servation. 

Again,  the  Lord  is  to  rejoice  in  his  works:  "  The  glory  of  the 
Lord  shall  endure  for  ever:  the  Lord  shall  rejoice  in  his  works," 
Psal.  civ.  31;  not  has,  but  shall  rejoice  in  his  works;  in  the 
works  of  creation;  which  the  psalmist  had  enumerated,  and 
which  is  the  whole  scope  of  the  psalm:  and  he  intimates  that 
it  is  part  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord  which  endures  for  ever,  that 
is,  his  manifestative  glory,  to  rejoice  in  his  works.  The  glory 
of  the  Lord  must  be  understood  with  reference  to  the  creation 
he  had  spoken  of  before.  How  short  was  that  joy  God  had  in 
his  works  after  he  had  sent  them  beautified  out  of  his  hand! 
How  soon  did  he  repent,  not  only  that  he  had  made  man,  but 
was  grieved  at  the  heart  also,  that  he  made  the  other  creatures 
which  man's  sin  had  disordered!  Gen.  vi.  7.  What  joy  can 
God  have  in  them,  since  the  curse  upon  the  entrance  of  sin  into 
the  world  remains  upon  them?  If  they  are  to  be  annihilated 
upon  the  full  restoration  of  his  holiness,  what  time  will  God 
have  to  rejoice  in  the  other  works  of  creation?  It  is  the  joy  of 
God  to  see  all  his  works  in  their  due  order;  every  one  pointing 
to  their  true  end:  marching  together  in  their  excellency,  accord- 
ing to  his  first  intendment  in  their  creation.  Did  God  create 
the  world  to  perform  its  end  only  for  one  day,  scarce  so  much, 
if  Adam  fell  the  very  first  day  of  his  creation?  What  would 
have  been  their  end,  if  Adam  had  been  confirmed  in  a  state  of 
happiness  as  the  angels  were,  it  is  likely  will  be  answered  and 
performed  upon  the  complete  restoration  of  man  to  that  happy 
state  from  whence  he  fell.  What  artificer  compiles  a  work  by 
his  skill,  but  to  rejoice  in  it?  And  shall  God  have  no  joy  from 
the  works  of  his  hands?  Since  God  can  only  rejoice  in  good- 
ness, the  creatures  must  have  that  goodness  restored  to  them 
which  God  pronounced  them  to  have  at  the  first  creation,  and 
which  he  ordained  them  for,  before  he  can  again  rejoice  in  his 
works.  The  goodness  of  the  creatures  is  the  glory  and  joy  of 
God. 

We  may  infer  from  hence,  what  a  base  and  vile  thing  sin  is, 
which  lays  the  foundation  of  the  world's  change.  Sin  brings  it 
to  decrepid  age;  sin  overturned  the  whole  work  of  God,  Gen.  iii. 
17;  so  that  to  render  it  useful  to  its  proper  end,  there  is  a  neces- 
sity of  a  kind  of  a  new  creating  it.  This  causes  God  to  fire  the 
earth  for  a  purification  of  it  from  that  infection  and  contagion 
brought  upon  it  by  the  apostasy  and  corruption  of  man:  it  has 
served  sinful  man,  and  therefore  must  undergo  a  purging  flame 
to  be  fit  to  serve  the  holy  and  righteous  Creator.     As  sin  is  so 


352  0N  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

riveted  in  the  body  of  man,  that  there  is  need  of  a  change  by 
death  to  raze  it  out;  so  has  the  curse  for  sin  got  so  deep  into 
the  bowels  of  the  world,  that  there  is  need  of  a  change  by  fire 
to  refine  it  for  its  Master's  use.  Let  us  look  upon  sin  with  no 
other  notion  than  as  the  object  of  God's  hatred,  the  cause  of  his 
grief  in  the  creatures,  and  the  spring  of  the  pain  and  ruin  of  the 
world. 

We  may  also  infer,  how  foolish  a  thing  is  it  to  set  our  hearts 
upon  that  which  shall  perish,  and  be  no  more  what  it  is  now. 
The  heavens  and  earth,  the  solidest  and  firmest  parts  of  the 
creation,  shall  not  continue  in  the  posture  they  are;  they  must 
perish,  and  undergo  a  refining  change.  How  feeble  and  weak 
are  the  other  parts  of  the  creation,  the  little  creatures  walking 
upon  and  fluttering  about  the  world,  that  are  perishing  and 
dying  every  day;  and  we  scarce  see  them  clothed  with  life  and 
beauty  this  day,  but  they  wither  and  are  bespoiled  of  all  the 
next!  And  are  such  frail  things  fit  objects  for  our  everlasting 
spirits  and  affections?  Though  the  daily  employment  of  the 
heavens  is  the  declaration  of  the  glory  of  God,  Psal.  xix.  1,  yet 
neither  this,  nor  their  harmony,  order,  beauty,  amazing  great- 
ness and  glory  of  them,  shall  preserve  them  from  a  dissolution 
and  melting  at  the  presence  of  the  Lord.  Though  they  have 
remained  in  the  same  posture  from  the  creation  to  this  day,  and 
are  of  so  great  antiquity;  yet  they  must  bow  down  to  a  change 
before  the  will  and  word  of  their  Creator.  And  shall  we  rest 
upon  that  which  shall  vanish  like  smoke?  Shall  we  take  any 
creature  for  our  support  like  ice,  that  will  crack  under  our  feet, 
and  must  by  the  order  of  their  Lord  Creator  deceive  our  hopes? 
Perishing  things  can  be  no  support  to  the  soul;  if  we  would 
have  rest,  we  must  run  to  God  and  rest  in  God.  How  con- 
temptible should  that  be  to  us,  whose  fashion  shall  pass  away, 
which  shall  not  endure  long  in  its  present  form  and  appearance ! 
contemptible  as  a  rest,  not  contemptible  as  the  work  of  God; 
contemptible  as  an  end,  not  contemptible  as  a  means  to  attain 
our  end.  If  these  must  be  changed,  how  unworthy  are  other 
things  to  be  the  centre  of  our  souls,  that  change  in  our  very 
using  of  them,  and  slide  away  in  our  very  enjoyment  of  them! 

"  Thou  art  the  same."  The  essence  of  God,  with  all  the 
perfections  of  his  nature,  are  pronounced  the  same,  without  any 
variation,  from  eternity  to  eternity:  so  that  the  text  does  not 
only  assert  the  eternal  duration  of  God,  but  his  immutability  in 
that  duration:  his  eternity  is  signified  in  that  expression,  "thou 
shalt  endure;"  his  immutability  in  this,  "thou  art  the  same." 
To  endure,  argues  indeed  his  immutability  as  well  as  eternity;1 
for  what  endures  is  not  changed,  and  what  is  changed  does  not 
endure;  but  "  thou  art  the  same"2  does  more  fully  signify  it. 

1  Estius  in  Heb.  1.  2  Chrysostom. 


ON  THE  1MMUTAHILITY  OF  GOD. 


.",;,:: 


He  could  not  be  the  same  if  he  could  be  changed  into  any  other 
tiling  than  what  he  is.  The  psalmist  therefore  puts,  not  thou 
hast  been,  or  shalt  be,  but  thou  art  the  same  without  any  altera- 
tion; thou  art  the  same,  that  is,  the  same  God,  the  same  in 
essence  and  nature,  the  same  in  will  and  purpose.  Thou  dost 
change  all  other  things  as  thou  pleasest;  hut  thou  art  immutable 
in  every  respect,  and  receivest  no  shadow  of  change,  though 
never  so  light  and  small.1  The  psalmist  here  alludes  to  the 
name  Jehovah,  "  I  am;"  and  does  not  only  ascribe  immutability 
to  God,  but  excludes  every  thing  else  from  partaking  in  that  per- 
fection. All  things  else  are  tottering;  God  sees  all  other  things 
in  continual  motion  under  his  feet,  like  water  passing  away  and 
no  more  seen,  while  he  remains  fixed  and  immovable :  his  wis- 
dom and  power,  his  knowledge  and  will  are  always  the  same. 
His  essence  can  receive  no  alteration,  neither  by  itself,  nor  by 
any  external  cause;  whereas  other  things  either  naturally  de- 
cline to  destruction,  pass  from  one  term  to  another  till  they 
come  to  their  period;  or  shall  at  the  last  day  be  wrapped  up, 
after  God  lias  completed  his  will  in  them  and  by  them;  as  a 
man  does  a  garment  he  intends  to  repair  and  transform  to  an- 
other use. 

So  that  in  the  text  God  as  immutable,  is  opposed  to  all  crea- 
tures as  perishing  and  changeable. 

Doctrine.  God  is  unchangeable  in  his  essence,  nature,  and 
perfections.  Immutability  and  eternity  are  linked  together; 
and  indeed  true  eternity  is  true  immutability,  whence  eternity 
is  defined  the  possession  of  an  immutable  life.  Yet  immuta- 
bility differs  from  eternity  in  our  conception:  immutability  re- 
spects the  essence  or  existence  of  a  thing,  eternity  respects  the 
duration  of  a  being  in  that  state;  or  rather,2  immutability  is 
the  state  itself,  eternity  is  the  measure  of  that  state.  A  thing 
is  said  to  be  changed,  when  it  is  otherwise  now  in  regard  of 
nature,  state,  will,  or  any  quality  than  it  was  before;  when 
either  something  is  added  to  it  or  taken  from  it;  when  it  either 
loses  or  acquires;  but  now  it  is  the  essential  property  of  God, 
not  to  have  any  accession  to  or  diminution  of  his  essence  or 
attributes,  but  to  remain  entirely  the  same:  he  wants  nothing; 
he  loses  nothing;  but  does  uniformly  exist  by  himself,  without 
any  new  nature,  new  thoughts,  new  will,  new  purpose,  or  new 
place. 

This  unchangeableness  of  God  was  anciently  represented  by 
the  figure  of  a  cube,  a  piece  of  metal  or  wood  framed  four- 
square; when  every  side  is  exactly  of  the  same  equality,  cast 
it  which  way  you  will,  it  will  always  be  in  the  same  posture, 

1  AXXoiw(jfc«j  xp'ttttm',  above  all  change,  Thcodor. 
1  Gamacheus. 

Vol.  I. — 15 


354  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

because  it  is  equal  to  itself  in  all  its  dimensions.1  He  was  there- 
fore said  to  be  the  centre  of  all  things,  and  other  things  the 
circumference ;  the  centre  is  never  moved,  while  the  circum- 
ference is;  it  remains  immovable  in  the  midst  of  the  circle. 
There  is  no  variableness  nor  shadow  of  turning  with  him, 
James  i.  17.  The  moon  has  her  spots,  so  has  the  sun;  there 
is  a  mixture  of  light  and  darkness;  it  has  its  changes;  some- 
times it  is  in  the  increase,  sometimes  in  the  wane ;  it  is  always 
either  gaining  or  losing,  and  by  the  turnings  and  motions,  either 
of  the  heavenly  bodies  or  of  the  earth,  it  is  in  its  eclipse,  by 
the  interposition  of  the  earth  between  that  and  the  sun.  The 
sun  also  has  its  diurnal  and  annual  motion;  it  rises  and  sets, 
and  puts  on  a  different  face.  It  does  not  always  shine  with  a 
noon-day  light;  it  is  sometimes  veiled  with  clouds  and  va- 
pours; it  is  always  going  from  one  tropic  to  another,  whereby 
it  makes  various  shadows  on  the  earth,  and  produces  the  va- 
rious seasons  of  the  year ;  it  is  not  always  in  our  hemisphere, 
nor  does  it  always  shine  with  an  equal  force  and  brightness  in 
it.  Such  shadows  and  variations  have  no  place  in  the  eternal 
Father  of  lights;  he  has  not  the  least  spot  or  diminution  of 
brightness;  nothing  can  cloud  him  or  eclipse  him.  For  the 
better  understanding  this  perfection  of  God, 

I  shall  premise  three  things. 

The  immutability  of  God  is  a  perfection.  Immutability 
considered  in  itself,  without  relation  to  other  things,  is  not  a 
perfection.  It  is  the  greatest  misery  and  imperfection  of  the 
evil  angels,  that  they  are  immutable  in  malice  against  God. 
But  as  God  is  infinite  in  essence,  infinitely  good,  wise,  holy; 
so  it  is  a  perfection  necessary  to  his  nature,  that  he  should  be 
immutably  all  this;  all  excellency,  goodness,  wisdom,  immuta- 
bly all  that  he  is:  without  this  he  would  be  an  imperfect  being. 
Are  not  the  angels  in  heaven,  who  are  confirmed  in  a  holy  and 
happy  stale,  more  perfect  than  when  they  were  in  a  possibility 
of  committing  evil  and  becoming  miserable?  Are  not  the  saints 
in  heaven,  whose  wills  by  grace  do  unalterably  cleave  to  God 
and  goodness,  more  perfect  than  if  they  were  as  Adam  in  para- 
dise, capable  of  losing  their  felicity  as  well  as  preserving  it  ? 
We  count  a  rock  in  regard  of  its  stability,  more  excellent  than 
the  dust  of  the  ground,  or  a  feather  that  is  tossed  about  with 
every  wind;  is  it  not  also  the  perfection  of  the  body  to  have  a 
constant  tenor  of  health,  and  the  glory  of  a  man  not  to  warp 
aside  from  what  is  just  and  right,  by  the  persuasions  of  any 
temptations? 

Immutability  is  a  glory  belonging  to  all  the  attributes  of 
God.  It  is  not  a  single  perfection  of  the  Divine  nature,  nor  is 
it  limited  to  particular  objects  thus  and  thus  disposed.  Mercy 
1  Amyraut  sur.  Heb.  ix.  p.  153. 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  355 

and  justice  have  their  distinct  objects,  and  distinct  acts;  mercy- 
is  conversant  about  a  penitent,  justice  conversant  about  an  ob- 
stinate sinner.  In  our  notion  and  conception  of  the  Divine 
perfections,  bis  perfections  are  different;  the  wisdom  of  God  is 
not  his  power,  nor  his  power  his  holiness;  but  immutability  is 
the  centre  wherein  they  ail  unite.  There  is  not  one  perfection 
but  may  be  said  to  be,  and  truly  is  immutable;  none  of  them 
will  appear  so  glorious  without  this  beam,  this  sun  of  immuta- 
bility, which  renders  them  highly  excellent  without  the  least 
shadow  of  imperfection.  How  cloudy  would  his  blessedness 
be,  if  it  were  changeable!  How  dim  his  wisdom,  if  it  might 
be  obscured!  How  feeble  his  power  if  it  were  capable  to  be 
sickly  and  languish!  How  would  mercy  lose  much  of  its  lustre 
if  it  could  change  into  wrath;  and  justice  much  of  its  dread,  if 
it  could  be  turned  into  mercy;  while  the  object  of  justice  re- 
mains unfit  for  mercy,  and  one  that  has  need  of  mercy  continues 
only  fit  for  the  Divine  fury!  But  unchangeableness  is  a  thread 
that  runs  through  the  whole  web;  it  is  the  enamel  of  all  the 
rest;  none  of  them  without  it  could  look  with  a  trumphant  as- 
pect. His  power  is  unchangeable;  "In  the  Lord  Jehovah  is 
everlasting  strength,"  Isa.  xxvi.  4.  His  mercy  and  his  holiness 
endure  for  ever;  he  never  could,  nor  ever  can  look  upon  ini- 
quity, Hab.  i.  13.  He  is  a  Rock  in  the  righteousness  of  his 
ways,  the  truth  of  his  word,  the  holiness  of  his  proceedings, 
and  the  rectitude  of  his  nature.  All  are  expressed,  Deut.  xxxii. 
4:  "He  is  a  Rock,  his  work  is  perfect:  for  ah  his  ways  are 
judgment:  a  God  of  truth  and  without  iniquity,  just  and  right 
is  he."  All  that  we  consider  in  God  is  unchangeable;  for  his 
essence  and  his  properties  are  the  same,  and  therefore  what  is 
necessarily  belonging  to  the  essence  of  God,  belongs  also  to 
every  perfection  of  the  nature  of  God;  none  of  them  can  re- 
ceive any  addition  or  diminution.  From  the  unchangeableness 
of  his  nature,  the  apostle,  James  i.  17,  infers  the  unchangeable- 
ness  of  his  holiness;  and  himself,  in  Mal.iii.  6,  the  unchange- 
ableness of  his  counsel. 

Unchangeableness  does  necessarily  pertain  to  the  nature 
of  God.  It  is  of  the  same  necessity  with  the  rectitude  of  his 
nature;  he  can  no  more  be  changeable  in  his  essence,  than 
he  can  be  unrighteous  in  his  actions.  God  is  a  necessary  bcin_r  j 
he  is  necessarily  what  he  is,  and  therefore  is  unchangeably 
what  lie  is.  Mutability  belongs  to  contingency.  If  any  per- 
fection of  his  nature  could  be  separated  from  him,  he  would 
cease  to  be  God.  What  did  not  possess  the  whole  nature 
of  God,  could  not  have  the  essence  of  God;  it  is  reciprocated 
with  the  nature  of  God.  Whatsoever  is  immutable  by  nature, 
is  God;  whatsoever  is  God,  is  immutable  by  nature.  Some 
creatures  are  immutable  by  his  grace  and  power:  God  is  holy, 


356  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

happy,  wise,  good  by  his  essence  ;••  angels  and  men  are  made 
holy,  wise,  happy,  strong,  and  good  by  qualities  and  graces: 
the  holiness,  happiness,  and  wisdom  of  saints  and  angels,  as 
they  had  a  beginning,  so  they  are  capable  of  increase  and  dimi- 
nution, and  of  an  end  also  ;  for  their  standing  is  not  from  them- 
selves, or  from  the  nature  of  created  strength,  holiness,  or  wis- 
dom, which  in  themselves  are  apt  to  fail,  and  finally  to  decay; 
but  from  the  stability  and  confirmation  they  have  by  the  gift 
and  grace  of  God.  The  heaven  and  earth  shall  be  changed, 
and  after  that  renewal  and  reparation,  they  shall  not  be  changed. 
Our  bodies  after  the  resurrection  shall  not  be  changed,  but 
for  ever  be  made  conformable  to  the  glorious  body  of  Christ, 
Phil.  iii.  21  ;  but  this  is  by  the  powerful  grace  of  God.  So  that 
indeed  those  things  may  be  said  afterwards  rather  to  be  un- 
changed than  unchangeable,  because  they  are  not  so  by  nature, 
but  by  sovereign  dispensation.  As  creatures  have  not  neces- 
sary beings,  so  they  have  not  necessary  immutability.  Neces- 
sity of  being,  and  therefore  immutabilty  of  being,  belongs  by 
nature  only  to  God;  otherwise,  if  there  were  any  change  in 
God  he  would  be  sometimes  what  he  was  not,  and  would 
cease  to  be  what  he  was;  which  is  against  the  nature,  and  in- 
deed against  the  natural  notion  of  a  Deity.     Let  us  see  then, 

In  what  respects  God  is  immutable. — Prove  that  God  is 
immutable. — That  this  is  proper  to  God,  and  incommuni- 
cable to  any  creature. — Some  propositions  to  clear  the  un- 
changeableness  of  God  from  any  thing  that  seems  contrary  to 
it.     The  use. 

1.  In  what  respects  God  is  unchangeable. 

(1.)  God  is  unchangeable  in  his  essence.  He  is  unalterably 
fixed  in  his  being,  that  not  a  particle  of  it  can  be  lost  from  it, 
not  a  mite  added  to  it.  If  a  man  continue  in  being  as  long  as 
Methuselah,  nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine  years;  yet  there  is 
not  a  day,  nay  an  hour,  wherein  there  is  not  some  altera- 
tion in  his  substance ;  though  no  substantial  part  is  wanting, 
yet  there  is  an  addition  to  him  by  his  food,  a  diminution  of 
something  by  his  labour;  he  is  always  making  some  acquisition, 
or  suffering  some  loss.  But  in  God  there  can  be  no  alteration, 
by  the  accession  of  any  thing  to  make  his  substance  greater  or 
better,  or  by  diminution  to  make  it  less  or  worse.  He  who  has 
no  being  from  another,  cannot  but  be  always  what  he  is:  God 
is  the  first  being,  an  independent  being;  he  was  not  produced 
of  himself,  or  of  any  other,  but  by  nature  always  has  been; 
and  therefore  cannot  by  himself  or  by  any  other,  be  changed  from 
what  he  is  in  his  own  nature.  That  which  is  not,  may  as  well 
assume  to  itself  a  being,  as  he,  who  has  and  is  all  being,  have 
the  least  change  from  what  he  is.  Again,  because  he  is  a 
Spirit,  he  is  not  subject  to  those  mutations  which  are  found  in 
1  Archbold.  Serm. 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  357 

corporeal  and  bodily  natures.  Because  he  is  an  absolutely 
simple  Spirit,  not  having  the  least  particle  of  composition,  he  is 
not  capable  of  those  changes  which  may  he  in  created  spirits. 

[1.]  If  his  essence  were  mutable,  (iod  would  not  truly  be;  it 
could  not  be  truly  said  by  himself,  "  I  am  that  I  am."  Exod. 
iii.  14,  if  he  were  such  a  thing  or  being  at  this  time,  and  a  dif- 
ferent being  at  another  time.  Whatsoever  is  changed,  properly 
is  not,  because  it  does  not  remain  to  be  what  it  was.  That 
which  is  changed  was  something,  is  something,  and  will  be 
something;  a  being  remains  to  that  thing  which  is  changed;  yet 
though  it  may  be  said  such  a  thing  is,  yet  it  may  be  also  said 
such  a  thing  is  not,  because  it  is  not  what  it  was  in  its  first  be- 
ing: it  is  not  now  what  it  was,  it  is  now  what  it  was  not;  it  is 
another  thing  than  it  was;  it  was  another  thing  than  it  is;  it 
will  be  another  thing  than  what  it  is  or  was:  it  is  indeed  a  be- 
ing, but  a  different  being  from  what  it  was  before.  But  if  God 
were  changed,  it  could  not  be  said  of  him  that  he  is,  but  it  might 
also  be  said  of  him  that  he  is  not;  or  if  he  were  changeable  or 
could  be  changed,  it  might  be  said  of  him,  he  is,  but  he  will  not 
be  what  he  is,  or  he  may  not  be  what  he  is,  but  there  will  be 
or  may  be  some  difference  in  his  being;  and  so  God  would  not 
be  u  I  am  that  I  am;"  for  though  he  would  not  cease  utterly  to 
be,  yet  he  would  cease  to  be  what  he  was  before. 

[2.]  Again,  if  his  essence  were  mutable,  he  could  not  be  per- 
fectly blessed,  and  fully  rejoice  in  himself.  If  he  changed  for 
the  better,  he  could  not  have  an  infinite  pleasure  in  what  he 
was  before  the  change,  because  he  was  not  infinitely  blessed; 
and  the  pleasure  of  that  state  could  not  be  of  a  higher  kind  than 
the  state  itself,  or  at  least  the  apprehension  of  a  happiness  in  it: 
if  he  changed  for  the  worse,  he  could  not  have  a  pleasure  in  it 
after  the  change;  for  according  to  the  diminution  of  his  state, 
would  be  the  decrease  of  his  pleasure.  His  pleasure  could  not 
be  infinite  before  the  change,  if  he  changed  for  the  better;  it 
could  not  be  infinite  after  the  change,  if  he  changed  for  the 
worse;  if  he  changed  for  the  better,  he  would  not  have  had  an 
infinite  goodness  of  being  before;  and  not  having  an  infinite 
goodness  of  being,  he  would  have  a  finite  goodness  of  being; 
for  there  is  no  medium  between  finite  and  infinite.  Then 
though  the  change  were  for  the  better,  yet  being  finite  before, 
something  would  be  still  wanting  to  make  him  infinitely  bless- 
ed; because  being  finite,  he  could  not  change  to  that  which  is 
infinite;  for  finite  and  infinite  are  extremes  so  distant  that  they 
can  never  pass  into  one  another ;  that  is,  that  that  which  is  finite 
should  become  infinite,  or  that  which  is  infinite  should  become 
finite:  so  that  supposing  him  mutable,  his  essence  in  no  state  of 
change  could  furnish  him  with  an  infinite  peace  and  blessed- 
ness. 


358  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

[3.]  Again,  if  God's  essence  be  changed,  he  either  increases 
or  diminishes.1  Whatsoever  is  changed,  does  either  gain  by 
receiving  something  larger  and  greater  than  it  had  in  itself  be- 
fore, or  gains  nothing  by  being  changed.  If  the  former,  then  it 
receives  more  than  itself,  more  than  it  had  in  itself  before.  The 
Divine  nature  cannot  be  increased;  for  whatsoever  receives  any 
thing  besides  what  it  had  in  itself  before,  must  necessarily  re- 
ceive it  from  another,  because  nothing  can  give  to  itself  that 
which  it  has  not:  but  God  cannot  receive  from  another  what  he 
has  not  already,  because  whatsoever  other  things  possess,  is 
derived  from  him,  and  therefore  contained  in  him,  as  the  foun- 
tain contains  the  virtue  in  itself  which  it  conveys  to  the  streams; 
so  that  God  cannot  gain  any  thing.  If  a  thing  that  is  changed 
gain  nothing  by  that  change,  it  loses  something  of  what  it  had 
before  in  itself;  and  this  loss  must  be  by  itself  or  some  other.  God 
cannot  receive  any  loss  from  any  thing  in  himself;  he  cannot 
will  his  own  diminution;  that  is  repugnant  to  every  nature. 
He  may  as  well  will  his  own  destruction  as  his  own  decrease. 
Every  decrease  is  a  partial  destruction.  But  it  is  impossible 
for  God  to  die  any  kind  of  death,  to  have  any  resemblance  of 
death,  for  he  is  immortal  and  only  has  immortality,  1  Tim.  vi. 
16,  therefore  impossible  to  be  diminished  in  any  particle  of  his 
essence.  Nor  can  he  be  diminished  by  any  thing  in  his  own 
nature,  because  his  infinite  simplicity  admits  of  nothing  distinct 
from  himself,  or  contrary  to  himself.  All  decreases  come  from 
something  contrary  to  the  nature  of  that  thing  which  does  de- 
crease. Whatsoever  is  made  less  than  itself,  was  not  truly 
unutn,  one  and  simple,  because  that  which  divides  itself  in  sepa- 
ration was  not  the  same  in  conjunction.  Nor  can  he  be  dimin- 
ished by  any  other  without  himself;  because  nothing  is  superior 
to  God,  nothing  stronger  than  God  which  can  oppress  him. 
But  whatsoever  is  changed,  is  weaker  than  that  which  changes 
it,  and  sinks  under  a  power  it  cannot  successfully  resist:  weak- 
ness belongs  not  to  the  Deity.  Nor,  lastly,  can  God  change 
from  a  state  wherein  he  is,  to  another  state  equal  to  the  former, 
as  men  in  some  cases  may  do  ;2  for  in  passing  from  one  state  to 
another  equal  to  it,  something  must  be  parted  with  which  he 
had  before,  that  some  other  thing  may  accrue  to  him  as  a  recom- 
pense for  that  loss,  to  make  him  equal  to  what  he  was.  This 
recompense  then  he  had  not  before,  though  he  had  something 
equal  to  it.  And  in  this  case  it  could  not  be  said  by  God,  "  I 
am  that  I  am,"  but,  I  am  equal  to  what  I  was ;  for  in  this  case 
there  would  be  a  diminution  and  increase  which  (as  was  show- 
ed) cannot  be  in  God. 

[4.]    Again,  God  is  of  himself,  from  no  other.3     Natures 
which  are  made  by  God,  may  increase,  because  they  began  to 

1  Hugo  Victorin.  in  Petavio.    2  Victorinus  in  Petavio.     3  A ustin.  Fulgen.  in  Petavio. 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  ;»-)() 

be;  they  may  decrease,  because  they  were  made  of  nothing, 
and  so  tend  to  nothing;  the  condition  of  their  original  leads 
them  to  defect,  and  the  power  of  their  Creator  brings  them  to 
increase.  But  God  lias  no  original,  he  has  no  defect,  because 
he  was  not  made  of  nothing;  he  has  no  increase,  because  he 
had  no  beginning:  he  was  before  all  things,  and  therefore  de- 
pends upon  no  other  thing  which  by  its  own  change  can  bring 
any  change  upon  him.  That  which  is  from  itself,  cannot  be 
changed,  because  it  has  nothing  before  it,  nothing  more  excel- 
lent than  itself;  but  that  which  is  from  another,  as  its  first  cause 
and  chief  good,  may  be  changed  by  that  which  was  its  efficient 
cause  and  last  end. ' 

(2.)  God  is  immutable  in  regard  of  knowledge.  God  has 
known  from  all  eternity  all  that  which  he  can  know,  so  that 
nothing  is  hid  from  him;  he  knows  not  at  present  anymore 
than  he  has  known  from  eternity,  and  that  which  he  knows 
now,  he  always  knows;  all  things  are  open  and  naked  before 
him,  Ileb.  iv\  13.  A  man  is  said  to  be  changed  in  regard  of 
knowledge,  when  he  knows  that  now  which  he  did  not  know 
before,  or  knows  that  to  be  false  now  which  he  thought  true 
before,  or  has  something  for  the  object  of  his  understanding 
now  which  he  had  not  before.     But, 

[1.]  This  would  be  repugnant  to  the  wisdom  and  omniscience 
which  belongs  to  the  notion  of  a  Deity.  That  cannot  be  God, 
that  is  not  infinitely  wise;  that  cannot  be  infinitely  wise,  that 
is  either  ignorant  of  or  mistaken  in  his  apprehension  of  any 
one  thing.  If  God  be  changed  in  knowledge,  it  must  be  for 
want  of  wisdom;  all  change  of  this  nature  in  creatures  implies 
this  defect  preceding  or  accompanying  it.  Such  a  thought  of 
God  would  have  been  unworthy  of  him  that  is  "only  wise;" 
that  has  no  equal  for  wisdom,  1  Tim.  i.  17;  none  wise  beside 
himself.  If  he  knew  that  thing  this  day  which  he  knew  not 
before,  he  would  not  be  an  only  wise  being;  for  a  being  that 
did  know  every  thing  at  once  might  be  conceived,  and  so  a 
wiser  being  be  apprehended  by  the  mind  of  man.  If  God  un- 
derstood a  thing  at  one  time,  which  he  did  not  at  another,  he 
would  be  changed  from  ignorance  to  knowledge,  as  if  he  could 
not  do  that  this  day  which  he  could  do  to-morrow,  he  would  be 
changed  from  impotence  to  power.  He  could  not  be  always 
omniscient,  because  there  might  be  yet  something  still  to  come 
which  he  yet  knows  not,  though  he  may  know  all  things  that 
are  past.  What  way  soever  you  suppose  a  change,  you  must 
suppose  a  present  or  a  past  ignorance;  if  he  be  changed  in  his 
knowledge  for  the  perfection  of  his  understanding,  he  was  ig- 
norant before;  if  his  understanding  be  impaired  by  the  change, 
he  is  ignorant  after  it. 

'  Pctav.  torn.  1.  p.  173. 


360  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

[2.]  If  God  were  changeable  in  his  knowledge,  it  would 
make  him  unfit  to  be  an  object  of  trust  to  any  rational  crea- 
ture. His  revelations  would  want  the  due  ground  for  enter- 
tainment, if  his  understanding  were  changeable,  for  that  might 
be  revealed  as  truth  now  which  might  prove  false  hereafter, 
and  that  as  false  now  which  hereafter  might  prove  true;  and 
so  God  would  be  an  object  of  obedience  in  regard  of  his  pre- 
cepts, and  an  unfit  object  of  confidence  in  regard  of  his  pro- 
mises. For  if  he  be  changeable  in  knowledge,  he  is  defective 
in  knowledge,  and  might  promise  that  now  which  he  would 
know  afterwards  was  unfit  to  be  promised,  and  therefore  unfit 
to  be  performed.  It  would  make  him  an  incompetent  object  of 
dread,  in  regard  of  his  threatenings;  for  he  might  threaten  that 
now,  which  he  might  know  hereafter  were  not  fit  or  just  to  be 
inflicted.  A  changeable  mind  and  understanding  cannot  make 
a  due  and  right  judgment  of  things  to  be  done  and  things  to  be 
avoided.  No  wise  man  would  judge  it  reasonable  to  trust  a 
weak  and  Hitting  person. 

God  must  needs  be  unchangeable  in  his  knowledge.  But, 
as  the  schoolmen  say,  that,  as  the  sun  always  shines,  so  God 
always  knows;  as  the  sun  never  ceases  to  shine,  so  God  never 
ceases  to  know.  Nothing  can  be  hid  from  the  vast  compass  of 
his  understanding,  no  more  than  any  thing  can  shelter  itself 
without  the  verge  of  his  power.     This  further  appears  in  that, 

God  knows  by  his  own  essence.  He  does  not  know  as  we 
do,  by  habits,  qualities,  species,  whereby  we  may  be  mistaken 
at  one  time,  and  rectified  at  another.  He  has  not  an  under- 
standing distinct  from  his  essence,  as  we  have,  but  being  the 
most  simple  being,  his  understanding  is  his  essence;  and  as 
from  the  infiniteness  of  his  essence  we  conclude  the  infiniteness 
of  his  understanding,  so  from  the  unchangeableness  of  his 
essence  we  may  justly  conclude  the  unchangeableness  of  his 
knowledge.  Since  therefore  God  is  without  all  composition, 
and  his  understanding  is  not  distinct  from  his  essence,  what  he 
knows,  he  knows  by  his  essence;  and  there  can  then  be  no 
more  mutability  in  his  knowledge  than  there  can  be  in  his 
essence;  and  if  there  were  any  in  that,  he  could  not  be  God, 
because  he  would  have  the  property  of  a  creature.  If  his  un- 
derstanding then  be  his  essence,  his  knowledge  is  as  necessary, 
as  unchangeable  as  his  essence.  As  his  essence  eminently  con- 
tains all  perfections  in  itself,  so  his  understanding  comprehends 
all  things  past,  present,  and  future,  in  itself.  If  his  understand- 
ing and  his  essence  were  not  one  and  the  same,  he  were  not 
simple  but  compounded;  if  compounded,  he  would  consist  of 
parts;  if  he  consisted  of  parts,  he  would  not  be  an  independent 
being,  and  so  would  not  be  God. 

God  knows  all  things  by  one  intuitive  act.     As  there  is  no 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  3(5 1 

succession  in  his  being  so  that  he  is  one  thing  now  and  another 
tiling  hereafter,  so  there  is  no  succession  in  his  knowledge.  He 
knows  things  that  are  successive,  before  their  existence  and 
succession,  by  one  single  act  of  intuition;  by  one  cast  of  his 
eye  all  things  future  are  present  to  him  in  regard  of  his  eter- 
nity and  omnipresence:  so  that  though  there  is  a  change  and 
variation  in  the  things  known,  yet  his  knowledge  of  them  and 
their  several  changes  in  nature,  is  invariable  and  unalterable. 
As  imagine  a  creature  that  could  see  with  his  eye  at  one  glance 
the  whole  compass  of  the  heavens,  by  sending  out  beams  from 
his  eye  without  receiving  any  species  from  them,  he  would  see 
the  whole  heavens  uniformly;  this  part  now  in  the  east,  then 
in  the  west,  without  any  change  in  his  eye;  for  he  sees  every 
part  and  every  motion  together:  and  though  that  great  body 
varies  and  whirls  about,  and  is  in  continual  agitation,  his  eye 
remains  steadfast,  suffers  no  change,  beholds  all  their  motions 
at  once  and  by  one  glance.  God  knows  all  things  from  eternity, 
and  therefore  perpetually  knows  them;1  the  reason  is  because 
the  Divine  knowledge  is  infinite,  and  therefore  comprehends 
all  knowable  truths  at  once.2  An  eternal  knowledge  compre- 
hends in  itself  all  time,  and  beholds  past  and  present  in  the 
same  manner,  and  therefore  his  knowledge  is  immutable.  By 
one  simple  knowledge  he  considers  the  infinite  spaces  of  past 
and  future. 

God's  knowledge  and  will  is  the  cause  of  all  things  and  their 
successions.  There  can  be  no  pretence  of  any  changeableness 
of  knowledge  in  God,  but  in  this  case,  before  things  come  to 
pass,  he  knows  that  they  will  come  to  pass;  after  they  are 
come  to  pass,  he  knows  that  they  are  past  and  slid  away.3  This 
would  be  something  if  the  succession  of  things  were  the  cause 
of  the  Divine  knowledge,  as  it  is  of  our  knowledge;  but  on  the 
contrary,  the  Divine  knowledge  and  will  is  the  cause  of  the 
succession  of  them:  God  does  not  know  creatures  because  they 
are,  but  they  are  because  he  knows  them.  "All  his  works 
were  known  to  him  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,"  Acts 
xv.  IS.  All  his  works  were  not  known  to  him,  if  the  events 
of  all  those  works  were  not  also  known  to  him;  if  they  were 
not  known  to  him  how  should  he  make  them?  He  could  not 
do  any  thing  ignorantly:  he  made  them  then  after  he  knew 
them,  and  did  not  know  them  after  he  made  them:  his  know- 
ledge of  them  made  a  change  in  them,  their  existence  made  no 
change  in  his  knowledge:  he  knew  them  when  they  were  to 
be  created,  in  the  same  manner  that  he  knew  them  after  they 
were  created;  before  they  were  brought  into  action,  as  well  as 
after  they  were  brought  into  action;  before  they  were  made, 

'  Saurez.  vol.  1.  p.  137.  2  «  Jlis  understanding  is  infinite,"  Psal.  cxlvii.  5. 

3  Austin.  Bradwardine. 
Vol.  I.— 46 


362  ON  TIIE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

they  were,  and  were  not;  they  were  in  the  knowledge  of  God, 
when  they  were  not  in  their  own  nature.  God  did  not  receive 
his  knowledge  from  their  existence,  but  his  knowledge  and  will 
acted  upon  them  to  bring  them  into  being. 

Therefore  the  distinction  of  past  and  future  makes  no  change 
in  the  knowledge  of  God.  When  a  thing  is  past,  God  has  no 
more  distinct  knowledge  of  it  after  it  is  past,  than  he  had  when 
it  was  to  come;  all  things  were  in  all  their  circumstances  of 
past,  present,  and  to  come,  seen  by  his  understanding,  as  they 
were  determined  by  his  will.  Besides,  to  know  a  day  to  be 
past  or  future,  is  only  to  know  the  state  of  that  day  in  itself, 
and  to  know  its  relation  to  that  which  follows  and  that  which 
went  before.1  This  day  wherein  we  are,  if  we  consider  it  in 
the  state  wherein  it  was  yesterday,  it  was  to  come,  it  was 
future;  but  if  we  consider  it  in  that  state  wherein  it  will  be  to- 
morrow, we  understand  it  as  past.  This  in  man  cannot  be  said 
to  be  a  different  knowledge  of  the  thing  itself,  but  only  of  the 
circumstance  attending  a  thing,  and  the  different  relation  of  it. 
As  I  see  the  sun  this  day,  I  know  it  was  up  yesterday,  I  know 
it  will  be  up  to-morrow;  my  knowledge  of  the  sun  is  the  same; 
if  there  be  any  change  it  is  in  the  sun,  not  in  my  knowledge, 
only  I  apply  my  knowledge  to  such  particular  circumstances. 
How  much  more  must  the  knowledge  of  those  things  in  God 
be  unchangeable,  who  knows  all  those  states,  conditions,  and 
circumstances  most  perfectly  from  eternity,  wherein  there  is  no 
succession,  no  past  or  future,  and  therefore  will  know  them 
for  ever!  He  always  beholds  the  same  thing;  he  sees  indeed 
succession  in  things,  and  he  sees  a  thing  to  be  past  which  be- 
fore was  future,  as  from  eternity  he  saw  Adam  as  existing  in 
such  a  time;  in  the  first  time  he  saw  that  he  would  be,  in  the 
following  time  he  saw  that  he  had  been.  But  this  he  knew 
from  eternity,  this  he  knew  in  the  same  manner;  though  there 
was  a  variation  in  Adam,  yet  there  was  no  variation  in  God's 
knowledge  of  him  in  all  his  states;  though  Adam  was  not  pre- 
sent to  himself,  yet  in  all  his  states  he  was  present  to  God's 
eternity. 

Consider  also,  that  the  knowledge  of  God,  in  regard  of  the 
manner  of  it  as  well  as  the  objects,  is  incomprehensible  to  a 
finite  creature.  So  that  though  we  cannot  arrive  to  a  full 
understanding  of  the  manner  of  God's  knowledge,  yet  we  must 
conceive  so  of  it,  as  to  remove  all  imperfection  from  him  in  it. 
And  since  it  is  an  imperfection  to  be  changeable,  we  must  re- 
move that  from  God;  the  knowledge  of  God  about  things  past, 
present,  and  future,  must  be  inconceivably  above  ours:  "  His 
understanding  is  infinite,"  Psal.  cxlvii.  5.  There  is  no  number 
of  it;  it  can  no  more  be  calculated  or  drawn  into  an  account 

1  Gamach.  1.  p.  Aquin.  qu.  9.  cap.  1.  pa.  73. 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  353 

by  us,  than  infinite  spaces  which  have  no  bounds  and  limits 
can  be  measured  by  us.  We  can  no  more  arrive,  even  in 
heaven,  to  a  comprehensive  understanding  of  the  manner  of 
his  knowledge,  than  of  the  infinite  glory  of  his  essence;  we 
may  as  well  comprehend  one  as  the  other.  This  we  must  con- 
clude, that  God  being  not  a  body,  does  not  see  one  thing  with 
eyes  and  another  thing  with  mind,  as  we  do;  but  being  a  Spi- 
rit, he  sees  and  knows  only  with  mind,  and  his  mind  is  him- 
self, and  is  as  unchangeable  as  himself;  and  therefore  as  he  is 
not  now  another  thing  than  what  he  was,  so  he  knows  not  any 
thing  now  in  another  manner  than  as  he  knew  it  from  eternity. 
He  sees  all  things  in  the  glass  of  his  own  essence;  as  therefore 
the  glass  does  not  vary,  so  neither  does  his  vision. 

(3.)  God  is  unchangeable  in  regard  of  his  will  and  purpose. 
A  change  in  purpose  is,  when  a  man  determines  to  do  that 
now  which  before  he  determined  not  to  do,  or  to  do  the  con- 
trary; when  a  man  hates  that  thing  which  he  loved,  or  begins 
to  love  that  which  he  before  hated.  When  the  will  is  changed, 
a  man  begins  to  will  that  which  he  willed  not  before,  and 
ceases  to  will  that  which  he  willed  before:  but  whatsoever  God 
has  decreed,  is  immutable;  whatsoever  God  has  promised, 
shall  be  accomplished;  the  word  that  goes  forth  of  his  mouth 
shall  not  return  to  him  void,  but  it  shall  accomplish  that  which 
he  pleaseth,Isa.lv.  11;  xlvi.  11;  whatsoever  lie  purposes,  he 
will  do,  Numb,  xxiii.  19.  His  decrees  are  theiefore  called 
mountains  of  brass,  Zech.  vi.  1;  brass,  as  having  substance  and 
solidity;  mountains,  as  being  immovable,  not  only  by  any 
creature  but  by  himself,  because  they  stand  upon  the  basis  of 
infallible  wisdom,  and  are  supported  by  uncontrollable  power. 
From  this  immutability  of  his  will  published  to  man,  there 
could  be  no  release  from  the  severity  of  the  law,  without  satis- 
faction made  by  the  death  of  a  Mediator,  since  it  was  the  unal- 
terable will  of  God  that  death  should  be  the  wages  of  sin:  and 
from  this  immutable  will  it  was,  that  the  length  of  time  from 
the  first  promise  of  the  Redeemer  to  his  mission,  and  the  daily 
provocations  of  men,  altered  not  his  purpose  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  it  in  the  fulness  of  that  time  he  had  resolved  upon. 
Nor  did  the  wickedness  of  former  ages  hinder  the  addition  of 
several  promises  as  buttresses  to  the  first. 

To  make  this  out,  consider, 

[1.]  The  will  of  God  is  the  same  with  his  essence.  If  God 
had  a  will  distinct  from  his  essence,  he  would  not  be  the  most 
simple  being.  God  has  not  a  faculty  of  will  distinct  from  him- 
self: ;is  Ins  understanding  is  nothing  else  but  Deus  intelligent, 
God  understanding;  so  his  will  is  nothing  else  but  Deus  volens, 
God  willing.  Being  therefore  the  essence  of  God,  though  it 
is  considered  according  to  our  weakness  as  a  faculty,  it  is  as  his 


36  1  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

understanding  and  wisdom,  eternal  and  immutable,  and  can  no 
more  be  changed  than  his  essence.  The  immutability  of  the 
Divine  counsel  depends  upon  that  of  his  essence:  he  is  the  Lord 
Jehovah;  therefore  he  is  true  to  his  word,  Mai.  iii.  6.  "Yea, 
before  the  day  was,  I  am  he;  and  there  is  none  that  can  deliver 
out  of  my  hand,"  Isa.  xliii.  13.  He  is  the  same,  immutable 
in  his  essence,  therefore  irresistible  in  his  power. 

[2.]  There  is  a  concurrence  of  God's  will  and  understand- 
ing in  every  thing.  As  his  knowledge  is  eternal,  so  is  his  pur- 
pose. Things  created  had  not  been  known  to  be,  had  not  God 
resolved  them  to  be  the  act  of  his  will ;  the  existence  of  any 
thing  supposes  an  act  of  his  will.  Again,  as  God  knows  all 
things  by  one  simple  vision  of  his  understanding,  so  he  wills 
all  things  by  one  act  of  volition;  therefore  the  purpose  of  God 
in  the  Scripture  is  not  expressed  by  counsels,  in  the  plural  num- 
ber, but  counsel,  showing  that  all  the  purposes  of  God  are  not 
various,  but  as  one  will,  branching  itself  out  into  many  acts 
towards  the  creature;  but  all  knit  in  one  root,  all  links  of  one 
chain.  Whatsoever  is  eternal,  is  immutable:  as  his  knowledge 
is  eternal,  and  therefore  immutable,  so  is  his  will;  he  wills  or 
nills  nothing  to  be  in  time,  but  what  he  willed  and  nilled  from 
eternity;  if  he  willed  in  time  that  to  be,  that  he  willed  not 
from  eternity,  then  he  would  know  that  in  time  which  he 
knew  not  from  eternity :  for  God  knows  nothing  future,  but 
as  his  will  orders  it  to  be  future,  and  in  time  to  be  brought  into 
being. 

[3.]  There  can  be  no  reason  for  any  change  in  the  will  of 
God.  When  men  change  in  their  minds,  it  must  be  for  want 
of  foresight:  because  they  could  not  foresee  all  the  rubs  and 
bars  which  might  suddenly  offer  themselves;  which,  if  they  had 
forseen,  they  would  not  have  taken  such  measures:  hence  men 
often  will  that  which  they  afterwards  wish  they  had  not  willed, 
when  they  come  to  understand  it  clearer,  and  see  that  to  be 
injurious  to  them  which  they  thought  to  be  good  for  them;  or 
else  the  change  proceeds  from  a  natural  instability  without  any 
just  cause,  and  an  easiness  to  be  drawn  into  that  which  is  un- 
righteous; or  else  it  proceeds  from  a  want  of  power,  when  men 
take  new  counsels,  because  they  are  invincibly  hindered  from 
executing  the  old.     But  none  of  those  can  be  in  God. 

It  cannot  be  for  want  of  foresight.  What  can  be  wanting  to 
an  infinite  understanding?  How  can  any  unknown  event  defeat 
his  purpose,  since  nothing  happens  in  the  world  but  what  he 
wills  to  effect,  or  wills  to  permit;  and  therefore  all  future  events 
are  present  with  him?  Besides,  it  does  not  consist  with  God's 
wisdom  to  resolve  any  thing  but  upon  the  highest  reason;  and 
what  is  the  highest  and  infinite  reason,  cannot  but  be  unalter- 
able in  itself;  for  there  can  be  no  reason  and  wisdom  higher 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  355 

than  the  highest.  All  God's  purposes  are  not  bare  acts  of  will, 
but  acts  ol*  counsel;  he  works  all  things  according  to  the  coun- 
sel of  his  own  will,  Eph.  i.  1 1 ;  and  he  does  not  say  so  much 
that  his  will,  as  that  his  counsel,  shall  stand,  Isa.  xlvi.  10.  It 
stands  because  it  is  counsel:  and  the  immutability  of  a  pro- 
mise is  called  the  "immutability  of  his  counsel,"  Ileb.  vi.  17, 
as  being  introduced  and  settled  by  the  most  perfect  wisdom,  and 
therefore  to  be  carried  on  to  a  full  and  complete  execution. 
His  purpose  then  cannot  be  changed  for  want  of  foresight,  for 
this  would  be  a  charge  of  weakness. 

Nor  can  it  proceed  from  a  natural  instability  of  his  will,  or 
an  easiness  to  be  drawn  to  that  which  is  unrighteous.  If  his 
will  should  not  adhere  to  his  counsel,  it  is  because  it  is  not  fit 
to  be  followed,  or  because  it  will  not  follow  it;  if  not  fit  to  be 
followed,  it  is  a  reflection  upon  his  wisdom;  if  it  be  established 
and  he  will  not  follow  it,  there  is  a  contrariety  in  God,  as  there 
is  in  a  fallen  creature,  will  against  wisdom.  That  cannot  be  in 
God  which  he  hates  in  a  creature,  namely,  the  disorder  of  facul- 
ties, and  being  out  of  their  due  place.  The  righteousness  of 
God  is  like  a  great  mountain,  Psal.  xxxvi.  6.  The  rectitude  of 
his  nature  is  as  immovable  in  itself,  as  all  the  great  mountains 
in  the  world  are  by  the  strength  of  man.  He  is  not  as  a  man, 
that  he  should  repent  or  lie,  Numb,  xxiii.  19,  who  often  changes 
out  of  a  perversity  of  will,  as  well  as  want  of  wisdom  to  foresee, 
or  want  of  ability  to  perform.  His  eternal  purpose  must  either 
be  righteous  or  unrighteous;  if  righteous  and  holy,  he  would 
become  unholy  by  the  change;  if  not  righteous  nor  holy,  then 
he  was  unrighteous  before  the  change;  which  way  soever  it 
falls,  it  would  reflect  upon  the  righteousness  of  God,  which  is 
a  blasphemous  imagination.  If  God  did  change  his  purpose, 
it  must  be  either  for  the  better,  and  then  the  counsel  of  God 
was  bad  before;  or  for  the  worse,  then  he  was  not  wise  and 
good  before.1 

Nor  can  it  be  for  want  of  strength.  Who  hath  power  to 
control  him?  Not  all  the  combined  devices  and  endeavours  of 
men  can  make  the  counsel  of  God  to  totter:  "  There  are  many 
devices  in  a  man's  heart;  nevertheless  the  counsel  of  the  Lord, 
that  shall  stand,"  Prov.  xix.  21 ;  that,  and  that  only  shall  stand. 
Man  has  a  power  to  devise  and  imagine,  but  no  power  to 
effect  and  execute  of  himself.  God  wants  no  more  power  to 
effect  what  he  will,  than  he  wants  understanding  to  know 
what  is  fit. 

Well  then,  since  God  wanted  not  wisdom  to  frame  his  de- 
crees, nor  holiness  to  regulate  them,  nor  power  to  effect  them, 
what  should  make  him  change  them,  since  there  can  be  no 
reason  superior  to  his;  no  event  unforeseen  by  him;  no  holi- 
1  Maxim.  Tyrius,  dissert.  3.  30. 


366  0N  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

ness  comparable  to  his;  no  unrighteousness  found  in  him;  no 
power  equal  to  his  to  put  a  rub  in  his  way. 

Though  the  will  of  God  be  immutable,  yet  it  is  not  to  be 
understood  so,  as  that  the  things  themselves  so  willed  are  im- 
mutable ;  nor  will  the  immutability  of  the  things  willed  by 
him,  follow  upon  the  unchangeableness  of  his  will  in  willing 
them;  for  though  God  be  firm  in  willing  them,  yet  he  does  not 
will  that  they  should  alway  be.  God  did  not  perpetually  will 
the  doing  those  things  which  he  once  decreed  to  be  done.  He 
decreed  that  Christ  should  suffer,  but  he  did  not  decree  that 
Christ  should  alway  suffer;  so  he  willed  the  Mosaical  rites  for 
a  time,  but  he  did  not  will  that  they  should  alway  continue; 
he  willed  that  they  should  endure  only  for  a  time,  and  when 
the  time  came  for  their  ceasing,  God  had  been  mutable  if  he 
had  not  put  an  end  to  them,  because  his  will  had  fixed  such  a 
period.  So  that  the  changing  of  those  things  which  he  had 
once  appointed  to  be  practised,  is  so  far  from  charging  God 
with  changeableness,  that  God  would  be  mutable  if  he  did  not 
take  them  away,  since  he  decreed  as  well  their  abolition  at 
such  a  time,  as  their  continuance  till  such  a  time;  so  that  the 
removal  of  them  was  pursuant  to  his  unchangeable  will  and 
decree.  If  God  had  decreed  that  such  laws  should  alway  con- 
tinue, and  afterwards  changed  that  decree,  and  resolved  the 
abrogation  of  them;  then  indeed  God  had  been  mutable;  he 
had  rescinded  one  decree  by  another;  he  had  then  seen  an 
error  in  his  first  resolve,  and  there  must  be  some  weakness  in 
the  reason  and  wisdom  whereon  it  was  grounded.  But  it  was 
not  so  here;  for  the  change  of  those  laws  is  so  far  from  slurring 
God  with  any  mutability,  that  the  very  change  of  them  is  no 
other  than  the  issue  of  his  eternal  decree;  for  from  eternity  he 
purposed  in  himself  to  change  this  or  that  dispensation,  though 
he  did  decree  to  bring  such  a  dispensation  into  the  world. x  The 
decree  itself  was  eternal  and  immutable,  but  the  thing  decreed 
was  temporary  and  mutable.  As  a  decree  from  eternity  does 
not  make  the  thing  decreed  to  be  eternal;  so  neither  does  the 
immutability  of  the  decree  render  the  thing  so  decreed  to  be 
immutable.  As  for  example,  God  decreed  from  all  eternity  to 
create  the  world;  the  eternity  of  this  decree  did  not  make  the 
world  to  be  in  being  and  actually  created  from  eternity.  So 
God  decreed  immutably  that  the  world  so  created  should  con- 
tinue for  such  a  time;  the  decree  is  immutable  if  the  world 
perish  at  that  time,  and  would  not  be  immutable  if  the  world 
did  endure  beyond  that  time  that  God  had  fixed  for  the  dura- 
tion of  it.  As  when  a  prince  orders  a  man's  remaining  in  pri- 
son for  so  many  days;  if  he  be  prevailed  with  to  give  him  a 
delivery  before  those  days,  or  to  continue  him  in  custody  for 

1  Turretin,  de  Satisfac.  p.  266. 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  {li- 

the same  crime  after  those  days,  his  order  is  changed  ;  but  if  he 
orders  the  delivery  of  him  just  at  that  time,  till  which  lie  had 
before  decreed  that  lie  should  continue  in  prison,  the  purpose 
and  order  of  the  prince  remains  firm,  and  the  change  in  the 
state  of  the  prisoner  is  the  fruit  of  that  firm  and  fixed  resolu- 
tion. So  that  we  must  distinguish  between  the  person  decree- 
ing, the  decree  itself,  and  the  thing  decreed.  The  person 
decreeing,  namely,  God,  is  in  himself  immutable,  and  the  de- 
cree is  immutable  ;  but  the  thing  decreed  may  be  mutable ; 
and  if  it  were  not  changed  according  to  the  first  purpose,  it 
would  argue  the  decree  itself  to  be  changed ;  for  while  a  man 
wills  that  this  may  be  done  now,  and  another  thing  done  after- 
wards, the  same  will  remains,  and  though  there  be  a  change  in 
the  effect,  there  is  no  change  in  the  will. 

The  immutability  of  God's  will  does  not  infringe  the  liberty 
of  it.  The  liberty  of  God's  will  consists  with  the  necessity  of 
continuing  his  purpose.  God  is  necessarily  good,  immutably 
good;  yet  he  is  freely  so,  and  would  not  be  otherwise  than 
what  he  is.  God  was  free  in  his  first  purpose;  and  pur- 
posing this  or  that  by  an  infallible  and  unerring  wisdom,  it 
would  be  a  weakness  to  change  the  purpose.  But  indeed  the 
liberty  of  God's  will  does  not  seem  so  much  to  consist  in  an  in- 
dill'erency  to  this  or  that,  as  an  independency  on  any  thing  with- 
out himself:  his  will  was  free,  because  it  did  not  depend  upon  the 
objects  about  which  his  will  was  conversant.  To  be  immuta- 
bly good,  is  no  point  of  imperfection,  but  the  height  of  perfec- 
tion. 

(4.)  As  God  is  unchangeable  in  regard  of  essence,  knowledge, 
purpose;  so  he  is  unchangeable  in  regard  of  place.  He  cannot 
be  changed  in  time,  because  he  is  eternity;  so  he  cannot  be 
changed  in  place  because  he  has  ubiquity:  he  is  eternal,  there- 
fore cannot  be  changed  in  time ;  he  is  omnipresent,  therefore 
cannot  be  changed  in  place;  he  does  not  begin  to  be  in  one 
place  wherein  he  was  not  before,  or  cease  to  be  in  a  place 
wherein  he  was  before.  He  that  fills  every  place  in  heaven 
and  earth,  cannot  change  place;  he  cannot  leave  one  to  possess 
another,  that  is  equally  in  regard  of  his  essence  in  all;  he  fills 
heaven  and  earth,  Jer.  xxiii.  24.  The  heavens  that  are  not 
subject  to  those  changes  to  which  sublunary  bodies  are  subject 
that  are  not  diminished  in  quantity  or  quality,  yet  they  are 
always  changing  place  in  regard  to  their  motion;  no  part  of 
them  does  alway  continue  in  the  same  point.  But  God 
has  no  change  of  his  nature,  because  he  is  most  inward  in 
every  thing;  he  is  substantially  in  all  spaces,  real  and  imagi- 
nary; there  is  no  part  of  the  world  which  he  does  not  fill;  no 
place  can  be  imagined  wherein  he  does  not  exist.  Suppose  a 
million  of  worlds  above  and  about  this,  encircling  one  another; 


368  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

his  essence  would  be  in  every  part  and  point  of  those  worlds. 
Because  it  is  indivisible,  it  cannot  be  divided;  nor  can  it  be  con- 
tained within  those  created  limits  of  millions  of  worlds,  when 
the  most  soaring  and  best  coining  fancy  has  run  through  all 
creatures,  to  the  highest  sphere  of  the  heavens,  and  imagined 
one  world  after  another,  till  it  can  fancy  no  more;  none  of 
these  nor  all  of  these  can  contain  God;  for  the  heaven  of  hea- 
vens cannot  contain  him,  1  Kings  vii.  27.  He  is  higher  than 
heaven,  deeper  than  hell,  Job  xi.  8,  and  possesses  infinite  ima- 
ginary spaces  beyond  created  limits.  He  who  has  no  cause  of 
being,  can  have  no  limits  of  being:1  and  though  by  creation  he 
began  to  be  in  the  world;  yet  he  did  not  begin  to  be  where  the 
world  is,  but  was  in  the  same  imaginary  space  from  all  eternity: 
for  he  was  always  in  himself  by  his  own  eternal  property. 

Therefore  observe,  that  when  God  is  said  to  draw  near  to 
us  when  we  draw  near  to  him,  James  iv.  8,  it  is  not  by  local 
motion  or  change  of  place,  but  by  special  and  spiritual  in- 
fluences, by  exciting  and  supporting  grace.  As  we  ordinarily 
say,  the  sun  is  come  into  the  house,  when  yet  it  remains  in  its 
place  and  order  in  the  heavens,  because  the  beams  pierce 
through  the  windows  and  enlighten  the  room;  so  when  God  is 
said  to  come  down  or  descend,  Gen.  xi.  5;  Exod.  xxxiv.  5,  it  is 
not  by  a  change  of  place,  but  a  change  of  outward  acts,  when 
he  puts  forth  himself  in  ways  of  fresh  mercy  or  new  judgments, 
in  the  effluxes  of  his  love  or  the  flames  of  his  wrath;  when 
good  men  feel  the  warm  beams  of  his  grace  refreshing  them,  or 
wicked  men  feel  the  hot  coals  of  his  anger  scorching  them. 
God's  drawing  near  to  us,  is  not  so  much  his  coming  to  us,  but 
his  drawing  us  to  him:  as  when  watermen  pull  a  rope  that  is 
in  one  end  fastened  to  the  shore,  and  the  other  end  to  the  ves- 
sel; the  shore  is  immovable,  yet  it  seems  to  the  eye  to  come  to 
them,  but  they  really  move  to  the  shore.2  God  is  an  immova- 
ble Rock;  we  are  floating  and  uncertain  creatures:  while  he 
seems  to  approach  to  us,  he  does  really  make  us  to  approach  to 
him:  he  comes  not  to  us  by  any  change  of  place  himself,  but 
draws  us  to  him  by  a  change  of  mind,  will,  and  affections  in  us. 

2.  The  second  thing  propounded  is,  the  reasons  to  prove  God 
immutable.  The  heathen  acknowledged  God  to  be  so;  Plato 
and  the  Pythagoreans  called  God  or  the  stable  good  principle, 
aitcv,  idem,  "the  same:"3  the  evil  principle,  stipov,  another 
thing,  changeable ;4  one  thing  one  time,  and  another  thing  an- 
other time. 

"He  is  the  living  God,  and  steadfast  for  ever,"  Dan.  vi.  26. 

1  Gamachcus,  ut  supra. 

2  The  ancients  as  Dionysius,  expressed  it  by  this  similitude. 

3  Plato  calls  God  arcf'av  asi   l^ofiivov. 

4  Stabilisq ;  manens  dat  cuncta  moveri,  Boet.  Consolat.  lib.  3. 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  ;>,;«) 

(1.)  The  name  Jehovah  signifies  this  attribute:  "  I  am  that  I 
am:  I  am  hath  sent  me  to  you,"  Exod.  iii.  11.  It  signifies  his 
immutability  as  well  as  eternity.  I  am,  signifies  his  eternity;1 
that,  or,  the  same  that  I  am,  his  immutability.  As  it  respects 
the  essence  of  God,  it  signifies  his  unchangeable  being  from 
eternity  to  eternity;2  as  it  respects  the  creature,  it  signifies  his 
constancy  in  his  counsels  and  promises,  which  spring  from  no 
other  cause  but  the  unchangeableness  of  his  nature.  The  rea- 
son why  men  stand  not  to  their  covenant,  is  because  they  are 
not  always  the  same:  "I  am,"  that  is,  I  am  the  same,  before 
the  creation  of  the  world,  and  since  the  creation  of  the  world; 
before  the  entrance  of  sin,  and  since  the  entrance  of  sin;  before 
their  going  into  Egypt,  and  while  they  remain  in  Egypt.  The 
very  name  Jehovah  bears,  according  to  the  grammatical  order, 
a  mark  of  God's  unchangeableness;  it  never  has  any  thing 
added  to  it,  nor  any  thing  taken  from  it;  it  has  no  plural  num- 
ber, no  affixes,  a  custom  peculiar  to  the  eastern  languages;  it 
never  changes  its  letters  as  other  words  do.3  That  only  is  a 
true  being,  which  has  not  only  an  eternal  existence,  but  sta- 
bility in  it:  that  is  not  truly  a  being  that  never  remains  in  the 
same  state.4  All  things  that  are  changed,  cease  to  be  what  they 
were,  and  begin  to  be  what  they  were  not,  and  therefore  can- 
not have  the  title  truly  applied  to  them,  they  are;  they  are 
indeed  but  like  a  river  in  a  continual  flux,  that  no  man  ever 
sees  the  same;  let  his  eye  be  fixed  upon  one  place  of  it,  the 
water  he  sees  slides  away,  and  that  which  he  saw  not  succeeds 
in  its  place;  let  him  take  his  eye  off  but  for  the  least  moment, 
and  fix  it  there  again,  and  he  sees  not  the  same  that  he  saw 
before.  All  sensible  things  are  in  a  perpetual  stream;  that 
which  is  sometimes  this,  and  sometimes  that,  is  not,  because  it 
is  not  always  the  same;  whatsoever  is  changed,  is  something 
now  which  it  was  not  always.  But  of  God  it  is  said,  "  I  am," 
which  could  not  be  if  he  were  changeable;  for  it  may  be  said 
of  him,  he  is  not,  as  well  as  he  is,  because  he  is  not  what  he 
was.  Jf  we  say  not  of  him,  he  was,  nor,  he  will  be,  but  only, 
he  is,  whence  should  any  change  arrive?  He  must  invincibly 
remain  the  same,  of  whose  nature,  perfections,  knowledge,  and 
will,  it  cannot  be  said  it  was,  as  if  it  were  not  now  in  him;  or, 
it  shall  be,  as  if  it  were  not  yet  in  him;  but  he  is,  because  he 
does  not  only  exist,  but  does  always  exist  the  same.  "  I  am," 
that  is,  I  receive  from  no  other  what  I  am  in  myself:  he  de- 
pends upon  no  other  in  his  essence,  knowledge,  purposes,  and 
therefore  has  no  changing  power  over  him. 

(2.)  If  God  were  changeable,  he  could  not  be  the  most  per- 

1  Trap,  on  Exod.  3  Amyrald.  dc  Trinitat.  p.  433. 

1  Spanbe.  Synta.  part  i.  p.  39. 
4  Petav.  Theol.  Dogmat.  torn.  i.  cap.  6.  (j  6 — 8. 
Vol.  I.— 47 


370  0N  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

feet  being.  God  is  the  most  perfect  being,  and  possesses  in 
himself  infinite  and  essential  goodness.  Your  heavenly  Father 
is  perfect,  Matt.  v.  4S.  If  he  could  change  from  that  perfec- 
tion, he  were  not  the  highest  exemplar  and  copy  for  us  to  write 
after.  If  God  does  change,  it  must  be  either  to  a  greater  per- 
fection than  he  had  before,  or  to  a  less,  matatio  perfectiva  vel 
amissiva;  if  he  changes  to  acquire  a  perfection  he  had  not, 
then  he  was  not  before  the  most  excellent  being  necessarily; 
he  was  not  what  he  might  be;  there  was  a  defect  in  him,  and 
a  privation  of  that  which  is  better  than  what  he  had  and  was; 
and  then  he  was  not  always  the  best,  and  so  was  not  always 
God;  and  being  not  always  God,  could  never  be  God;  for  to 
begin  to  be  God  is  against  the  notion  of  God.  Not  to  a  less 
perfection  than  he  had;  that  were  to  change  to  imperfection, 
and  to  lose  a  perfection  which  he  possessed  before,  and  cease 
to  be  the  best  being;  for  he  would  lose  some  good  which  he 
had,  and  acquire  some  evil  which  he  was  free  from  before.  So 
that  the  sovereign  perfection  of  God  is  an  invincible  bar  to  any 
change  in  him;  for  which  way  soever  you  cast  it  for  a  change, 
his  supreme  excellency  is  impaired  and  nulled  by  it.  For  in 
all  change  there  is  something  from  which  a  thing  is  changed, 
and  something  to  which  it  is  changed;  so  that  on  the  one  part 
there  is  a  loss  of  what  it  had,  and  on  the  other  part  there  is  an 
acquisition  of  what  it  had  not:  if  to  the  better,  he  was  not  per- 
fect, and  so  was  not  God;  if  to  the  worse,  he  will  not  be  per- 
fect, and  so  be  no  longer  God  after  that  change. 

If  God  be  changed,  his  change  must  be  voluntary  or  neces- 
sary; if  voluntary,  he  then  intends  the  change  for  the  better, 
and  chose  it  to  acquire  a  perfection  by  it.  The  will  must  be 
carried  out  to  any  thing  under  the  notion  of  some  goodness  in 
that  which  it  desires.  Since  good  is  the  object  of  the  desire 
and  will  of  the  creature,  evil  cannot  be  the  object  of  the  desire 
and  will  of  the  Creator.  And  if  he  should  be  changed  for  the 
worse  when  he  did  really  intend  the  better,  it  would  speak  a 
defect  of  wisdom,  and  a  mistake  of  that  for  good  which  was 
evil  and  imperfect  in  itself;  and  if  it  be  for  the  better,  it  must 
be  a  motion  or  change  for  something  without  himself;  that 
which  he  desires  is  not  possessed  by  himself,  but  by  some 
other:  there  is  then  some  good  without  him  and  above  him, 
which  is  the  end  in  this  change;  for  nothing  acts  but  for  some 
end,  and  that  end  is  within  itself  or  without  itself:  if  the  end 
for  which  God  changes  be  without  himself,  then  there  is  some- 
thing better  than  himself.  Besides,  if  he  were  voluntarily 
changed  for  the  better,  why  did  he  not  change  before?  If  it 
were  for  want  of  power,  he  had  the  imperfection  of  weakness; 
if  for  want  of  knowledge  of  what  was  the  best  good,  he  had 
the  imperfection  of  wisdom,  he  was  ignorant  of  his  own  hap- 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OP  GOD.  37  [ 

pincss;  if  he  had  both  wisdom  to  know  it  and  power  to  effect 
it,  it  must  be  for  want  of  will;  he  then  wanted  that  love  to 
himself  and  his  own  glory,  which  is  necessary  in  the  Supreme 
Being.  Voluntarily  he  could  not  be  changed  for  the  worse,  lie 
could  not  be  such  an  enemy  to  his  own  glory,  there  is  nothing 
but  would  hinder  its  own  imperfection  and  becoming  worse: 
necessarily  he  could  not  be  changed,  for  that  necessity  must 
arise  from  himself,  and  then  the  difficulties  spoken  of  before 
will  recur,  or  it  must  arise  from  another.  He  cannot  be  bettered 
by  another,  because  nothing  has  any  good  but  what  it  has  re- 
ceived from  the  hands  of  his  bounty,  and  that  without  loss  to 
himself:  nor  made  worse;  if  any  thing  made  him  worse,  it 
would  be  sin,  but  that  cannot  touch  his  essence  or  obscure  his 
glory,  but  in  the  design  and  nature  of  the  sin  itself.  "  If  thou 
sinnest,  what  doest  thou  against  him  ?  or  if  thy  transgressions 
be  multiplied,  what  doest  thou  unto  him?  If  thou  be  righteous, 
what  givest  thou  him?  or  what  receiveth  he  of  thine  hand?" 
Job  xxxv.  6,  7.  He  has  no  addition  by  the  service  of  man,  no 
more  than  the  sun  has  of  light  by  a  multitude  of  torches 
kindled  on  the  earth ;  nor  any  more  impair  by  the  sins  of 
men,  than  the  light  of  the  sun  has  by  men's  shooting  arrows 
against  it. 

(3.)  God  were  not  the  most  simple  being,  if  he  were  not 
immutable.1  There  is  in  every  thing  that  is  mutable  a  com- 
position, either  essential  or  accidental;  and  in  all  changes  some- 
thing of  the  thing  changed  remains,  and  something  of  it  ceases 
and  is  done  away;  as  for  example,  in  an  accidental  change.  If 
a  white  wall  be  made  black,  it  loses  its  white  colour;  but  the 
wall  itself,  which  was  the  subject  of  that  colour,  remains  and 
loses  nothing  of  its  substance.  Likewise  in  a  substantial  change, 
as  when  wood  is  burnt,  the  substantial  part  of  wood  is  lost,  the 
earthly  part  is  changed  into  ashes,  the  airy  part  ascends  in 
smoke,  the  watery  part  is  changed  into  air  by  the  fire.  There 
is  not  an  annihilation  of  it,  but  a  re-solution  of  it  into  those 
parts  whereof  it  was  compounded;  and  this  change  does  evi- 
dence that  it  was  compounded  of  several  parts  distinct  from 
one  another.  If  there  were  any  change  in  God,  it  is  by  sepa- 
rating something  from  him  or  adding  something  to  him;  if  by 
separating  something  from  him,  then  he  was  compounded  of 
something  distinct  from  himself;  for  if  it  were  not  distinct  from 
himself,  it  could  not  be  separated  from  him  without  loss  of  his 
being;  if  by  adding  any  thing  to  him,  then  it  is  a  compounding 
of  him,  either  substantially  or  accidentally. 

Mutability  is  absolutely  inconsistent  with  simplicity,  whether 
the  change  come  from  an  internal  or  external  principle.  If  a 
change  be  wrought  by  something  without,  it  supposes  either 

1  Gamacli.  in  prim.  part.  Aquin.  quest.  9.  cap.  1.  part  72. 


372  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

contrary  or  various  parts  in  the  thing  so  changed,  whereof  it 
does  consist;  if  it  be  wrought  by  any  thing  within,  it  supposes 
that  the  thing  so  changed  does  consist  of  one  part  that  does 
change  it,  and  another  part  that  is  changed,  and  so  it  would 
not  be  a  simple  being.  If  God  could  be  changed  by  any  thing 
within  himself,  all  in  God  would  not  be  God;  his  essence  would 
depend  upon  some  parts,  whereof  some  would  be  superior  to 
others.  If  one  part  were  able  to  change  or  destroy  another, 
that  which  does  change  would  be  God,  that  which  is  changed 
would  not  be  God;  so  God  would  be  made  up  of  a  Deity  and 
a  non-deity,  and  part  of  God  would  depend  upon  God;  part 
would  be  dependent,  and  part  would  be  independent;  part 
would  be  mutable,  part  immutable.  So  that  mutability  is 
against  the  notion  of  God's  independency  as  well  as  his  simpli- 
city. God  is  the  most  simple  being;  for  that  which  is  first  in 
nature,  having  nothing  beyond  it,  cannot  by  any  means  be 
thought  to  be  compounded;  for  whatsoever  is  so  depends  upon 
the  parts  whereof  it  is  compounded,  and  so  is  not  the  first  be- 
ing. 1  Now  God  being  infinitely  simple,  has  nothing  in  himself 
which  is  not  himself,  and  therefore  cannot  will  any  change  in 
himself,  he  being  his  own  essence  and  existence. 

(4.)  God  were  not  eternal,  if  he  were  mutable.  In  all  change 
there  is  something  that  perishes,  either  substantially  or  acci- 
dentally. All  change  is  a  kind  of  death,  or  imitation  of  death; 
that  which  was,  dies,  and  begins  to  be  what  it  was  not.  The 
soul  of  man,  though  it  ceases  not  to  be  and  exist;  yet  when  it 
ceases  to  be  in  quality  what  it  was,  is  said  to  die.  Adam  died 
when  he  changed  from  integrity  to  corruption,  though  both  his 
soul  and  body  were  in  being,  Gen.  ii.  17;  and  the  soul  of  a 
regenerate  man  is  said  to  die  to  sin,  when  it  is  changed  from 
sin  to  grace,  Rom.  vi.  11.  In  all  change  there  is  a  resemblance 
of  death:  so  the  notion  of  mutability  is  against  the  eternity  of 
God.  If  any  thing  be  acquired  by  a  change,  then  that  which 
is  acquired  was  not  from  eternity,  and  so  he  was  not  wholly 
eternal;  if  any  thing  be  lost  which  was  from  eternity,  he  is 
not  wholly  everlasting.  If  he  did  decrease  by  the  change, 
something  in  him  which  had  no  beginning  would  have  an  end; 
if  he  did  increase  by  that  change,  something  in  him  would  have 
a  beginning  that  might  have  no  end.2  What  is  changed  does 
not  remain,  and  what  does  not  remain  is  not  eternal.  Though 
God  always  remains  in  regard  of  existence,  he  would  be  im- 
mortal and  live  always;  yet  if  he  should  suffer  any  change,  he 
could  not  properly  be  eternal;  because  he  would  not  always 
be  the  same,  and  would  not  in  every  part  be  eternal;  for  all 
change  is  finished  in  time,  one  moment  preceding,  another  mo- 

1  Ficinus  Zachar,  mitylen  in  Peta.  torn.  1.  p.  169. 

2  Austin  in  Pot.  torn.  i.  p.  201. 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  373 

ment  following:  but  that  which  is  before  time  cannot  be  changed 
by  time.  God  cannot  be  eternally  what  he  was,  that  is,  he 
cannot  have  a  true  eternity,  if  he  had  a  new  knowledge,  new 
purpose,  a  new  essence:  if  he  were  sometimes  this,  and  some- 
times that,  sometimes  know  this  and  sometimes  know  that, 
sometimes  purpose  this  and  afterwards  has  a  new  purpose;  he 
would  be  partly  temporary  and  partly  eternal,  not  truly  and 
universally  eternal,  lie  that  has  any  thing  of  newness,  has  not 
properly  and  truly  an  entire  eternity.  Again,  by  the  same  rea- 
son thai  God  could  in  the  least  cease  to  be  what  he  was,  he 
might  also  erase  wholly  to  be;  and  no  reason  can  be  rendered 
why  God  might  not  cease  wholly  to  be,  as  well  as  cease  to  be 
entirely  and  uniformly  what  he  was.  All  changeableness  im- 
plies a  corruptibility. 

(5.)  If  God  were  changeable,  he  were  not  infinite  and 
almighty.  All  change  ends  in  addition  or  diminution;  if  any 
thing  be  added,  he  was  not  infinite  before;  if  any  thing  be 
diminished,  he  is  not  infinite  after.  All  change  implies  bounds 
and  limits  to  that  which  is  changed;  but  God  is  infinite,  "  his 
greatness  is  unsearchable,"  '  Psal.  cxlv.  3.  We  can  add  num- 
ber to  number  without  any  end,  and  can  conceive  an  infinite 
number;  yet  the  greatness  of  God  is  beyond  all  our  conceptions. 
But  if  there  could  be  any  change  in  his  greatness  for  the  better, 
it  would  not  be  unsearchable  before  that  change;  if  for  the 
worse,  it  would  not  be  unsearchable  after  that  change.  What- 
soever has  limits  and  is  changeable,  is  conceivable  and  search- 
able; but  God  is  not  only  not  known,  but  impossible  in  his  own 
nature  to  be  known  and  searched  out,  and  therefore  impossible 
to  have  any  diminution  in  his  nature.  All  that  which  is  changed 
arrives  to  something  which  it  was  not  before,  or  ceases  in  part 
to  he  what  it  was  before. 

He  would  not  also  be  almighty.  What  is  omnipotent  cannot 
be  made  worse;  for  to  be  made  worse  is  in  part  to  be  corrupted. 
If  he  be  made  better,  he  was  not  almighty  before,  something 
of  power  was  wanting  to  him:  and  if  there  should  be  any 
change,  it  must  proceed  from  himself  or  from  another;  if  from 
himself,  it  would  be  an  inability  to  preserve  himself  in  the  per- 
fection of  his  nature;  if  from  another,  he  would  be  inferior  in 
strength,  knowledge,  and  power  to  that  which  changes  him, 
either  in  his  nature,  knowledge,  or  will;  in  both  an  inability; 
an  inability  in  him  to  continue  the  same,  or  an  inability  in  him 
to  resist  the  power  of  another. 

(6.)  The  world  could  not  be  ordered  and  governed,  but  by 
some  principle  or  being  which  were  immutable.  Principles 
are  always  more  fixed  and  stable,  than  things  which  proceed 
from   those   principles;    and  this  is  true  both  in  morals  and 

'  To  end,  no  term. 


374  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

naturals.  Principles  in  conscience,  whereby  men  are  governed, 
remain  firmly  engraven  in  their  minds.  The  root  lies  firmly 
in  the  earth,  while  branches  are  shaken  with  the  wind.  The 
heavens,  the  cause  of  generation,  are  more  firm  and  stable  than 
those  things  which  are  wrought  by  their  influence.  All  things 
in  the  world  are  moved  by  some  power  and  virtue  which  is 
stable;  and  unless  it  were  so,  no  order  would  be  observed  in 
motion,  no  motion  could  be  regularly  continued.  He  could  not 
be  a  full  satisfaction  to  the  infinite  desire  of  the  souls  of  his 
people.  Nothing  can  truly  satisfy  the  soul  of  man  but  rest; 
and  nothing  can  give  it  rest  but  that  which  is  perfect,  and  im- 
mutably perfect;  for  else  it  would  be  subject  to  those  agitations 
and  variations  which  the  being  it  depends  upon  is  subject  to. 

The  principle  of  all  things  must  be  immutable;1  which  is 
described  by  some  by  a  unit,  the  principle  of  number,  wherein 
there  is  a  resemblance  of  God's  unchangeableness.  A  unit  is 
not  variable,  it  continues  in  its  own  nature  immutably  a  unit ; 
it  never  varies  from  itself,  it  cannot  be  changed  from  itself,  but 
is,  as  it  were,  so  omnipotent  towards  others,  that  it  changes  all 
numbers.  If  you  add  any  number,  it  is  the  beginning  of  that 
number,  but  the  unit  is  not  increased  by  it;  a  new  number 
arises  from  that  addition,  but  the  unit  still  remains  the  same, 
and  adds  a  value  to  other  figures,  but  receives  none  from  them. 

3.  The  third  thing  to  speak  to  is, 

That  immutability  is  proper  to  God,  and  incommunicable  to 
any  creature.  Mutability  is  natural  to  every  creature  as  a 
creature,  and  immutability  is  the  sole  perfection  of  God.  He 
only  is  infinite  wisdom,  able  to  foreknow  future  events.  He 
only  is  infinitely  powerful,  able  to  call  forth  all  means  to  effect; 
so  that  wanting  neither  wisdom  to  contrive,  nor  strength  to 
execute,  he  cannot  alter  his  counsel.  None  being  above  him, 
nothing  in  him  contrary  to  him,  and  being  defective  in  no  bless- 
edness and  perfection,  he  cannot  vary  in  his  essence  and  na- 
ture. Had  not  immutability  as  well  as  eternity  been  a  property 
solely  pertaining  to  the  Divine  nature,  as  well  as  creative 
power  and  eternal  duration,  the  apostle's  argument  to  prove 
Christ  to  be  God  from  this  perpetual  sameness,  had  come  short 
of  any  convincing  strength.  These  words  of  the  text  he  applies 
to  Christ,  Heb.  i.  10 — 12.  "They  shall  be  changed,  but  thou 
art  the  same."  There  had  been  no  strength  in  the  reason,  if 
immutability  by  nature  did  belong  to  any  creature. 

The  changeableness  of  all  creatures  is  evident. 

Of  corporeal  creatures,  it  is  evident  to  sense.  All  plants 
and  animals,  as  they  have  their  duration  bounded  in  certain 
limits;  so  while  they  do  exist,  they  proceed  from  their  rise  to 
their  fall;  they  pass  through  many  sensible  alterations,  from 

»  Fothcrby,  Atheomastix.  p.  308.     Gerhard,  loc.  com. 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  375 

one  degree  of  growth  to  another,  from  buds  to  blossoms,  from 
blossoms  to  flowers  and  fruits;  they  come  to  their  pitch  that 
nature  has  set  them,  and  return  back  to  the  state  from  whence 
they  sprung;  there  is  not  a  day,  but  they  make  some  acquisi- 
tion, or  sutler  some  loss;  they  die  and  spring  up  every  day; 
nothing  in  them  more  certain  than  their  inconstancy:  the  crea- 
ture is  subject  to  vanity,  Rom.  viii.  20.  The  heavenly  bodies 
are  changing  their  place;  the  sun  every  day  is  running  his 
race,  and  stays  not  in  the  same  point;  and  though  they  are 
not  changed  in  their  essence,  yet  they  are  in  their  place.  Some 
indeed  say  there  is  a  continual  generation  of  light  in  the  sun, 
as  there  is  a  loss  of  light  by  the  casting  out  its  beams,  as  in  a 
fountain  there  is  a  flowing  out  of  the  streams,  and  a  continual 
generation  of  supply.  And  though  these  heavenly  bodies  have 
kept  their  standing  and  motion  from  the  time  of  their  creation, 
yet  both  the  sun's  standing  still  in  Joshua's  time,  and  its  going 
back  in  Hezekiah's  time,  show  that  they  are  changeable  at  the 
pleasure  of  God. 

But  in  man,  the  change  is  perpetually  visible;  every  day 
there  is  a  change  from  ignorance  to  knowledge,  from  one  will 
to  another,  from  passion  to  passion,  sometimes  sad  and  some- 
times cheerful,  sometimes  craving  this  and  presently  nauseating 
it;  his  body  changes  from  health  to  sickness,  or  from  weakness 
to  strength;  some  alteration  there  is  either  in  body  or  mind. 
Man,  who  is  the  noblest  creature,  the  subordinate  end  of  the 
creation  of  other  things,  cannot  assure  himself  of  a  consistency 
and  fixedness  in  any  thing,  the  short  space  of  a  day,  no  not  of 
a  minute;  all  his  months  are  months  of  vanity,  Job  vii.  3; 
whence  the  psalmist  calls  man  at  the  best  estate  altogether 
vanity,  Psal.  xxxix.  5,  a  mere  heap  of  vanity.  As  he  contains 
in  his  nature  the  nature  of  all  creatures,  so  he  inherits  in  his 
nature  the  vanity  of  all  creatures:  a  little  world,  the  centre  of 
the  world,  and  of  the  vanity  of  the  world;  yea,  lighter  than 
vanity,  Psal.  lxii.  9;  more  moveable  than  a  feather;  tossed  be- 
tween passion  and  passion,  daily  changing  his  end,  and  changing 
the  means;  an  image  of  nothing. 

Spiritual  natures,  as  angels,  change  not  in  their  being,  but 
that  is  from  the  indulgence  of  God;  they  change  not  in  their 
goodness,  but  that  is  not  from  their  nature,  but  Divine  grace  in 
their  confirmation:  but  they  change  in  their  knowledge,  they 
know  more  by  Christ  than  they  did  by  creation,  1  Tim.  iii.  16; 
they  have  an  addition  of  knowledge  every  day,  by  the  provi- 
dential dispensation  of  God  to  his  church,  Eph.  iii.  10;  and  the 
increase  of  their  astonishment  and  love,  is  according  to  the  in- 
crease of  their  knowledge  and  insight.  They  cannot  have  a 
new  discovery,  without  new  admirations  of  what  is  discovered 
to  them.  There  is  a  change  in  their  joy,  when  there  is  a  change 


376  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

in  a  sinner,  Luke  xv.  10.  They  were  changed  in  their  essence, 
when  they  were  made  such  glorious  spirits  of  nothing.  Some 
of  them  were  changed  in  their  will,  when  of  holy  they  became 
impure.  The  good  angels  were  changed  in  their  understand- 
ings, when  the  glories  of  God  in  Christ  were  presented  to  their 
view;  and  all  can  be  changed  in  their  essence  again;  and  as 
they  were  made  of  nothing,  so  by  the  power  of  God  they  may 
be  reduced  to  nothing  again.  So  glorified  souls  shall  have  an 
unchanged  operation  about  God,  for  they  shall  behold  his  face 
without  any  grief  or  fear  of  loss,  without  vagrant  thoughts; 
but  they  can  never  be  unchangeable  in  their  nature,  because 
they  can  never  pass  from  finite  to  infinite. 

No  creature  can  be  unchangeable  in  its  nature: 
Because  every  creature  rose  from  nothing.  As  they  rose 
from  nothing,  so  they  tend  to  nothing  unless  they  are  preserved 
by  God.  The  notion  of  a  creature  speaks  changeableness  ;  be- 
cause to  be  a  creature,  is  to  be  made  something  of  nothing,  and 
therefore  creation  is  a  change  of  nothing  into  something.  The 
being  of  a  creature  begins  from  change,  and  therefore  the 
essence  of  a  creature  is  subject  to  change:  God  only  is  uncre- 
ated, and  therefore  unchangeable;  if  he  were  made  he  could 
not  be  immutable;  for  the  very  making  is  a  change  of  not 
being  into  being.  All  creatures  were  made  good,  as  they  were 
the  fruits  of  God's  goodness  and  power;  but  must  needs  be 
mutable,  because  they  were  the  extracts  of  nothing. 

Again,  this  is  so  because  every  creature  depends  purely  upon 
the  will  of  God.  They  depend  not  upon  themselves  but  upon 
another  for  their  being.  As  they  received  their  being  from  the 
word  of  his  mouth  and  the  arm  of  his  power,  so  by  the  same 
word  they  can  be  cancelled  into  nothing,  and  return  into  as 
little  significancy  as  when  they  were  nothing.  He  that  created 
them  by  a  word,  can  by  a  word  destroy  them.  If  God  should 
take  away  their  breath,  they  die  and  return  into  their  dust, 
Psal.  civ.  29.  As  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  Creator  that  things 
might  be  before  they  actually  were;  so  it  is  in  the  power  of  the 
Creator  that  things  after  they  are  may  cease  to  be  what  they 
are;  and  they  are  in  their  own  nature  as  reducible  to  nothing, 
as  they  were  producible  by  the  power  of  God  from  nothing; 
for  there  needs  no  more  than  an  act  of  God's  will  to  null  them, 
as  there  needed  only  an  act  of  God's  will  to  make  them.  Crea- 
tures are  all  subject  to  a  higher  cause:  they  are  all "  reputed  as 
nothing:  he  doth  according  to  his  will  in  the  army  of  heaven, 
and  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth:  and  none  can  stay  his 
hand,  or  say  unto  him,  What  dost  thou?"  Dan.  iv.  35.  But 
God  is  unchangeable,  because  he  is  the  highest  good;  none 
above  him,  all  below  him;  all  dependent  on  him,  himself  upon 
none. 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  ;  — 

No  creature  is  absolutely  perfect.  No  creature  cau  be  so 
perfect,  or  cau  ever  be,  but  something  by  the  infinite  power  of 
God  may  be  added  to  it;  for  whatsoever  is  finite  may  receive 
greater  additions,  and  therefore  a  change.  No  creature  you 
can  imagine,  but  in  your  thoughts  you  may  fancy  him  capable 
of  greater  perfections  than  you  know  lie  has,  or  than  really  he 
has.  The  perfections  of  all  creatures  are  searchable  ;  the  per- 
fection of  God  only  is  unsearchable,  Job.  xi.  7,  and  therefore 
he  only  immutable. 

God  only  is  always  the  same.  Time  makes  no  addition  to 
him,  nor  diminishes  any  thing  of  him;  his  nature  and  essence, 
his  wisdom  and  will,  have  always  been  the  same  from  eternity, 
and  shall  be  the  same  to  eternity  without  any  variation. 

4.  The  fourth  thing  propounded  is — some  propositions  to 
clear  this  unchangeableness  of  God  from  any  thing  that  seems 
contrary  to  it. 

(1.)  There  was  no  change  in  God  when  he  began  to  create 
the  world  in  time.  The  creation  was  a  real  change,  but  the 
change  was  not  subjectively  in  God,  but  in  the  creature;  the 
creature  began  to  be  what  it  was  not  before.  Creation  is  con- 
sidered as  active  or  passive;1  active  creation  is  the  will  and 
power  of  God  to  create;  this  is  from  eternity,  because  God 
willed  from  eternity  to  create  in  time;  this  never  had  beginning, 
for  God  never  began  in  time  to  understand  any  thing,  to  will 
any  thing,  or  to  be  able  to  do  any  thing;  but  he  always  under- 
stood and  always  willed  those  things  which  he  determined  from 
eternity  to  produce  in  time.  The  decree  of  God  may  be  taken 
for  the  act  decreeing,  that  is,  eternal  and  the  same:  or  for  the 
object  decreed,  that  is,  in  time:  so  that  there  may  be  a  change 
in  the  object,  but  not  in  the  will  whereby  the  object  does  exist. 

[1.]  There  was  no  change  in  God  by  the  act  of  creation,  be- 
cause there  was  no  new  will  in  him.  There  was  no  new  act 
of  his  will  which  was  not  before.  The  creation  began  in  time, 
but  the  will  of  creating  was  from  eternity.  The  work  was  new, 
but  the  decree  whence  that  new  work  sprung,  was  as  ancient 
as  the  Ancient  of  days.  When  the  time  of  creating  came,  God 
was  not  made  ex  nolcnte  volens,  "  willing  from  unwilling,"  as 
we  are;  for  whatsoever  God  willed  to  be  now  done,  he  willed 
from  eternity  to  be  done;  but  he  willed  also  that  it  should  not 
be  done  till  such  an  instant  of  time,  and  that  it  should  not  exist 
before  such  a  time.  If  God  had  willed  the  creation  of  the  world 
only  at  that  time  when  the  world  was  produced,  and  not  before, 
then  indeed  God  had  been  changeable.  But  though  God  spake 
that  word,  which  he  had  not  spoken  before,  whereby  the  world 
was  brought  into  act;  yet  he  did  not  will  that  will  he  willed 
not  before.     God  did  not  create  by  a  new  counsel  or  new  will, 

1  Ciamach.  in  part.  1.     Aquin.  qu.  9.  cap.  1.  p.  72 
VoL,   I.— 48 


378  UJSf  T1IE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

but  by  that  which  was  from  eternity,  Eph.  i.  9.  All  things  are 
wrought  according  to  that  purpose  in  himself,  and  according  to 
the  counsel  of  his  will,  ver.  11.  And  as  the  holiness  of  the 
elect  is  the  fruit  of  his  eternal  will  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world,  ver  4,  so  likewise  is  the  existence  of  things,  and  of  those 
persons  whom  he  did  elect.  As  when  an  artificer  frames  a 
house  or  a  temple  according  to  that  model  he  had  in  his  mind 
some  years  before,  there  is  no  change  in  the  model  in  his  mind, 
the  artificer  is  the  same,  though  the  work  is  produced  by  him 
some  time  after  he  had  framed  that  copy  of  it  in  his  own  mind; 
but  there  is  a  change  of  the  thing  produced  by  him  according 
to  that  model.  Or  when  a  rich  man  intends  four  or  five  years 
hence,  if  he  lives,  to  build  a  hospital,  is  there  any  change  in 
his  will,  when,  after  the  expiration  of  that  time,  he  builds  and 
endows  it?  Though  it  be  after  his  will,  yet  it  is  the  fruit  of  his 
precedent  will.  So  God  from  all  eternity  did  will  and  command 
that  the  creatures  should  exist  in  such  a  part  of  time;  and  by 
this  eternal  will,  all  things,  whether  past,  present,  or  to  come, 
did,  do,  and  shall  exist  at  that  point  of  time,  which  that  will  did 
appoint  for  them;  not  as  though  God  had  a  new  will  when 
things  stood  up  in  being,  but  only  that  which  was  prepared  in 
his  immutable  counsel  and  will  from  eternity,  doth  then  appear. 
There  can  be  no  instant  fixed  from  eternity,  wherein  it  can  be 
said,  God  did  not  will  the  creation  of  the  world.  For  had  the 
will  of  God  for  the  shortest  moment  been  undetermined  to  the 
creation  of  the  world,  and  afterwards  resolved  upon  it,  there 
had  been  a  moral  change  in  God  from  not  willing  to  willing: 
but  this  there  was  not,  for  God  executes  nothing  in  time  which 
he  had  not  ordained  from  eternity,  and  appointed  all  the  means 
and  circumstances  whereby  it  should  be  brought  about;  as  the 
determination  of  our  Saviour  to  suffer  was  not  a  new  will,  but 
an  eternal  counsel,  and  wrought  no  change  in  God,  Acts  ii.  23. 
[2.]  There  is  no  change  in  God  by  the  act  of  creation,  be- 
cause there  was  no  new  power  in  God.  Had  God  had  a  will 
at  the  time  of  the  creation  which  he  had  not  before,  there  had 
been  a  moral  change  in  him,  so  had  there  been  in  him  a  power 
only  to  create  then  and  not  before,  there  had  been  a  physical 
change  in  him  from  weakness  to  ability.  There  can  be  no  more 
new  power  in  God,  than  there  can  be  a  new  will  in  God;  for 
his  will  is  his  power,  and  what  he  wills  to  effect,  that  he  does 
effect.  As  he  was  unchangeably  holy,  so  he  was  unchange- 
ably almighty,  "  which  was,  and  is,  and  is  to  come,"  Rev.  iv. 
8;  which  was  almighty,  and  is  almighty,  and  ever  will  be 
almighty.  The  work  therefore  makes  no  change  in  God, 
but  there  is  a  change  in  the  thing  wrought  by  that  power 
of  God.  Suppose  you  had  a  seal  engraven  upon  some  metal  a 
hundred  years  old,  or  as  old  as  the  creation;  and  you  should 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  379 

this  day,  so  many  ages  after  the  engraving  of  it,  make  an  im- 
pression of  that  seal  upon  wax;  would  yon  say  the  engrave- 
ment  upon  the  seal  were  changed,  because  it  produced  that 
stamp  upon  the  wax  now  which  it  did  not  before?  No,  the 
change  is  purely  in  the  wax,  which  receives  a  new  figure  or 
form  by  the  impression;  not  in  the  seal,  that  was  capa- 
ble of  imprinting  the  same  long  before.  God  was  the  same 
from  eternity  as  he  was  when  he  made  a  signature  of  himself 
upon  the  creatures  by  creation,  and  is  no  more  changed  by 
stamping  them  into  several  forms,  than  the  seal  is  changed  by 
making  impression  upon  the  wax.  As  when  a  house  is  en- 
lightened by  the  sun,  or  that  which  was  cold  is  heated  by  it, 
there  is  a  change  in  the  house  from  darkness  to  light,  from 
coldness  to  heat;  but  is  there  any  change  in  the  light  and  heat 
of  the  sun?  There  is  a  change  in  the  thing  enlightened  or 
warmed  by  that  light  and  heat  which  remains  fixed  and  con- 
stant in  the  sun,  which  was  as  capable  in  itself  to  produce  the 
same  effects  before,  as  at  that  instant  when  it  works  them:  so 
when  God  is  the  author  of  a  new  work,  he  is  not  changed;  be- 
cause he  works  it  by  an  eternal  will  and  an  eternal  power. 

[3.]  Nor  is  there  any  new  relation  acquired  by  God  by  the 
creation  of  the  world.  There  was  a  new  relation  acquired  by 
the  creature;  as  when  a  man  sins,  he  has  another  relation  to 
God  than  he  had  before:  he  has  relation  to  God,  as  a  criminal 
to  a  judge.  But  there  is  no  change  in  God,  but  in  the  male- 
factor. The  being  of  men  makes  no  more  change  in  God  than 
the  sins  of  men;  as  a  tree  is  now  on  our  right  hand,  and  by  our 
turning  about,  it  is  on  our  left  hand,  sometimes  before  us,  some- 
times behind  us,  according  to  our  motion  near  it  or  about  it, 
and  the  turning  of  the  body.  There  is  no  change  in  the  tree, 
which  remains  firm  and  fixed  in  the  earth;  but  the  change  is 
wholly  in  the  posture  of  the  body;  whereby  the  tree  may  be 
said  to  be  before  us  or  behind  us,  or  on  the  right  hand  or  on 
the  left  hand.  God  gained  no  new  relation  of  Lord  or  Creator 
by  the  creation; '  for  though  he  had  nothing  to  rule  over,  yet 
he  had  the  power  to  create  and  rule  though  he  did  not  create  and 
rule.  As  a  man  may  be  called  a  skilful  writer  though  he  does 
not  write,  because  he  is  able  to  do  it  when  he  pleases ;  or  a 
man  skilful  in  physic  is  called  a  physician,  though  he  does  not 
practise  that  skill,  or  discover  his  art  in  the  distribution  of  medi- 
cines, because  he  may  do  it  when  he  pleases,  it  depends  upon 
his  own  will  to  show  his  art  when  he  has  a  mind  to  it;  so  the 
name  Creator  and  Lord,  belongs  to  God  from  eternity,  because 
he  could  create  and  rule.  But  howsoever,  if  there  were  any 
such  change  of  relation,  that  God  may  be  called  Creator  and 
Lord  after  the  creation  and  not  before,  it  is  not  a  change  in  68- 

1  Petav.  TheoL  Do^inat.  Tom.  1 . 


380  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

sence,  nor  in  knowledge,  nor  in  will ;  God  gains  no  perfection  nor 
diminution  by  it;  his  knowledge  is  not  increased  by  it;  he  is  no 
more  by  it  than  he  was,  and  will  be,  if  all  those  things  ceased: 
and  therefore  Austin  illustrates  it  by  this  similitude; — as  a  piece 
of  money  when  it  is  given  as  the  price  of  a  thing,  or  deposited 
only  as  a  pledge  for  the  security  of  a  thing  borrowed;  the  coin 
is  the  same  and  is  not  changed,  though  the  relation  it  had  as 
a  pledge  and  as  a  price  be  different  from  one  another;  so  that 
suppose  any  new  relation  be  added,  yet  there  is  nothing  hap- 
pens to  the  nature  of  God  which  may  infer  any  change. 

(2.)  The  second  proposition.     There  was  no  change  in  the 
Divine  nature  of  the   Son,  when  he  assumed  human  nature. 
There  was  a  union  of  the  two  natures,  but  no  change  of  the 
Deity  into  the  humanity,  or  of  the  humanity  into  the  Deity; 
both  preserved  their  peculiar  properties.     The  humanity  was 
changed  by  a  communication  of  excellent  gifts  from  the  Divine 
nature,  not  by  being  brought  into  an  equality  with  it,  for  that 
was  impossible  that  a  creature  should  become  equal  to  the 
Creator.     He  took  the  form  of  a  servant,  but  he  lost  not  the 
form  of  God;  he  despoiled  not  himself  of  the  perfections  of  the 
Deity:  he  was  indeed  emptied,  and  became  of  no  reputation, 
Phil.  ii.  7;  but  he  did  not  cease  to  be  God,  though  he  was  re- 
puted to  be  only  a  man,  and  a  very  mean  one  too.     The  glory 
of  his  Divinity  was  not  extinguished  nor  diminished,  though  it 
was  obscured  and  darkened  under  the  veil  of  our  infirmities ; 
but  there  was  no  more  change  in  the  hiding  of  it,  than  there  is 
in  the  body  of  the  sun  when  it  is  shadowed  by  the  interposition 
of  a  cloud.     His  blood,  while  it  was  pouring  out  from  his  veins, 
was  the  blood  of  God,  Acts  xx.  28;  and  therefore  when  he  was 
bowing  the  head  of  his  humanity  upon  the  cross,  he  had  the 
nature  and  perfections  of  God  ;  for  had  he  ceased  to  be  God,  he 
had  been  a  mere  creature,  and  his  sufferings  would  have  been 
of  as  little  value  and  satisfaction  as  the  sufferings  of  a  creature. 
He  could  not  have  been  a  sufficient  Mediator  had  he  ceased 
to  be  God;  and  he  had  ceased  to  be  God,  had  he  lost  any  one 
perfection  proper  to  the  Divine  nature;  and  losing  none,  he  lost 
not  this  of  unchangeableness,  which  is  none  of  the  meanest  be- 
longing to  the  Deity.     Why  by  his  union  with  the  human  na- 
ture should  he  lose  this,  any  more  than  he  lost  his  omniscience, 
which  he  discovered  by  his  knowledge  of  the  thoughts  of  men; 
or  his  mercy,  which  he  manifested  to  the  height  in  the  time  of 
his  suffering?  That  is  truly  a  change,  when  a  thing  ceases  to 
be  what  it  was  before :  this  was  not  in  Christ,  he  assumed  our 
nature  without  laying  aside  his  own.     When  the  soul  is  united 
to  the  body,  does  it  lose  any  of  those  perfections  that  are  proper 
to  its  nature?1  Is  there  any  change  either  in  the  substance  or 

1  Zanch.  de  Immutab.  Dei.     Goulart  de  Immutab.  de  Dieu. 


ON  TIIH  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 


381 


qualities  of  it?  No;  but  it  makes  a  change  in  the  body,  and  of 
a  dull  lump  it  makes  a  living  mass,  conveys  a  vigour  and 
strength  to  it ;  and  by  its  power,  quickens  it  to  sense  and  motion  : 
so  did  the  Divine  nature  and  human  remain  entire;  there  was 
no  change  of  the  one  into  the  other,  as  Christ  by  a  miracle 
changed  water  into  wine,  or  men  by  art  change  sand  or  ashes 
into  glass.  And  when  he  prays  for  the  glory  he  had  with  God 
before  the  world  was,  John  xvii.  5,  he  prays  that  a  glory  lie 
had  in  his  Deity  might  shine  forth  in  his  person  as  Mediator, 
and  be  evidenced  in  that  height  and  splendour  suitable  to  his 
dignity,  which  had  been  so  lately  darkened  by  his  abasement; 
that  as  he  had  appeared  to  be  the  Son  of  man  in  the  infirmity 
of  the  llesh,  he  might  appear  to  be  the  Son  of  God  in  the  glory 
of  his  person;  that  he  might  appear  to  be  the  Son  of  God  and 
the  Son  of  man  in  one  person. 

Again,  there  could  be  no  change  in  this  union;  for  in  a  real 
change  something  is  acquired  which  was  not  possessed  before, 
neither  formally  nor  eminently;  but  the  Divinity  had  from  eter- 
nity before  the  incarnation,  all  the  perfections  of  the  human  na- 
ture eminently  in  a  nobler  manner  than  they  arc  in  themselves, 
and  therefore  could  not  be  changed  by  a  real  union. r 

(3.)  The  third  proposition.  Repentance  and  other  affections 
ascribed  to  God  in  Scripture,  argue  no  change  in  God.  We 
often  read  of  God's  repenting,  repenting  of  the  good  he  pro- 
mised, Jer.  xviii.  10;  and  of  the  evil  he  threatened,  Exod.  xxxii. 
14;  Jonah  iii.  10;  or  of  the  work  he  hath  wrought,  Gen.  vi.  6. 

We  must  observe  therefore,  that 

Repentance  is  not  properly  in  God.  He  is  a  pure  Spirit, 
and  is  not  capable  of  those  passions  which  are  signs  of  weak- 
ness and  impotence,  nor  is  subject  to  those  regrets  we  are 
subject  to.  Where  there  is  a  proper  repentance  there  is  a  want 
of  foresight,  an  ignorance  of  what  would  succeed,  or  a  defect 
in  the  examination  of  the  occurrences  which  might  fall  within 
consideration:  all  repentance  of  a  fact  is  grounded  upon  a  mis- 
take in  the  event,  which  was  not  foreseen;  or  upon  an  after- 
knowledge  of  the  evil  of  the  thing  which  was  acted  by  the 
person  repenting.  But  God  is  so  wise  that  he  cannot  err;  so 
holy  he  cannot  do  evil;  and  his  certain  prescience  or  foreknow- 
ledge secures  him  against  any  unexpected  events:  God  does 
not  act  but  upon  clear  and  infallible  reason.  And  a  change 
upon  passion  is  accounted  by  all  so  great  a  weakness  in  man, 
that  none  can  entertain  so  unworthy  a  conceit  of  God.  Where 
he  is  said  to  repent,  Gen.  vi.  6,  he  is  also  said  to  grieve;  now 
no  proper  grief  can  be  imagined  to  be  in  God:  as  repentance  is 
inconsistent  with  infallible  foresight,  so  is  grief  no  less  inconsist- 
ent with  undefiled  blessedness.     God  is  blessed  for  ever,  Rom. 

1  Gamach.  in  part.  1.  Aquin.  qu.  9.  cap.  1. 


382  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

ix.  5,  and  therefore  nothing  can  befall  him  that  can  stain  that 
blessedness:  his  blessedness  would  be  impaired  and  interrupted 
while  he  is  repenting,  though  he  did  soon  rectify  that  which  is 
the  cause  of  his  repentance:  God  "is  in  one  mind,  and  who 
can  turn  him  ?  and  what  his  soul  desireth,  even  that  he  doth,'*' 
Job  xxiii.  13. 

But  God  accommodates  himself  in  the  Scripture  to  our  weak 
capacity.  God  has  no  more  of  a  proper  repentance,  than  he 
has  of  a  real  body.  Though  he,  in  accommodation  to  our 
weakness,  ascribes  to  himself  the  members  of  our  bodies  to  set 
out  to  our  understanding  the  greatness  of  his  perfections,  we 
must  not  conclude  him  a  body  like  us;  so  because  he  is  said  to 
have  anger  and  repentance,  we  must  not  conclude  him  to  have 
passions  like  us.  When  we  cannot  fully  comprehend  him  as 
he  is,  he  clothes  himself  with  our  nature  in  his  expressions  that 
we  may  apprehend  him  as  we  are  able,  and  by  an  inspection 
into  ourselves,  learn  something  of  the  nature  of  God;  yet  those 
human  ways  of  speaking  ought  to  be  understood  in  a  manner 
agreeable  to  the  infinite  excellency  and  majesty  of  God ;  and 
are  only  designed  to  mark  out  something  in  God  which  has  a 
resemblance  to  something  in  us.  As  we  cannot  speak  to  God 
as  gods,  but  as  men ;  so  we  cannot  understand  him  speaking  to 
us  as  a  God,  unless  he  condescends  to  speak  to  us  like  a  man. 
God  therefore  frames  his  language  to  our  dulness,  not  to  his 
own  state;  and  informs  us  by  our  own  phrases  what  he  would 
have  us  learn  of  his  nature;  as  nurses  talk  broken 'language 
to  young  children.  In  all  such  expressions,  therefore,  we  must 
ascribe  the  perfection  we  conceive  in  them  to  God,  and  lay  the 
imperfection  at  the  door  of  the  creature. 

Therefore  repentance  in  God  is  only  a  change  of  his  outward 
conduct,  according  to  his  infallible  foresight,  and  immutable 
will.  He  changes  the  way  of  his  providential  proceeding  ac- 
cording to  the  carriage  of  the  creature,  without  changing  his 
will,  which  is  the  rule  of  his  providence.  When  God  speaks 
of  his  repenting  that  he  had  made  man,  Gen.  vi.  6,  it  is  only 
his  changing  his  conduct  from  a  way  of  kindness  to  a  way  of 
severity;  and  is  a  word  suited  to  our  capacities,  to  signify  his 
detestation  of  sin  and  his  resolution  to  punish  it,  after  man  had 
made  himself  quite  another  thing  than  God  had  made  him. 
"  It  repents  me,"  that  is,  I  am  purposed  to  destroy  the  world; 
as  he  that  repents  of  his  Avork  throws  it  away.  As,  if  a  potter 
cast  away  the  vessel  he  had  framed,  it  were  a  testimony  that 
he  repented  that  ever  he  took  pains  about  it;  so  the  destruction 
of  them  seems  to  be  a  repentance  in  God  that  ever  he  made 
them :  it  is  a  change  of  events,  not  of  counsels. J  Repentance 
in  us  is  a  grief  for  a  former  fact,  and  a  changing  of  our  course 

1  Mercer  in  loc. 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  JQ3 

in  it:  grief  is  not  in  God,1  but  his  repentance  is  a  willing  a 
thing  should  not  be  as  it  was,  which  will  was  fixed  from  eter- 
nity: for  God  foreseeing  man  would  fall,  and  decreeing  to  per- 
mit it,  he  could  not  be  said  to  repent  in  time  of  what  he  did 
not  repent  from  eternity;  and  therefore  if  there  were  no  repent- 
ance in  God  from  eternity,  there  could  be  none  in  time.  But 
God  is  said  to  repent,  when  he  changes  the  disposition  of  af- 
fairs without  himself.  As  men,  when  they  repent,  alter  the 
course  of  their  actions,  so  God  alters  tilings  extra  se,  or  with- 
out himself,  but  changes  nothing  of  his  own  purpose  within 
himself.  It  rather  notes  the  action  he  is  about  to  do,  than  any 
thing  in  his  own  nature,  or  any  change  in  his  eternal  purpose. 
God's  repenting  of  his  kindness  is  nothing  but  an  inflicting  of 
punishment,  which  the  creature  by  the  change  of  his  carriage 
hath  merited;  as  his  repenting  of  the  evil  threatened  is  the 
withholding  the  punishment  denounced,  when  the  creature  has 
humbly  submitted  to  his  authority  and  acknowledged  his  crime. 

Or  else  we  may  understand  those  expressions  of  joy,  and 
grief,  and  repentance,  to  signify  thus  much,2  that  the  things  de- 
clared to  be  the  objects  of  joy,  and  grief,  and  repentance,  are  of 
that  nature,  that  if  God  were  capable  of  our  passions,  he  would 
discover  himself  in  such  cases  as  we  do;  as  when  the  prophets 
mention  the  joys  and  applaudings  of  heaven,  earth,  and  the  sea, 
they  only  signify  that  the  things  they  speak  of  are  so  good,  that 
if  the  heavens  and  the  sea  had  natures  capable  of  joy,  they 
would  express  it  upon  that  occasion  in  such  a  manner  as  we 
do:  so  would  God  have  joy  at  the  obedience  of  men,  and  grief 
at  the  unworthy  carriage  of  men,  and  repent  of  his  kindness 
when  men  abuse  it,  and  repent  of  his  punishment  when  men 
reform  under  his  rod,  were  the  majesty  of  his  nature  capable 
of  such  affections. 

(t.)  Proposition.  The  not  fulfilling  of  some  predictions  in 
Scripture,  which  seem  to  imply  a  changeableness  of  the  Divine 
will,  do  not  argue  any  change  in  it.  As  when  he  reprieved 
Hezekiah  from  death,  after  a  message  sent  by  the  prophet 
Isaiah,  that  he  should  die,  2  Kings  xx.  1.  5;  Isa.  xxxviii.  1.  5; 
and  when  he  made  an  arrest  of  that  judgment  he  had  threat- 
ened by  Jonah  against  Nineveh,  Jonah  iii.  4.  10. 

There  is  not  indeed  the  same  reason  of  promises  and  threat- 
enings  altogether,  for  in  promising  the  obligation  lies  upon  God, 
and  the  right  to  demand,  is  in  the  party  that  performs  the  con- 
dition of  the  promise.  But  in  threatenings  the  obligation  lies 
upon  the  sinner,  and  God's  right  to  punish  is  declared  thereby: 
so  that  though  God  does  not  punish,  his  will  is  not  changed; 
because  his  will  was  to  declare  the  demerit  of  sin,  and  his  right 
to  punish  upon  the  commission  of  it;  though  he  may  not  pun- 

1  I'etaviua  Theol.  Dogmat  z  Daille,  in  Sermon  on  2  Pet.  iii.  9.  p.  60. 


384  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

ish  according  to  the  strict  letter  of  the  threatening  the  person 
sinning,  but  relax  his  own  law  for  the  honour  of  his  attributes, 
and  transfer  the  punishment  from  the  offender  to  a  person  sub- 
stituted in  his  room.  This  was  the  case  in  the  first  threatening 
against  man,  and  the  substituting  a  surety  in  the  place  of  the 
malefactor. 

But  the  answer  to  these  cases  is  this,1  that  where  we  find 
predictions  in  Scripture  declared,  and  yet  not  executed,  we  must 
consider  them  not  as  absolute,  but  conditional,  or  as  the  civil 
law  calls  it,  an  interlocutory  sentence.  God  declared  what 
would  follow  by  natural  causes,  or  by  the  demerit  of  man,  not 
what  he  would  absolutely  himself  do.  And  in  many  of  those 
predictions,  though  the  condition  be  not  expressed,  yet  it  is  to 
be  understood.  So  the  promises  of  God  are  to  be  understood 
with  the  condition  of  perseverance  in  well  doing;  and  threaten- 
ings  with  a  clause  of  revocation  annexed  to  them,  provided  that 
men  repent.  And.  this  God  lays  down  as  a  general  case, 
always  to  be  remembered  as  a  rule  for  the  interpreting  his 
threatenings  against  a  nation,  and  the  same  reason  will  hold  in 
threatenings  against  a  particular  person.  "  At  what  instant  I 
shall  speak  concerning  a  nation,  and  concerning  a  kingdom,  to 
pluck  up,  and  to  pull  down,  and  to  destroy  it;  if  that  nation, 
against  whom  I  have  pronounced,  turn  from  their  evil,  I  will 
repent  of  the  evil  that  I  thought  to  do  unto  them;"  and  so  when 
he  speaks  of  planting  a  nation,  if  they  do  evil,  he  will  repent  of 
the  good,  Jer.  xviii.  7 — 10.  It  is  a  universal  rule  by  which  all 
particular  cases  of  this  nature  are  to  be  tried:  so  that  when 
man's  repentance  arrives,  God  remains  firm  in  his  first  will, 
always  equal  to  himself,  and  it  is  not  he  that  changes,  but  man. 
For  since  the  interposition  of  the  Mediator,  with  an  eye  to 
whom  God  governed  the  world  after  the  fall,  the  right  of  pun- 
ishing was  taken  off  if  men  repented  and  mercy  was  to  flow 
out,  if  by  a  conversion  men  returned  to  their  duty,  Ezek.  xviii. 
20,21.  This  I  say  is  grounded  upon  God's  entertaining  the 
Mediator;  for  the  covenant  of  works  discovered  no  such  thing 
as  repentance  or  pardon.  Now  these  general  rules  are  to  be 
the  interpreters  of  particular  cases :  so  that  predictions  of  good 
are  not  to  be  counted  absolute,  if  men  return  to  evil;  nor  pre- 
dictions of  evil,  if  men  be  thereby  reduced  to  a  repentance  of 
their  crimes. 

So  Nineveh  shall  be  destroyed,  that  is,  according  to  the  gene- 
ral rule,  unless  the  inhabitants  repent,  which  they  did;  they 
manifested  a  belief  of  the  threatening,  and  gave  glory  to  God 
by  giving  credit  to  the  prophet:  and  they  had  a  notion  of  this 
rule  God  lays  down  in  the  other  prophets;  for  they  had  an 
apprehension  that  upon  their  humbling  themselves,  they  might 

1  Rivet  in  Genes.  Exercita.  51.  p.  213. 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  335 

escape  the  threatened  vengeance,  and  the  shooting  those  ar- 
rows  that  were  ready  in  the  bow.  Though  Jonah  proclaimed 
destruction  without  declaring  any  hopes  of  an  arrest  of  judg- 
ment; yet  their  natural  notions  of  God  afforded  some  natural 
hopes  of  relief,  if  they  did  their  duty,  and  spurned  not  against 
the  prophet's  message:  and  therefore  saith  one,1  "  God  did  not 
always  express  this  condition,  because  it  was  needless;  his  own 
rule  revealed  in  Scripture  was  sufficient  to  some,  and  the  natu- 
ral notion  all  men  had  of  God's  goodness  upon  their  repent- 
ance, made  it  not  absolutely  necessary  to  declare  it.  And  be- 
sides,''says  he,  "it  is  bootless;  the  expressing  it  can  do  but 
little  good;  secure  ones  will  repent  never  the  sooner,  but  rather 
presume  upon  their  hopes  of  God's  forbearance,  and  linger  out 
their  repentance  till  it  be  too  late:  and  to  work  men  to  repent- 
ance, whom  he  has  purposed  to  spare,  he  threatens  them  with 
terrible  judgments;  which  by  how  much  the  more  terrible  and 
peremptory  they  are,  are  likely  to  be  more  effectual  for  the  end 
God  in  his  purpose  designs  them,  namely,  to  humble  them 
under  a  sense  of  their  demerit,  and  an  acknowledgment  of  his 
righteous  justice;  and  therefore  though  they  be  absolutely  de- 
nounced, yet  they  are  to  be  conditionally  interpreted  with  a 
reservation  of  repentance."  As  for  that  answer  which  one 
gives,  that  by  forty  days  was  not  meant  forty  natural  days,  but 
forty  prophetical  days,  that  is,  years,  a  day  for  year;  and  that 
the  city  was  destroyed  forty  years  after  by  the  Medes,  the  ex- 
pression of  God's  repenting  upon  their  humiliation,  puts  a  bar 
to  that  interpretation:  God  repented,  that  is,  he  did  not  bring 
the  punishment  upon  them  according  to  those  days  the  prophet 
had  expressed;  and  therefore  forty  natural  days  are  to  be 
understood;  and  if  it  were  meant  of  forty  years,  nod  they  were 
destroyed  at  the  end  of  that  term,  how  could  God  be  said  to 
repent,  since  according  to  that,  the  punishment  threatened  was, 
according  to  the  time  fixed,  brought  upon  them?  And  the 
destruction  of  it  forty  years  after  will  not  be  easily  evinced,  if 
Jonah  lived  in  the  time  of  Jeroboam  the  second  king  of  Israel, 
as  he  did,  2  Kings  xiv.  25;  and  Nineveh  was  destroyed  in  the 
time  of  Josiah  king  of  Judah.  But  the  other  answer  is  plain. 
God  did  not  fulfil  what  he  had  threatened,  because  they  re- 
formed what  they  had  committed.  When  the  threatening  was 
made,  they  were  a  fit  object  for  justice;  but  when  they  re- 
pented, they  were  a  fit  object  for  a  merciful  respite.  To 
threaten  when  sins  are  high,  is  a  part  of  God's  justice;  not  to 
execute  when  sins  are  revoked  by  repentance,  is  a  part  of 
God's  goodness.  And  in  the  case  of  Hezekiah,  Isaiah  conies 
with  a  message  from  God,  that  he  should  set  his  house  in 
order,  for  lie  shall  die;  that  is,  the  disease  was  mortal,  and  no 

1    Sanderson's  Sermon,  par.  2.  p.  257,  358. 
Vol.  I.— 49 


386  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

outward  applications  could  in  their  own  nature  resist  the  dis- 
temper. "Behold,  I  will  add  unto  thy  days  fifteen  years;  I 
will  heal  thee,"  2  Kings  xx.  1.  5;  Isa.  xxxviii.  1.5.  It  seems 
to  me  to  be  one  entire  message,  because  the  latter  part  of  it  was 
so  suddenly  after  the  other  committed  to  Isaiah  to  be  delivered 
to  Hezekiah;  for  he  was  not  gone  out  of  the  king's  house,  be- 
fore he  was  ordered  to  return  with  the  news  of  his  health,  by 
an  extraordinary  indulgence  of  God  against  the  power  of  na- 
ture and  force  of  the  disease.  Behold,  I  will  add  to  thy  life; 
noting  it  an  extraordinary  thing.  He  was  in  the  second  court 
of  the  king's  house  when  this  word  came  to  him,  2  Kings  xx. 
4;  the  king's  house  having  three  courts,  so  that  he  was  not 
gone  above  half  way  out  of  the  palace.  God  might  send  this 
message  of  death  to  prevent  the  pride  Hezekiah  might  swell 
with  for  his  deliverance  from  Sennacherib;  as  Paul  had  a  mes- 
senger of  Satan  to  buffet  him  to  prevent  his  lifting  up,  2  Cor. 
xii.  7:  (and  this  good  man  was  subject  to  this  sin.  as  we  find 
afterwards  in  the  case  of  the  Babylonish  ambassadors:)  and 
God  delayed  this  other  part  of  the  message  to  humble  him,  and 
draw  out  this  prayer;  and  as  soon  as  ever  he  found  Hezekiah 
in  this  temper,  he  sent  Isaiah  with  a  comfortable  message  of 
recovery.  So  that  the  will  of  God  was  to  signify  to  him  the 
mortality  of  his  distemper,  and  afterwards  to  relieve  him  by  a 
message  of  an  extraordinary  recovery. 

(5.)  Proposition.  God  is  not  changed,  when  of  loving  to 
any  creatures  he  becomes  angry  with  them,  or  of  angry  he  be- 
comes appeased.  The  change  in  these  cases  is  in  the  creature; 
according  to  the  alteration  in  the  creature,  it  stands  in  a  various 
relation  to  God:  an  innocent  creature  is  the  object  of  his  kind- 
ness, an  offending  creature  is  the  object  of  his  anger:  there  is  a 
change  in  the  dispensation  of  God,  as  there  is  a  change  in  the 
creature  making  himself  capable  of  such  dispensations.  God 
always  acts  according  to  the  immutable  nature  of  his  holiness, 
and  can  no  more  change  in  his  affections  to  good  and  evil,  than 
he  can  in  his  essence.  When  the  devils,  now  fallen,  stood  as 
glorious  angels,  they  were  the  objects  of  God's  love,  because 
holy:  when  they  fell,  they  were  the  objects  of  God's  hatred,  be- 
cause impure  ;  the  same  reason  which  made  him  love  them 
while  they  were  pure,  made  him  hate  them  when  they  were 
criminal.  The  reason  of  his  various  dispensations  to  them  was 
the  same  in  both,  as  considered  in  God,  his  immutable  holiness; 
but  as  respecting  the  creature,  different;  the  nature  of  the  crea- 
ture was  changed,  but  the  Divine  holy  nature  of  God  remained 
the  same:  "  VVith  the  pure  thou  wilt  show  thyself  pure;  and 
with  the  froward  thou  wilt  show  thyself  froward,"  Psal.  xviii. 
26.  He  is  a  refreshing  light  to  those  that  obey  him,  and  a  con- 
suming fire  to  those  that  resist  him.     Though  the  same  angels 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  -jg-y 

were  not  always  loved;  yet  the  same  reason  that  moved  him  to 
love  them  moved  him  to  hate  them.  It  had  argued  a  change 
in  God,  if  he  had  loved  them  always,  in  whatsoever  posture 
they  were  towards  him:  it  could  not  he  counted  love,  hut  a 
weakness  and  impotent  fondness:  the  change  is  in  the  ohject, 
not  in  the  affection  of  God.  For  the  ohject  loved  before  is  not 
beloved  now,  because  that  which  was  the  motive  of  love,  is  not 
now  in  it:  so  that  the  creature  having  a  different  state  from 
what  it  had,  falls  under  a  different  affection  or  dispensation. 

It  had  been  a  mutable  affection  in  God,  to  love  that  which 
was  not  worthy  of  love,  with  the  same  love  wherewith  he 
loved  that  which  had  the  greatest  resemblance  to  himself.  Had 
God  loved  the  fallen  angels  in  that  state  and  for  that  state,  he 
had  hated  himself,  because  he  had  loved  that  which  was  con- 
trary to  himself,  and  the  image  of  his  own  holiness,  which  made 
them  appear  before  good  in  his  sight.  The  will  of  God  is  un- 
changeably set  to  love  righteousness  and  hate  iniquity,  and 
from  this  hatred  to  punish  it;  and  if  a  righteous  creature  con- 
tracts the  wrath  of  God,  or  a  sinful  creature  has  the  communi- 
cations of  God's  love,  it  must  be  by  a  change  in  themselves.  Is 
the  sun  changed  when  it  hardens  one  thing  and  softens  another, 
according  to  the  disposition  of  the  several  subjects?  or  when 
the  sun  makes  a  flower  more  fragrant,  and  a  dead  carcass  more 
noisome  ?  There  are  divers  effects,  but  the  reason  of  that  di- 
versity is  not  in  the  sun,  but  in  the  subject:  the  sun  is  the 
same  and  produces  those  different  effects  by  the  same  quality 
of  heat.  So  if  an  unholy  soul  approach  to  God,  God  looks  an- 
grily upon  him,  the  same  immutable  perfection  in  God  draws 
out  his  kindness  towards  him;  as  some  think  the  sun  would 
rather  refresh  than  scorch  us,  if  our  bodies  were  of  the  same 
nature  and  substance  with  that  luminary. 

As  the  will  of  God  for  creating  the  world  was  no  new,  but 
an  eternal  will,  though  it  manifested  itself  in  time;  so  the  will 
of  God  for  the  punishment  of  sin,  or  the  reconciliation  of  the  sin- 
ner, was  no  new  will ;  though  his  wrath  in  time  breaks  out  in  the 
effects  of  it  upon  sinners,  and  his  love  flows  out  in  the  e fleets  of  it 
upon  penitents.  Christ  by  his  death  reconciling  God  to  man, 
did  not  alter  the  will  of  God,  but  did  what  was  consonant  to 
his  eternal  will:  he  came  not  to  change  his  will  but  to  execute 
his  will.  "Lo,  I  come  to  do  thy  will,  0  God,"  Heb.  x.  7. 
And  the  grace  of  God  in  Christ,  was  not  a  new  grace,  but  an 
old  grace  in  a  new  appearance;  "the  grace  of  God — hath  ap- 
peared," Tit.  ii.  11. 

(6.)  Proposition.  A  change  of  laws  by  God  argues  no  change 
in  God,  when  God  abrogates  some  laws  which  he  had  settled 
in  the  church  and  enacts  others.  I  spoke  of  this  something  the 
last  clay:  I  shall  only  add  this.     God  commanded  one  thing  to 


388  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

the  Jews  when  the  church  was  in  an  infant  state,  and  removed 
those  laws  when  the  church  came  to  some  growth.  The  ele- 
ments of  the  world  were  suited  to  the  state  of  children,  Gal.  iv. 
3.  A  mother  feeds  not  the  infant  with  the  same  diet  as  she 
does  when  it  is  grown  up.  Our  Saviour  acquainted  not  his 
disciples  with  some  things  atone  time  which  he  did  at  another, 
because  they  were  not  able  to  bear  them.  Where  was  the 
change,  in  Christ's  will,  or  in  their  growth  from  a  state  of  weak- 
ness to  that  of  strength  ?  A  physician  prescribes  not  the  same 
thing  to  a  person  in  health,  as  he  does  to  one  conflicting  with 
a  distemper;  nor  the  same  thing  in  the  beginning,  as  he  does 
in  the  state  or  declination  of  the  disease.  The  physician's 
will  and  skill  are  the  same,  but  the  capacity  and  necessity  of 
the  patient  for  this  or  that  medicine  or  method  of  proceeding 
are  not  the  same. 

When  God  changed  the  ceremonial  law,  there  was  no  change 
in  the  Divine  will,  but  an  execution  of  his  will;  for  when  God 
commanded  the  observance  of  the  law  he  intended  not  the  per- 
petuity of  it;  nay,  in  the  prophet  he  declares  the  cessation  of  it. 
He  decreed  to  command  it,  but  he  decreed  to  command  it  only 
for  such  a  time;  so.  that  the  abrogation  of  it  was  no  less  an  ex- 
ecution of  his  decree,  than  the  establishment  of  it  for  a  season 
was.  The  commanding  of  it  was  pursuant  to  his  decree  for 
the  appointing  of  it,  and  the  nulling  of  it  was  pursuant  to  his 
decree  of  continuing  it  only  for  such  a  season;  so  that  in  all 
this  there  was  no  change  in  the  will  of  God. 

The  counsel  of  God  stands  sure:  what  changes  soever  there 
are  in  the  world,  are  not  in  God  or  his  will,  but  in  the  events 
of  things,  and  the  different  relations  of  things  to  God:  it  is  in 
the  creature,  not  in  the  Creator.  The  sun  always  remains  of 
the  same  hue,  and  is  not  discoloured  in  itself,  because  it  shines 
green  through  a  green  glass,  and  blue  through  a  blue  glass; 
the  different  colours  come  from  the  glass,  not  from  the  sun. 
The  change  is  always  in  the  disposition  of  the  creature,  not  in 
the  nature  of  God  or  his  will. 

5.    Use. 

(1.)  For  information. 

[1.]  If  God  be  unchangeable  in  his  nature,  and  immutability 
be  a  property  of  God,  then  Christ  has  a  Divine  nature.  This 
in  the  psalm  is  applied  to  Christ  in  the  Hebrews,  Heb.  i.  11, 
where  he  joins  the  citation  out  of  this  psalm  with  that  out  of 
Psalm  xlv.  6,  7.  "  Thy  throne  0  God,  is  for  ever  and  ever: — 
thou  hast  loved  righteousness  and  hated  iniquity;  therefore 
God,  even  thy  God,  hath  anointed  thee  with  the  oil  of  gladness 
above  thy  fellows.  And,  Thou,  Lord,  in  the  beginning  hast 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth."  As  the  first  must  neces- 
sarily be  meant  of  Christ  the  Mediator,  and  therein  he  is  dis- 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  ;jg(j 

tinguished  from  God,  as  one  anointed  by  him;  so  the  other 
must  be  meant  of  Christ,  whereby  he  is  made  one  with  God  in 
regard  of  the  creation  and  dissolution  of  the  world;  in  regard 
of  eternity  and  immutability.     Both  the  testimonies  are  linked 

together  by  the  copulative,  and;  "  and  thou  Lord,"  declaring 
thereby  that  they  are  both  to  be  understood  of  the  same  per- 
son, the  Son  of  God.  The  design  of  the  chapter  is  to  prove 
(In  ist  to  be  God  ;  and  such  things  are  spoken  of  him  as  could 
not  belong  to  any  creature,  no,  not  to  the  most  excellent  of  the 
angels.  The  same  person  that  is  said  to  be  anointed  above  his 
fellows,  and  is  said  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  earth  and  hea- 
ven, is  said  to  be  the  same,  that  is,  the  same  in  himself:  the 
prerogative  of  sameness  belongs  to  that  person,  as  well  as  crea- 
tion of  heaven  and  earth. 

The  Sociuians  say  it  is  spoken  of  God,  and  that  God  shall 
destroy  the  heavens  by  Christ;  if  so,  Christ  is  not  a  mere  crea- 
ture, nor  created  when  he  was  incarnate;  for  the  same  person 
that  shall  change  the  world,  did  create  the  world  :  if  God  shall 
change  the  world  by  him,  God  also  created  the  world  by  him  ; 
he  was  then  before  the  world  was;  for  how  could  God  create 
the  world  by  one  that  was  not,  or  that  was  not  in  being  till 
after  the  creation  of  the  world  ?  The  heavens  shall  be  changed, 
but  the  person  who  is  to  change  the  heavens  is  said  to  be  the 
same,  or  unchangeable,  in  the  creation  as  well  as  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  world.     This  sameness  refers  to  the  whole  sentence. 

The  psalm  wherein  the  text  is,  and  whence  this  in  the  He- 
brews is  cited,  is  properly  meant  of  Christ,  and  redemption  by 
him,  and  the  completing  of  it  at  the  last  day,  and  not  of  the 
Babylonish  captivity.1  That  captivity  was  not  so  deplorable 
as  the  state  the  psalmist  describes.  Daniel  and  his  companions 
flourished  in  that  captivity;  it  could  not  reasonably  be  said  of 
them,  that  their  days  were  consumed  like  smoke,  their  heart 
withered  like  grass ;  that  they  forgot  to  eat  their  bread,  as  it  is 
ver.  3,  4.  Besides,  he  complains  of  shortness  of  life,  ver.  11; 
but  none  had  any  more  reason  to  complain  of  that  in  the  time 
of  the  captivity,  than  before  and  after  it,  or  than  at  any  other 
time  :  their  deliverance  would  contribute  nothing  to  the  natural 
length  of  their  lives.  Besides,  when  Zion  should  be  built,  the 
heathen  should  fear  the  name  of  the  Lord,  (that  is,  worship 
God,)  and  all  the  kings  of  the  earth  his  glory,  ver.  15.  The 
rearing  the  second  temple  after  the  deliverance,  did  not  prose- 
lyte the  nations ;  nor  did  the  kings  of  the  earth  worship  the 
glory  of  God  ;  nor  did  God  appear  in  such  glory  at  the  erecting 
the  second  temple.  The  second  temple  was  less  glorious  than 
the  first,  for  it  wanted  some  of  the  ornaments  which  were  the 
glory  of  the  first;  but  it  is  said  of  this  state,  that  when  the 

1  Placcus  dc  Dcitatc  Christi. 


390  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

Lord  should  build  up  Zion,  he  should  appear  in  his  glory,  ver. 
1G;  his  proper  glory,  and  extraordinary  glory.  Now  that  God 
who  shall  appear  in  glory,  and  build  up  Zion,  is  the  Son  of 
God,  the  Redeemer  of  the  world  ;  he  builds  up  the  church,  he 
causes  the  nations  to  fear  the  Lord,  and  the  kings  of  the  earth 
his  glory;  he  broke  down  the  partitiou  wall,  and  opened  a 
door  for  the  entrance  of  the  gentiles;  he  struck  the  chains  from 
off  the  prisoners,  and  loosed  those  that  were  appointed  to  death 
by  the  curse  of  the  law,  ver.  20.  And  to  this  Person  is  as- 
cribed the  creation  of  the  world ;  and  he  is  pronounced  to 
remain  the  same  in  the  midst  of  an  infinite  number  of  changes 
in  inferior  things.  And  it  is  likely  the  psalmist  considers  not 
only  the  beginning  of  redemption,  but  the  completing  of  it  at 
the  second  coming  of  Christ;  for  he  complains  of  those  evils, 
which  shall  be  removed  by  his  second  coming,  namely,  the 
shortness  of  life,  persecutions  and  reproaches  wherewith  the 
church  is  afflicted  in  this  world  ;  and  comforts  not  himself  with 
those  attributes  which  are  directly  opposed  to  sin,  as  the  mercy 
of  God,  the  covenant  of  God,  but  with  those  that  are  opposed 
to  mortality  and  calamities,  as  the  unchangeableness  and  eter- 
nity of  God;  and  from  thence  infers  a  perpetual  establishment 
of  believers.  "  The  children  of  thy  servants  shall  continue, 
and  their  seed  shall  be  established  before  thee,"  ver.  2S.  So 
that  the  psalm  itself  seems  to  aim  in  the  whole  discourse  at 
Christ,  and  asserts  his  Divinity,  which  the  apostle  as  an  inter- 
preter doth  fully  evidence;  applying  it  to  him,  and  manifesting 
his  Deity  by  his  immutability  as  well  as  eternity.  While  all 
other  things  lose  their  forms,  and  pass  through  multitudes  of 
variations,  he  constantly  remains  the  same,  and  shall  be  the 
same  when  all  the  empires  of  the  world  shall  slide  away,  and 
a  period  be  put  to  the  present  motions  of  the  creation. '  And  as 
there  was  no  change  made  in  his  being  by  the  creation  of 
things,  so  neither  shall  there  be  by  the  final  alteration  of  things; 
he  shall  see  them  finish  as  he  saw  them  rise  up  into  being,  and 
be  the  same  after  their  reign  as  he  was  before  their  original; 
he  is  the  first  and  the  last,  Rev.  i.  17. 

[2.]  Here  is  ground  and  encouragement  for  worship.  An 
atheist  will  make  another  use  of  this:  if  God  be  immutable, 
why  should  we  worship  him,  why  should  we  pray  to  him? 
good  will  come  if  he  wills  it,  evil  cannot  be  averted  by  all  our 
supplications,  if  he  has  ordered  it  to  fall  upon  us. 

But  certainly  since  unchangeableness  in  knowing  and  willing 
goodness  is  a  perfection,  an  adoration  and  admiration  is  due  to 
God  upon  the  account  of  this  excellence.  If  he  be  God  he  is 
to  be  reverenced,  and  the  more  highly  reverenced  because  he 
cannot  but  be  God. 

1  Daille,  Melang.  dcs  Sermons,  part  2.  sect.  1.  p.  8 — 10,  &c. 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  39  j 

Again,  what  comfort  could  it  be  to  pray  to  a  God,  that,  like 
the  chamelion,  changed  colours  every  day,  every  moment? 
What  encouragement  could  there  he  to  lift  up  our  eyes  to  one 
that  were  of  one  mind  this  day.  and  of  another  mind  to-mor- 
row? Who  would  put  up  a  petition  to  an  earthly  prince  that 
were  so  mutable,  as  to  grant  a  petition  one  day,  and  deny  it 
another,  and  change  his  own  act?  But  if  a  prince  promise  this 
or  that  thing  upon  such  or  such  a  condition,  and  you  know  his 
promise  to  he  as  unchangeable  as  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and 
Persians,  would  any  man  reason  thus? — Because  it  is  unchange- 
able we  will  not  seek  to  him,  we  will  not  perform  the  condition, 
upon  which  tin:  fruit  of  the  proclamation  is  to  be  enjoyed?  Who 
would  not  count  such  an  inference  ridiculous?  What  blessings 
has  not  God  promised  upon  the  condition  of  seeking  him?  Were 
he  of  an  unrighteous  nature,  or  changeable  in  his  mind,  this 
would  be  a  bar  to  our  seeking  him,  and  frustrate  our  hopes: 
but  since  it  is  otherwise,  is  not  this  excellency  of  his  nature  the 
highest  encouragement  to  ask  of  him  the  blessings  he  has  pro- 
mised, and  a  beam  from  heaven  to  fire  our  zeal  in  asking?  If 
you  desire  things  against  his  will,  which  he  has  declared  lie 
will  not  grant,  prayer  then  would  be  an  act  of  disobedience,  an 
injury  to  him,  as  well  as  an  act  of  folly  in  itself;  his  unchange- 
abieness  then  might  stifle  such  desires.  But  if  we  ask  accord- 
ing to  his  will,  and  according  to  our  reasonable  wants,  what 
ground  have  we  to  make  such  a  ridiculous  argument?  He  has 
willed  every  thing  that  may  be  for  our  good,  if  we  perform  the 
condition  he  has  required  ;  and  has  put  it  upon  record,  that  we 
may  know  it,  and  regulate  our  desires  and  supplications  accord- 
ing to  it.  If  we  will  not  seek  him,  his  immutability  cannot  be 
a  bar,  but  our  own  folly  is  the  cause;  and  by  our  neglect  we 
despoil  him  of  this  perfection  as  to  us;  and  either  imply  that 
he  is  not  sincere,  and  means  not  as  he  speaks;  or  that  he  is  as 
changeable  as  the  wind,  sometimes  this  thing,  sometimes  that, 
and  not  at  all  to  be  confided  in.  If  we  ask  according  to  his 
revealed  will,  the  unchangeableness  of  his  nature  will  assure  us 
of  the  grant;  and  what  a  presumption  would  it  be  in  a  creature 
dependent  upon  his  sovereign,  to  ask  that  which  he  knows  he 
has  declared  his  will  against;  since  there  is  no  good  we  can 
want,  but  he  has  promised  to  give,  upon  our  sincere  and  ardent 
desire  for  it. 

God  has  decreed  to  give  this  or  that  to  man,  but  condition- 
ally, and  by  the  means  of  inquiring  after  him,  and  asking  for 
it,  Ezek.  xxxvi.  37.  Ask,  and  you  shall  receive,  Matt.  vii.  7; 
as  much  as  to  say,  you  shall  not  receive  unless  you  ask.  When 
the  highest  promises  are  made,  God  expects  they  should  be  put 
in  suit:  our  Saviour  joins  the  promise  and  the  petition  together; 
the  promise  to  encourage  the  petition,  and  the  petition  to  enjoy 


392  0N  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

the  promise:  he  does  not  say  perhaps  it  shall  be  given,  bnt  it 
shall,  that  is,  it  certainly  shall;  your  heavenly  Father  is  un- 
changeably willing  to  give  you  those  things.  We  must  depend 
upon  his  immutability  for  the  thing,  and  submit  to  his  wisdom 
for  the  time.  Prayer  is  an  acknowledgment  of  our  dependence 
upon  God,  which  dependence  could  have  no  firm  foundation 
without  uuchangeableness.  Prayer  does  not  desire  any  change 
in  God,  but  is  offered  to  God  that,  he  would  confer  those  things 
which  he  has  immutably  willed  to  communicate;  but  he  willed 
them  not  without  prayer  as  the  means  of  bestowing  them.  The 
light  of  the  sun  is  ordered  for  our  comfort,  for  the  discovery  of 
visible  things,  for  the  ripening  the  fruits  of  the  earth;  but  withal 
it  is  required  that  we  use  our  faculty  of  seeing,  that  we  employ 
our  industry  in  sowing  and  planting,  and  expose  our  fruits  to 
the  view  of  the  sun,  that  they  may  receive  the  influence  of  it. 
If  a  man  shuts  his  eyes,  and  complains  that  the  sun  is  changed 
into  darkness,  it  would  be  ridiculous;  the  sun  is  not  changed, 
but  we  alter  ourselves;  nor  is  God  changed  in  not  giving  us  the 
blessings  he  has  promised,  because  he  has  promised  in  the  way 
of  a  due  address  to  him,  and  opening  our  souls  to  receive  his 
influence;  and  to  this,  his  immutability  is  the  greatest  en- 
couragement. 

[3.]  This  shows  how  contrary  man  is  to  God  in  regard  of 
his  inconstancy.  What  an  infinite  distance  is  there  between 
the  immutable  God  and  mutable  man,  and  how  should  we  be- 
wail this  flittingness  in  our  nature! 

There  is  a  mutability  in  us  as  creatures,  and  a  creature  can- 
not but  be  mutable  by  nature,  otherwise  it  were  not  a  creature, 
but  God.  The  establishment  of  any  creature  is  from  grace  and 
gift;  naturally  we  tend  to  nothing,  as  we  come  from  nothing. 
This  creature  mutability  is  not  our  sin,  yet  it  should  cause  us 
to  lie  down  under  a  sense  of  our  own  nothingness,  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  Creator.  The  angels  as  creatures,  though  not  cor- 
rupt, cover  their  faces  before  him:  and  the  arguments  God  uses 
to  humble  Job,  though  a  fallen  creature,  are  not  from  his  cor- 
ruption; for  I  do  not  remember  that  he  taxed  him  with  that; 
but  from  the  greatness  of  his  majesty  and  excellency  of  his 
nature  declared  in  his  works,  Job  xxxviii. — xli.  And  there- 
fore men  that  have  no  sense  of  God,  and  humility  before  him, 
forget  that  they  are  creatures,  as  well  as  corrupt  ones. 

How  great  is  the  distance  between  God  and  us,  in  regard  of 
our  inconstancy  in  good,  which  is  not  natural  to  us  by  creation! 
For  the  mind  and  affections  were  regular,  and  by  the  great 
Artificer  were  pointed  to  God  as  the  object  of  knowledge  and 
love.  We  have  the  same  faculties  of  understanding,  will,  and 
affection  as  Adam  had  in  innocence,  but  not  with  the  same 
light,  the  same  bias,  and  the  same  ballast.     Man  by  his  fall 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  393 

wounded  his  head  and  heart;  the  wound  in  his  head  made  him 
unstable  in  the  truth,  and  that  in  his  heart  unsteadfast  in  his 
affections.  He  changed  himself  from  the  image  of  God  to  that 
of  the  devil,  from  innocence  to  corruption,  and  from  an  ability 
to  be  steadfast  to  a  perpetual  inconstancy.  His  silver  became 
dross,  and  his  wine  was  mixed  with  water,  Isa.  i.  22.  He 
changed, 

To  inconstancy  in  truth,  opposed  to  the  immutability  of 
knowledge  in  God.  How  are  our  minds  floating  between  igno- 
rance and  knowledge!  Truth  in  us  is  like  those  ephemera, 
creatures  of  a  day's  continuance,  which  spring  up  in  the  morn- 
ing and  expire  at  night.  How  soon  does  that  fly  away  from 
us,  which  we  have  had,  not  only  some  weak  flashes  of,  but 
which  we  have  learned  and  have  had  some  relish  of!  The 
devil  stood  not  in  the  truth,  John  viii.  44,  and  therefore  man- 
ages his  engines  to  make  us  as  unstable  as  himself.  Our  minds 
reel,  and  corrupt  reasonings  oversway  us;  like  spunges  we 
suck  up  water,  and  a  light  compression  makes  us  spout  it  out 
again.  Truths  are  not  engraven  upon  our  hearts,  but  written 
as  in  dust,  defaced  by  the  next  puff  of  wind;  "carried  about 
with  every  wind  of  doctrine,"  Eph.  iv.  14:  like  a  ship  with- 
out a  pilot  and  sails,  at  the  courtesy  of  the  next  storm;  or  like 
clouds  that  are  tenants  to  the  wind  and  sun,  moved  by  the 
wind,  and  melted  by  the  sun.  The  Galatians  were  no  sooner 
called  into  the  grace  of  God,  but  they  were  removed  from  it, 
Gal.  i.  6.  Some  have  been  reported  to  have  kept  an  opinion 
for  a  month;  and  many  are  like  him  that  believed  the  soul's 
immortality  no  longer  than  he  had  Plato's  book  of  that  subject 
in  his  hand.1  One  likens  such  to  children;  they  play  with 
trui  lis  as  children  do  with  babies,  one  while  embrace  them,  and 
a  little  after  throw  them  into  the  dirt.  How  soon  do  we  forget 
what  is  the  truth  delivered  to  us,  and  what  it  represented  us  to 
be!  James  i.  23,24.  Is  it  not  a  thing  to  be  bewailed,  that 
man  should  be  such  a  weathercock,  turned  about  with  every 
breath  of  wind,  and  shifting  aspects  as  the  wind  shifts  points? 

Inconstancy  in  will  and  affections,  opposed  to  the  immuta- 
bility of  will  in  God.  We  waver  between  God  and  Baal;  and 
while  we  are  not  only  resolving,  but  upon  motion  a  little  way, 
look  back  with  a  hankering  after  Sodom;  sometimes  lifted  up 
with  heavenly  intentions,  and  presently  cast  down  with  earthly 
cares;  like  a  ship,  that  by  an  advancing  wave  seems  to  aspire 
to  heaven,  and  the  next  fall  of  the  waves  makes  it  sink  down  to 
the  depths.  We  change  purposes  oftener  than  fashions;  and 
our  resolutions  are  like  letters  in  water,  whereof  no  mark  re- 
mains. We  will  be  as  John  to-day  to  love  Christ,  and  as  Judas 
to-morrow  to  betray  him,  and  by  an  unworthy  levity  pass  into 

1  Sedgwick,  Christ's  Counsel,  p  230. 
Vol.  I.— 50 


394  ON  TIIE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

the  camp  of  the  enemies  of  God;  resolved  to  be  as  holy  as  an- 
gels in  the  morning,  when  the  evening  beholds  ns  as  impure  as 
devils.  How  often  do  we  hate  what  before  we  loved,  and  shun 
what  before  we  longed  for!  And  our  resolutions  are  like  ves- 
sels of  crystal,  which  break  at  the  first  knock,  are  dashed  in 
pieces  by  the  next  temptation.  Saul  resolved  not  to  persecute 
David  any  more;  but  you  soon  find  him  upon  his  old  game. 
Pharaoh  more  than  once  promised  and  probably  resolved  to  let 
Israel  go  ;  but  at  the  end  of  the  storm  his  purposes  vanish,  Exod. 
viii.  28.  32.  When  an  affliction  pinches  men,  they  intend  to 
change  their  course;  and  the  next  news  of  ease  changes  their 
intentions:  like  a  bow,  not  fully  bent  in  their  inclinations,  they 
cannot  reach  the  mark,  but  live  many  years  between  resolu- 
tions of  obedience  and  affections  to  rebellion,  Psal.  lxxviii.  57. 
And  what  promises  men  make  to  God  are  often  the  fruit  of 
their  passion,  their  fear,  not  of  their  will.  The  Israelites  were 
startled  at  the  terrors  wherewith  the  law  was  delivered,  and 
promised  obedience,  Exod.  xx.  19;  but  a  month  after  forgot 
thetn,  and  make  a  golden  calf,  and  in  the  sight  of  Sinai  call  for 
and  dance  before  their  gods,  Exod.  xxxii.  Never  people  more 
unconstant.  Peter,  who  vowed  an  allegiance  to  his  Master, 
and  a  courage  to  stick  to  him,  forswears  him  almost  with  the 
same  breath.  Those  that  cry  out  with  a  zeal,  "  The  Lord  he 
is  God,"  shortly  after  return  to  the  service  of  their  idols,  1  Kings 
xviii.  39.  That  which  seems  to  be  our  pleasure  this  day,  is 
our  vexation  to-morrow:  a  fear  of  a  judgment  puts  us  into  a 
religious  pang,  and  a  love  to  our  lusts  reduces  us  to  a  rebellious 
inclmation.  As  soon  as  the  danger  is  over,  the  saint  is  forgot- 
ten: salvation  and  damnation  present  themselves  to  us,  touch 
us,  and  engender  some  weak  wishes,  which  are  dissolved  by 
the  next  allurements  of  a  carnal  interest.  No  hold  can  be  taken 
of  our  promises;  no  credit  is  to  be  given  to  our  resolutions. 

Inconstancy  in  practice.  How  much  beginning  in  the  Spirit, 
and  ending  in  the  flesh ;  one  day  in  the  sanctuary,  another  in 
vice;  clear  in  the  morning  as  the  sun,  and  clouded  before  noon; 
in  heaven  by  an  excellency  of  gifts,  in  hell  by  a  course  of  pro- 
faneness  !  Like  a  flower,  which  some  mention,  that  changes  its 
colour  three  times  a  day;  one  part  white,  then  purple,  then  yel- 
low. The  Spirit  lusts  against  the  flesh,  and  the  flesh  quickly 
triumphs  over  the  Spirit.  In  a  good  man  how  often  is  there  a 
spiritual  lethargy!  Though  he  does  not  openly  defame  God,  yet 
he  does  not  always  glorify  him:  he  does  not  forsake  the  truth, 
but  he  does  not  always  make  the  attainment  of  it,  and  settle- 
ment in  it,  his  business.  This  levity  discovers  itself  in  religious 
duties;  "When  I  would  do  good,  evil  is  present  with  me," 
Rom.  vii.  21 :  never  more  present  than  when  we  have  a  mind  to 
do  good,  and  never  more  present  than  when  we  have  a  mind 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  395 

to  do  the  best  and  greatest  good.  How  hard  is  it  to  make  our 
thoughts  and  affections  keep  their  stand!  place  them  upon  a 
good  object,  and  they  will  be  frisking  from  it,  as  a  bird  from 
one  bough,  one  fruit  to  another.  We  vary  postures  according 
to  the  various  objects  we  meet  with.  The  course  of  the  world 
is  a  very  airy  thing,  suited  to  the  uncertain  motions  of  that 
prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  which  works  in  it,  Eph.  ii.  2. 

This  ought  to  be  bewailed  by  us.  Though  we  may  stand 
fast  in  the  truth,  though  we  may  spin  our  resolutions  into  a  firm 
web,  though  the  Spirit  may  triumph  over  the  flesh  in  our  prac- 
tice, yet  we  ought  to  bewail  it,  because  inconstancy  is  our  na- 
ture, and  what  fixedness  we  have  in  good  is  from  grace. 
What  we  find  practised  by  most  men,  is  natural  to  all.1  As 
face  answers  to  face  in  a  glass,  so  does  heart  to  heart,  Pro  v. 
xxvii.  19:  a  faoe  in  the  glass  is  not  more  like  a  natural  face, 
whose  image  it  is,  than  one  man's  heart  is  naturally  like  an- 
other. 

It  is  natural  to  those  out  of  the  church.  Nebuchadnezzar 
is  so  affected  with  Daniel's  prophetic  spirit,  that  he  would  have 
none  accounted  the  true  God  but  the  God  of  Daniel,  Dan.  ii.  47. 
How  soon  does  this  notion  slip  from  him,  and  an  image  must 
be  set  up  for  all  to  worship,  upon  pain  of  a  most  cruel,  painful 
death!  Daniel's  God  is  quite  forgotten.  The  miraculous  deliv- 
erance of  the  three  children  for  not  worshipping  his  image, 
makes  him  settle  a  decree  to  secure  the  honour  of  God  from  the 
reproach  of  his  subjects,  Dan.  iii.  29;  yet  a  little  while  after  you 
have  him  strutting  in  his  palace,  as  if  there  were  no  God  but 
himself. 

It  is  natural  to  those  in  the  church.  The  Israelites  were  the 
only  church  God  had  in  the  world,  and  a  notable  example  of 
inconstancy.  After  the  miracles  of  Egypt  they  murmured 
against  God,  when  they  saw  Pharaoh  marching  with  an  army 
at  their  heels.  They  desired  food,  and  soon  nauseated  the  manna 
they  were  before  fond  of.  When  they  came  into  Canaan,  they 
sometimes  worshipped  God,  and  sometimes  idols,  not  only  the 
idols  of  one  nation,  but  of  all  their  neighbours:  in  which  regard 
God  calls  this  his  heritage  a  speckled  bird,Jer.  xii.  9;  a  pea- 
cock, saith  Hierom,  inconstant,  made  up  of  varieties  of  idola- 
trous colours  and  ceremonies. 

This  levity  of  spirit  is  the  root  of  all  mischief;  it  scatters  our 
thoughts  in  the  service  of  God,  it  is  the  cause  of  all  revolts  and 
apostasies  from  him,  it  makes  us  unfit  to  receive  the  communi- 
cations of  God;  whatsoever  we  hear  is  like  words  written  in 
sand,  ruffled  out  by  the  next  gale ;  whatsoever  is  put  into  us  is 
like  precious  liquor  in  a  palsied  hand,  soon  spilt.  It  breeds 
distrust  of  God;  when  we  have  an  uncertain  judgment  of  him, 

1  Lawrence  of  Faith,  p.  262 


396  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

we  are  not  like  to  confide  in  him:  an  uncertain  judgment  will 
be  followed  with  a  distrustful  heart.  In  fine,  where  it  is  pre- 
valent, it  is  a  certain  sign  of  ungodliness;  to  be  driven  with  the 
wind  like  chaff,  and  to  be  ungodly,  is  all  one  in  the  judgment  of 
the  Holy  Ghost:  "The  ungodly  are  like  the  chaff  which  the 
wind  driveth  away,"  Psal.  i.  4;  which  signifies  not  their  de- 
struction, but  their  disposition,  for  their  destruction  is  inferred 
from  it,  "  Therefore  the  ungodly  shall  not  stand  in  judgment," 
ver.  5. 

How  contrary  is  this  to  the  unchangeable  God,  who  is  al- 
ways the  same,  and  would  have  us  the  same,  in  our  religious 
promises  and  resolutions  for  good! 

[4.]  If  God  be  immutable,  it  is  sad  news  to  those  that  are  re- 
solved in  wickedness,  or  careless  of  returning  to  that  duty  he 
requires.  Sinners  must  not  expect  that  God  will  alter  his  will, 
make  a  breach  upon  his  nature,  and  violate  his  own  word  to 
gratify  their  lusts.  No;  it  is  not  reasonable  that  God  should 
dishonour  himself  to  secure  them,  and  cease  to  be  God  that  they 
may  continue  to  be  wicked,  by  changing  his  own  nature  that 
they  may  be  unchanged  in  their  vanity.  God  is  the  same; 
goodness  is  as  amiable  in  his  sight,  and  sin  as  abominable  in 
his  eyes  now,  as  it  was  at  the  beginning  of  the  world.  Being 
the  same  God,  he  is  the  same  enemy  to  the  wicked,  as  the  same 
friend  to  the  righteous;  he  is  the  same  in  knowledge,  and  can- 
not forget  sinful  acts;  he  is  the  same  in  will,  and  cannot  ap- 
prove of  unrighteous  practices;  goodness  cannot  but  be  always 
the  object  of  his  love,  and  wickedness  cannot  but  be  always  the 
object  of  his  hatred.  And  as  his  aversion  to  sin  is  always  the 
same,  so  as  he  has  been  in  his  judgments  upon  sinners,  the 
same  he  will  be  still;  for  the  same  perfection  of  immutability 
belongs  to  his  justice  for  the  punishment  of  sin,  as  to  his  holi- 
ness for  his  disaffection  to  sin.  Though  the  covenant  of  works 
was  changeable  by  the  crime  of  man  violating  it;  yet  it  was 
unchangeable  in  regard  to  God's  justice  vindicating  it,  which 
is  inflexible  in  the  punishment  of  the  breaches  of  his  law.  The 
law  had  a  preceptive  part,  and  a  minatory  part:  when  man 
changed  the  observation  of  the  precept,  the  righteous  nature  of 
God  could  not  null  the  execution  of  the  threatening;  he  could 
not  upon  the  account  of  this  perfection  neglect  his  just  word, 
and  countenance  the  unrighteous  transgression.  Thoush  there 
were  no  more  rational  creatures  in  being  but  Adam  and  Eve,  yet 
God  subjected  them  to  that  death  he  had  assured  them  of:  and 
from  this  immutability  of  his  will,  arises  the  necessity  of  the 
suffering  of  the  Son  of  God,  for  the  relief  of  the  apostate  crea- 
ture. His  will  in  the  second  covenant  is  as  unchangeable  as 
that  in  the  first,  only  repentance  is  settled  as  the  condition  of 
the  second,  which  was  not  indulged  in  the  first;  and  without 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  ;><)7 

repentance  the  sinner  must  irrevocably  perish  or  God  must 
change  his  nature.  There  must  be  a  change  in  man;  there 
can  be  none  in  God;  his  bow  is  bent,  his  arrows  are  ready,  if 
the  wicked  do  not  turn,  Psal.  vii.  12,  13.  There  is  not  an  athe- 
ist, a  hypocrite,  a  profane  person,  that  ever  was  upon  the  earth, 
but  God's  soul  abhorred  him  as  such,  and  the  like  he  will  ab- 
hor for  ever.  While  any  therefore  continue  so,  they  may  sooner 
expect  the  heavens  should  roll  as  they  please,  the  sun  stand 
still  at  their  order,  the  stars  change  their  course  at  their  beck, 
than  that  God  should  change  his  nature,  which  is  opposite  to 
profaneness  and  vanity:  "  Who  hath  hardened  himself  against 
him  and  hath  prospered?"  Job  ix.  4. 

(2.)   Of  comfort. 

The  immutability  of  a  good  God  is  a  strong  ground  of  con- 
solation. Subjects  wish  a  good  prince  to  live  for  ever,  as  being 
loath  to  change  him;  but  care  not  how  soon  they  are  rid  of  an 
oppressor.  This  unchangeableness  of  God's  will,  shows  him 
as  ready  to  accept  any  that  come  to  him  as  ever  he  was;  so  that 
we  may  with  confidence  make  our  addresses  to  him,  since  he 
cannot  change  his  affections  to  goodness.  The  fear  of  change 
in  a  friend  hinders  a  full  reliance  upon  him:  an  assurance  of 
stability  encourages  hope  and  confidence.  This  attribute  is  the 
strongest  prop  for  faith  in  all  our  addresses;  it  is  not  a  single 
perfection,  but  the  glory  of  all  those  that  belong  to  his  nature; 
for  he  is  unchangeable  in  his  love,  Jer.  xxxi.  3,  in  his  truth, 
Psal.  cxvii.  2.  The  more  solemn  revelation  of  himself  in  this 
name  Jehovah,  which  signifies  chiefly  his  eternity  and  immuta- 
bility, was  to  support  the  Israelites'  faith,  in  expectation  of  a 
deliverance  from  Egypt,  that  he  had  not  retracted  his  purpose, 
and  his  promise  made  to  Abraham  for  giving  Canaan  to  his 
posterity,  Exod.  iii.  14 — 17.  Herein  is  the  basis  and  strength 
of  all  his  promises;  therefore,  says  the  psalmist,  "They  that 
know  thy  name  will  put  their  trust  in  thee,"  Psal.  ix.  10.  Those 
that  are  spiritually  acquainted  with  thy  name  Jehovah,  and 
have  a  true  sense  of  it  upon  their  hearts,  will  put  their  trust  in 
thee.  His  goodness  could  not  be  distrusted,  if  his  unchange- 
ableness were  well  apprehended  and  considered:  all  distrust 
would  fly  before  it  as  darkness  before  the  sun;  it  only  gets  ad- 
vantage of  us,  when  we  are  not  well  grounded  in  his  name; 
and  if  ever  we  trusted  God,  we  have  the  same  reason  to  trust 
him  for  ever;  "  Trust  ye  in  the  Lor,d  for  ever,  for  in  the  Lord 
Jehovah  is  everlasting  strength,"  or,  as  it  is  in  the  Hebrew, 
'•  a  rock  of  ages,"  Isa.  xxvi.  4;  that  is,  perpetually  unchange- 
able. We  find  the  traces  of  God's  immutability  in  the  crea- 
tures; he  has  by  his  peremptory  decree,  set  bounds  to  the  sea, 
'•  Hitherto  shalt  thou  come,  but  no  further;  and  here  shall  thy 
proud  waves  be  stayed,"  Job  xxxviii.  11.    Do  we  fear  the  sea 


398  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

overflowing  us  in  this  island?  No,  because  of  his  fixed  decree. 
And  is  not  his  promise  in  his  word  as  unchangeable  as  his 
word  concerning  inanimate  things,  and  as  good  a  ground  to 
rest  upon? 

[1.]  The  covenant  stands  unchangeable.  Mutable  creatures 
break  their  leagues  and  covenants,  and  snap  them  asunder  like 
Samson's  cords,  when  they  are  not  accommodated  to  their 
interests.  But  an  unchangeable  God  keeps  his;  "  The  moun- 
tains shall  depart  and  the  hills  be  removed;  but  my  kindness 
shall  not  depart  from  thee,  neither  shall  the  covenant  of  my 
peace  be  removed,"  Isa.  liv.  10.  The  heaven  and  earth  shall 
sooner  fall  asunder,  and  the  strongest,  and  firmest  parts  of  the 
creation  crumble  to  dust,  than  one  iota  of  my  covenant  shall 
fail.  It  depends  upon  the  unchangeableness  of  his  will,  and 
the  unchangeableness  of  his  word,  and  therefore  is  called  the 
immutability  of  his  counsel,  Heb.  vi.  17.  It  is  the  fruit  of  the 
everlasting  purpose  of  God;  whence  the  apostle  links  purpose 
and  grace  together,  2  Tim.  i.  9.  A  covenant  with  a  nation  may 
be  changeable,  because  it  may  not  be  built  upon  the  eternal 
purpose  of  God  to  put  his  fear  in  the  heart ;  but  with  respect 
to  the  creatures's  obedience.  Thus  God  chose  Jerusalem,  as 
the  place  wherein  he  would  dwell  for  ever,  Psal.  cxxx.  14;  yet 
he  threatens  to  depart  from  them,  when  they  had  broken  cove- 
nant with  him,  "  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  went  up  from  the 
midst  of  the  city — to  the  mountain  on  the  east  side,"  Ezek.  xi. 
23.  The  covenant  of  grace  does  not  run,  "  I  will  be  your  God, 
if  you  will  be  my  people;"  but,  "I  will  be  their  God,  and  they 
shall  be  my  people."  "  I  will  betroth  thee  unto  me  for  ever. — 
I  will  say — Thou  art  my  people;  and  they  shall  say,  Thou  art 
my  God,"  Hos  ii.  19.  23.  His  everlasting  purpose  is  to  write 
his  laws  in  the  hearts  of  the  elect.  He  puts  a  condition  to  his 
covenant  of  grace,  the  condition  of  faith,  and  he  resolves  to 
work  that  condition  in  the  hearts  of  the  elect;  and  therefore 
believers  have  two  immutable  pillars  for  their  support,  stronger 
than  those  erected  by  Solomon  at  the  porch  of  the  temple,  called 
Jachin  and  Boaz,  to  note  the  firmness  of  that  building  dedicated 
to  God,  1  Kings  vii.  21;  these  are — election,  or  the  standing 
counsel  of  God,  and  the  covenant  of  grace:  he  will  not  revoke 
the  covenant  and  blot  the  names  of  his  elect  out  of  the  book 
of  life. 

[2.]  Perseverance  is  ascertained.  It  consists  not  with  the 
majesty  of  God  to  call  a  person  effectually  to  himself  to-day, 
to  make  him  fit  for  his  eternal  love,  to  give  him  faith,  and  take 
away  that  faith  to-morrow:  his  effectual  call  is  the  fruit  of  his 
eternal  election,  and  that  counsel  has  no  other  foundation,  but 
his  constant  and  unchangeable  will ;  a  foundation  that  stands 
sure,  and  therefore  called  the  foundation  of  God,  and  not  of 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  ;;,,«> 

the  creature;  "The  foundation  of  God  standeth  sure — The 
Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  his,"  2  Tim.  ii.  IS.  It  is  not 
founded  upon  our  own  natural  strength,  it  may  he  then  subject 
to  change,  as  all  the  products  of  nature  are  :  the  fallen  angels 
had  created  grace  in  their  innoccncy,  but  lost  it  by  their  fill. 
Were  this  the  foundation  of  the  creature,  it  might  soon  be 
shaken;  since  man  after  his  revolt  can  ascribe  nothing  constant 
to  himself,  but  his  own  inconstancy.1  But  the  foundation  is  not 
in  the  infirmity  of  nature,  but  the  strength  of  grace,  and  of  the 
grace  of  God  who  is  immutable,  who  wants  not  virtue  to  be 
able,  nor  kindness  to  be  willing  to  preserve  his  own  foundation. 
To  what  purpose  does  our  Saviour  tell  his  disciples  their  names 
were  written  in  heaven,  Luke  x.  20,  but  to  mark  the  infallible 
certainty  of  their  salvation,  by  an  opposition  to  those  things 
which  perish  and  have  their  names  written  in  the  earth,  Jer. 
xvii.  13,  or  upon  the  sand,  where  they  may  be  defaced?  And 
why  should  Christ  order  his  disciples  to  rejoice  that  their  names 
were  written  in  heaven,  if  God  were  changeable  to  blot  them 
out  again?  Or  why  should  the  apostle  assure  us,  that  though 
God  had  rejected  the  greatest  part  of  the  Jews,  he  had  not  there- 
fore rejected  his  people  elected  according  to  his  purpose  and 
immutable  counsel,  because  there  are  none  of  the  elect  of  God 
but  will  come  to  salvation?  for,  says  he,  "  the  election  hath  ob- 
tained it,"  Rom.  xi.  7;  that  is,  all  those  that  are  of  the  election 
have  obtained  it,  and  the  others  are  hardened.  Where  the  seal 
of  sanctification  is  stamped,  it  is  a  testimony  of  God's  election, 
and  that  foundation  shall  stand  sure.  "  The  foundation  of  God 
standeth  sure,  having  this  seal,  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that 
are  his:"  that  is  the  foundation,  the  naming  the  name  of  Christ, 
or  believing  in  Christ;  and  departing  from  iniquity  is  the  seal. 
As  it  is  impossible,  when  God  calls  those  things  that  are  not, 
but  that  they  should  spring  up  into  being  and  appear  before 
him;  so  it  is  impossible,  but  that  the  seed  of  God  by  his  eternal 
purpose,  should  be  brought  to  a  spiritual  life:  and  that  calling 
cannot  be  retracted;  for  that  gift  and  calling  is  without  repent- 
ance, Rom.  xi.  29. 3  And  when  repentance  is  removed  from 
God  in  regard  to  some  works,  the  immutability  of  those  works 
is  declared:  and  the  reason  of  that  immutability  is  their  pure 
dependence  on  the  eternal  favour  and  unchangeable  grace  of 
God,  "purposed  in  himself,"  Eph.  i.  9.  11,  and  not  upon  the 
mutability  of  the  creature.  Hence  their  happiness  is  not  as 
patents  among  men,  quam  diu  bene  se  gesserint,  so  long  as 
they  behave  themselves  well;  but  they  have  a  promise,  that 
they  shall  behave  themselves  so  as  never  wholly  to  depart  from 
God:  "I  will  make  an  everlasting  covenant  with  them,  that  I 
will  not  turn  away  from  them,  to  do  them  good;  but  I  will  put 

'  Turretin  Ser.  p.  322.  2Cocccius. 


400  0N  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

my  fear  in  their  hearts,  that  they  shall  not  depart  from  me," 
Jer.  xxxii.  40.  God  will  not  turn  from  them,  to  do  them  good, 
and  promises  that  they  shall  not  turn  from  him  for  ever  or  for- 
sake him.  And  the  bottom  of  it  is  the  everlasting  covenant; 
and  therefore  believing  and  sealing,  for  security,  are  linked  to- 
gether, Eph.  i.  13.  And  when  God  doth  inwardly  teach  us  his 
law,  he  puts  in  a  will  not  to  depart  from  it:  "  I  have  not  de- 
parted from  thy  judgments;"  what  is  the  reason?  "for  thou 
hast  taught  me,"  Psal.  cxix.  102. 

[3.]  By  this,  eternal  happiness  is  insured.  This  is  the'  in- 
ference made  from  the  eternity  and  unchangeableness  of  God 
in  the  verse  following  the  text,  "The  children  of  thy  servants 
shall  continue,  and  their  seed  shall  be  established  before  thee," 
ver.  28.  This  is  the  sole  conclusion  drawn  from  those  perfec- 
tions of  God  solemnly  asserted  before.  The  children  which 
the  prophets  and  apostles  have  begotten  to  thee,  shall  be  totally 
delivered  from  the  relics  of  their  apostasy  and  the  punishment 
due  to  them,  and  rendered  partakers  of  immortality  with  thee, 
as  sons  to  dwell  in  their  Father's  house  for  ever.  The  spirit 
begins  a  spiritual  life  here,  to  fit  for  an  immutable  life  in  glory 
hereafter;  where  believers  shall  be  placed  upon  a  throne  that 
cannot  be  shaken,  and  possess  a  crown  that  shall  not  be  taken 
off  their  heads  for  ever. 

(3.)  Of  exhortation. 

[1.]  Let  a  sense  of  the  changeableness  and  uncertainty  of 
all  things  except  God  be  upon  us.  There  are  as  many  changes 
as  there  are  figures  in  the  world.  The  whole  fashion  of  the 
world  is  a  transient  thing;  every  man  may  say  as  Job,  "Changes 
and  war  are  against  me,"  Job  x.  17.  Lot  chose  the  plain  of 
Sodom,  because  it  was  the  richer  soil;  he  was  but  a  little  time 
there  before  he  was  taken  prisoner,  and  his  substance  made 
the  spoil  of  his  enemy:  that  is  again  restored,  but  a  while  after 
fire  from  heaven  devours  his  wealth,  though  his  person  was 
secured  from  the  judgment  by  a  special  providence.  We  burn 
with  a  desire  to  settle  ourselves;  but  mistake  the  way,  and 
build  castles  in  the  air,  which  vanish  like  bubbles  of  soap  in 
water. 

And  therefore, 

Let  not  our  thoughts  dwell  much  upon  them.  Do  but  con- 
sider those  souls  that  are  in  the  possession  of  an  unchangeable 
God,  that  behold  his  never-fading  glory!  Would  it  not  be  a 
kind  of  hell  to  them  to  have  their  thoughts  starting  out  to 
these  things,  or  find  any  desire  in  themselves  to  the  changeable 
trifles  of  the  earth?  Nay,  have  we  not  reason  to  think  that 
they  cover  their  faces  with  shame,  that  ever  they  should  have 
such  a  weakness  of  spirit  when  they  were  here  below,  as  to 
spend  more  thoughts  upon  them  than  were  necessary  for  this 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  ^qj 

present  life,  much  more  that  they  should  at  nny  time  value  and 
court  them  above  an  unchangeable  good?  Do  they  not  disdain 
themselves  that  they  should  ever  debase  the  immutable  perfec- 
tions of  God,  as  to  have  neglecting  thoughts  of  him  at  any 

time,  for  the  entertainment  of  such  a  mean  and  inconstant 
rival? 

Much  less  should  \vc  trust  in  them  or  rejoice  in  them.  The 
best  things  are  mutable,  and  things  of  such  a  nature  are  not  fit 
objects  of  confidence.  Trust  not  in  riches,  they  have  their  wane 
as  well  as  increase;  they  rise  sometimes  like  a  torrent  and  flow 
in  upon  men,  but  resemble  also  a  torrent  in  as  sudden  a  fall 
and  departure,  and  leave  nothing  but  slime  behind  them.  Trust 
not  in  honour;  all  the  honour  and  applause  in  the  world  is  no 
better  than  an  inheritance  of  wind,  which  the  pilot  is  not  sure 
of,  but  shifts  from  one  corner  to  another,  and  stands  not  perpe- 
tually in  the  same  point  of  the  heavens.  How  in  a  few  ages 
did  the  house  of  David,  a  great  monarch,  and  a  man  after  God's 
own  heart,  descend  to  a  mean  condition,  and  all  the  glory  of 
that  house  shut  up  in  the  stock  of  a  carpenter!  David's  sheep- 
hook  was  turned  into  a  sceptre,  and  the  sceptre  by  the  same 
hand  of  Providence  turned  into  a  hatchet  in  Joseph  his  des- 
cendant. 

Rejoice  not  immoderately  in  wisdom;  that  and  learning  lan- 
guish with  age.  A  wound  in  the  head  may  impair  that  which 
is  the  glory  of  a  man.  If  an  organ  be  out  of  frame,  folly  may 
succeed,  and  all  a  man's  prudence  be  wound  up  in  an  irreco- 
verable dotage.  Nebuchadnezzar  was.no  fool,  yet  by  a  sudden 
hand  of  God  he  became  not  only  a  fool  or  a  madman,  but  a 
kind  of  brute.  Rejoice  not  in  strength;  that  decays,  and  a 
mighty  man  may  live  to  see  his  strong  arm  withered,  and  a 
grasshopper  to  become  a  burthen,  Eccles.  xii.  5.  "The  strong 
men  shall  bow  themselves,  and  the  grinders  cease  because 
they  are  few,"  verse  3.  Nor  rejoice  in  children;  they  are 
like  birds  upon  a  tree,  that  make  a  little  chirping  music,  and 
presently  fall  into  the  fowler's  net.  Little  did  Job  expect  such 
sad  news  as  the  loss  of  all  his  progeny  at  a  blow,  when  the 
messenger  knocked  at  his  gate:  and  such  changes  happen  often- 
times, when  our  expectations  of  comfort  and  a  contentment  in 
them  are  at  the  highest.  How  often  does  a  string  crack  when 
the  musician  has  wound  it  up  to  a  just  height  for  a  tune,  and 
all  his  pains  and  delight  marred  in  a  moment!  Nay,  all  these 
things  change  while  we  are  using  them,  like  ice  that  melts  be- 
tween our  fingers,  and  ilowers  that  wither  while  we  are 
smelling  them.  The  apostle  gave  them  a  good  title,  when 
he  called  them  uncertain  riches,  and  thought  it  a  strong  argu- 
ment to  dissuade  men  from  trusting  in  them,  1  Tim.  vi.  17. 
The  wealth  of  the  merchant  depends  upon  the  winds  and 
Vol.  I.— 51 


402  ON  TIIE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

waves,  and  the  revenue  of  the  husbandman  upon  the  clouds; 
and  since  they  depend  upon  those  things  which  are  used  to 
express  the  most  changeableness,  they  can  be  no  fit  object  for 
trust.  Besides,  God  sometimes  kindles  a  fire  under  all  a  man's 
glory,  which  does  insensibly  consume  it,  Isa.  x.  6;  and  while 
we  have  them,  the  fear  of  losing  them  renders  us  not  very 
happy  in  the  fruition  of  them;  we  can  scarce  tell  whether  they 
are  contentments  or  no,  because  sorrow  follows  them  so  close 
at  the  heels.  It  is  not  an  unnecessary  exhortation  for  good 
men;  the  best  men  have  been  apt  to  place  too  much  trust  in 
them.  David  thought  himself  immutable  in  his  prosperity; 
and  such  thoughts  could  not  be  without  some  immoderate  out- 
lets of  the  heart  to  them,  and  confidences  in  them.  And  Job 
promised  himself  to  die  in  his  nest,  and  multiply  his  days  as 
the  sand  without  any  interruption,  Job  xxix.  18,  19,  &c;  but 
he  was  mistaken  and  disappointed. 

Let  me  add  this;  trust  not  in  men,  who  are  as  inconstant  as 
any  thing  else,  and  often  change  their  most  ardent  affections 
into  implacable  hatred;  and  though  their  affections  may  not 
be  changed,  their  power  to  help  you  may.  Haman's  friends 
that  depended  on  him  one  day,  were  crestfallen  the  next,  when 
their  patron  was  to  exchange  his  chariot  of  state  for  an  igno- 
minious gallows. 

Prefer  an  immutable  God  before  mutable  creatures.  Is  it 
not  a  horrible  thing  to  -see  what  we  are,  and  what  we  possess, 
daily  crumbling  to  dust,  and  in  a  continual  flux  from  us;  and 
not  seek  out  something  that  is  permanent,  and  always  besides 
the  same,  for  our  portion?  In  God,  or  Wisdom,  which  is  Christ, 
there  is  substance,  Prov.  viii.  21 ;  in  which  respect  he  is  opposed 
to  all  the  things  in  the  world,  that  are  but  shadows,  that  are 
shorter  or  longer  according  to  the  motion  of  the  sun;  mutable 
also  by  every  little  body  that  intervenes.  God  is  subject  to  no 
decay  within,  to  no  force  without;  nothing  in  his  own  nature 
can  change  him  from  what  he  is,  and  there  is  no  power  above 
can  hinder  him  from  being  what  he  will  to  the  soul.  He  is  an 
ocean  of  all  perfection;  he  wants  nothing  without  himself  to 
render  him  blessed,  which  may  allure  him  to  a  change;  his 
creatures  can  want  nothing  out  of  him  to  make  them  happy, 
whereby  they  may  be  enticed  to  prefer  any  thing  before  him. 
If  we  enjoy  other  things,  it  is  by  God's  donation,  who  can 
as  well  withdraw  them  as  bestow  them;  and  it  is  but  a  rea- 
sonable as  well  as  a  necessary  thing,  to  endeavour  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  immutable  Benefactor,  rather  than  his  revocable 
gifts. 

If  the  creatures  had  a  sufficient  virtue  in  themselves  to  ravish 
our  thoughts  and  engross  our  souls;  yet  when  we  take  a  pros- 
pect of  a  fixed  and  unchangeable  Being,  what  beauty,  what 


ON  THK  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  ^3 

Strength  have  any  of  those  things  to  vie  with  him?  How  can 
th'ey  boar  up  and  maintain  Iheir  interest  against  a  lively 
thought  and  sense  of  God?  All  the  glory  of  them  wonld  lly 
before  him  like  that  of  the  stars  before  the  sun.  They  were 
once  nothing,  they  may  he  nothing  again ;  as  their  own  nature 
brought  them  not  out  of  nothing,  so  their  nature  secures  them 
not  from  being  reduced  to  nothing.  What  an  unhappifcess  is 
it,  to  have  our  affections  set  upon  that  which  retains  something 
of  its  rum  esse  with  its  esse,  its  not  being  with  its  being;  that 
lives  indeed,  but  in  a  continual  flux,  and  may  lose  that  plea- 
sureableness  to-morrow  which  charms  us  to-day! 

[2.]  This  doctrine  will  teach  us  patience  under  such  pro- 
vidences as  declare  his  unchangeable  will.  The  rectitude  of 
our  wills  consists  in  conformity  to  the  Divine,  as  discovered  in 
his  words,  and  manifested  in  his  providence,  which  are  the 
effluxes  of  his  immutable  will.  The  time  of  trial  is  appointed 
by  his  immutable  will,  Dan.  xi.  35;  it  is  not  in  the  power  of 
the  sufferer's  will  to  shorten  it,  nor  in  the  power  of  the  enemy's 
will  to  lengthen  it.  Whatsoever  does  happen,  has  been  de- 
creed by  God;  ("That  which  hath  been  is  named  already," 
Eccl.  vi.  10;)  therefore  to  murmur  or  be  discontented,  is  to  con- 
tend with  God,  who  is  mightier  than  we  to  maintain  his  own 
purposes.  God  does  act  all  things  conveniently  tor  that  immu- 
table end  intended  by  himself,  and  according  to  the  reason  of 
his  own  Divine  will,  in  the  true  point  of  time  most  proper  for 
it  and  for  us,  not  too  soon  or  too  slow,  because  he  is  unchange- 
able in  knowledge  and  wisdom.  God  does  not  act  any  thing 
barely  by  an  immutable  will,  but  by  an  immutable  wisdom, 
and  an  unchangeable  rule  of  goodness;  and  therefore  we 
should  not  only  acquiesce  in  what  he  works,  but  have  a  com- 
placency in  it;  and  by  having  our  wills  thus  knitting  them- 
selves with  the  immutable  will  of  God,  we  attain  some  degree 
of  likeness  to  him  in  his  own  unchangeableness.  When  there- 
fore God  has  manifested  his  will  in  opening  his  decree  to  the 
world  by  his  work  of  providence,  we  must  cease  all  disputes 
against  it,  and  with  Aaron  hold  our  peace,  though  the  afflic- 
tion be  very  smart,  Lev.  x.  3.  All  ilesh  must  be  silent  before 
God,  Zech.  ii.  1:3;  for  whatsoever  is  his  counsel  shall  stand, 
and  cannot  be  recalled;  all  struggling  against  it  is  like  a  brittle 
glass  contending  with  a  rock;  for  "  if  he  cut  off,  and  shut  up, 
or  gather  together,  then  who  can  hinder  him?"  Job  xi.  10. 
Nothing  can  help  us,  if  he  has  determined  to  afflict  us;  as  no- 
thing can  hurt  us,  if  he  has  determined  to  secure  us.  The 
more  clearly  God  has  evinced  this  or  that  to  be  his  will,  the 
more  sin  fid  is  our  struggling  against  it.  Pharoah's  sin  was 
the  greater  in  keeping  Israel,  by  how  much  the  more  God's 


404  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

miracles  had  been  demonstrations  of  his  settled  will  to  deliver 
them.  Let  nothing  snatch  our  hearts  to  a  contradiction  to  him, 
but  let.  us  fear  and  give  glory  to  him,  when  the  hour  of  judg- 
ment, which  he  has  appointed,  is  come,  Rev.  xiv.  7;  that  is, 
comply  with  the  unchangeable  will  of  his  precept,  the  more  he 
declares  the  immutable  will  of  his  providence:  we  must  not 
think,  God  must  disgrace  his  nature  and  change  his  proceed- 
ings for  us:  better  the  creature  should  suffer,  than  God  be  im- 
paired in  any  of  his  perfections.  If  God  changed  his  purpose 
he  would  change  his  nature.  Patience  is  the  way  to  perform 
the  immutable  will  of  God,  and  a  means  lo  attain  a  gracious 
immutability  for  ourselves  by  receiving  the  promise.  "Ye 
have  need  of  patience,  that,  after  ye  have  done  the  will  of  God, 
ye  might  receive  the  promise,"  Heb.  x.  36. 

[3.]  This  doctrine  will  teach  us  to  imitate  God  in  this  perfec- 
tion by  striving  to  be  immovable  in  goodness.  God  never 
goes  back  from  himself,  he  finds  nothing  better  than  himself 
for  which  he  should  change;  and  can  we  find  any  thing  better 
than  God  to  allure  our  hearts  to  a  change  from  him?  The  sun 
never  declines  from  the  ecliptic  line,  nor  should  we  from  the 
paths  of  holiness.  A  steadfast  obedience  is  encouraged  by  an 
unchangeable  God  to  reward  it:  "  Be  ye  steadfast, immovable, 
always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  forasmuch  as  ye 
know  that  your  labour  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord,"  1  Cor.  xv. 
5S.  Unsteadfastness  is  the  note  of  a  hypocrite,  Psal.  lxxviii. 
37.  Steadfastness  is  that  which  is  good,  is  the  mark  of  a  saint; 
it  is  the  character  of  a  righteous  person  to  keep  the  truth,  Isa. 
xxvi.  2;  and  it  is  as  positively  said,  that  he  that  abides  not  in 
the  doctrine  of  Christ  has  not.  God,  but  he  that  does,  has  both 
the  Father  and  the  Son,  2  John  9.  So  much  of  uncertainty  as 
there  is,  so  much  of  nature;  so  much  of  firmness  in  duty,  so 
much  of  grace.  We  can  never  honour  God  unless  we  finish 
his  work;  as  Christ  did  not  glorify  God  but  in  finishing  the 
work  God  gave,  him  to  do,  John  xvii.  4.  The  nearer  the  world 
comes  to  an  end,  the  more  is  God's  immutability  seen  in  his 
promises  and  predictions,  and  the  more  must  our  unchangea- 
bleness  be  seen  in  our  obedience:  "  Let  us  hold  fast  the  pro- 
fession of  our  faith  without  wavering: — and  so  much  the  more 
as  ye  see  the  day  approaching,"  Heb.  x.  23,  25.  The  Chris- 
tian Jews  were  to  be  the  more  tenacious  of  their  faith,  the 
nearer  they  saw  the  day  approaching,  the  day  of  Jerusalem's 
destruction  prophesied  by  Daniel,  Dan.  ix.  26)  which  accom- 
plishment must  be  a  great  argument  to  establish  the  Christian 
Jews  in  the  profession  of  Christ  to  be  the  Messiah;  because 
the  destruction  of  the  city  was  not  to  be  before  the  cutting  off 
the  Messiah.     Let  us  be  therefore  constant  in  our  profession 


ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD.  405 

and  service  of  God,  and  not  suffer  ourselves  to  be  driven  from 

him  by  the   ill  usage,  or  flattered  from  him  by  the  caresses  of 
of  the  world. 

It  is  reasonable.  If  God  be  unchangeable  in  doing  ns  good. 
it  is  reason  we  should  be  unchangeable  in  doing  him  service; 
if  he  assure  us  that  he  is  our  God,  our  "  I  am,"  he  would  also 
that  we  should  be  his  people  His  we  arc  If  lie  declare  him- 
self constant  in  his  promises,  he  expects  we  should  be  SO  in  our 
obedience.  As  a  spouse,  we  should  be  unchangeably  faithful 
to  him  as  a  Husband;  as  subjects,  have  an  unchangeable  alle- 
giance to  him  as  our  Prince.  He  would  not  have  us  faithful  to 
him  for  an  hour  or  a  day,  but  to  the  death,  Rev.  ii.  10.  And 
it  is  reason  we  should  be  his:  and  if  we  be  his  children,  imitate 
him  in  his  constancy  of  his  holy  purposes. 

It  is  our  glory  and  interest.  To  be  a  reed  shaken  with  every 
wind,  is  no  commendation  among  men,  and  it  is  less  a  ground 
of  praise  with  God.  It  was  Job's  glory,  that  he  held  fast  his 
integrity:  "  In  all  this  Job  sinned  not,"  Job  i.  22.  In  all  this, 
which  whole  cities  and  kingdoms  would  have  thought  ground 
enough  of  high  exclamations  against  God.  And  also  against 
the  temptation  of  his  wife,  he  retained  his  integrity:  "  Dost  thou 
still  retain  thine  integrity?"  Job  ii.  9.  The  devil,  who  by 
God's  permission  stripped  him  of  his  goods  and  health,  yet 
could  not  strip  him  of  his  grace.  As  a  traveller,  when  the  wind 
and  snow  beat  in  his  face,  wraps  his  cloak  more  closely  about 
him  to  preserve  that  and  himself.  Better  we  had  never  made 
profession,  than  afterwards  to  abandon  it;  such  a  withering 
profession  serves  for  no  other  use  than  to  aggravate  the  crime, 
if  any  of  us  fly  like  a  coward  or  revolt  like  a  traitor.  What 
profit  will  it  be  to  a  soldier,  if  he  has  withstood  many  assaults 
and  turn  his  back  at  last?  If  we  would  have  God  crown  us  with 
an  immutable  glory,  we  must  crown  our  beginnings  with  a 
happy  perseverance:  "Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will 
give  thee  a  crown  of  life,"  Rev.  ii.  10.  Not  as  though  this 
were  the  cause  to  merit  it,  but  a  necessary  condition  to  possess 
it.  Constancy  in  good  is  accompanied  with  an  immutability 
of  glory. 

By  an  unchangeable  disposition  to  good  we  should  begin  the 
happiness  of  heaven  upon  earth.  This  is  the  perfection  of 
blessed  spirits,  those  that  are  nearest  to  God,  as  angels  and  glo- 
rified souls;  they  are  immutable,  not  indeed  by  nature,  but  by 
grace ;  yet  not  only  by  a  necessity  of  grace,  but  a  liberty  of  will. 
Grace  will  not  let  them  change;  and  that  grace  does  animate 
their  wills  that  they  would  not  change;  an  immutable  God  fills 
their  understandings  and  affections,  and  gives  satisfaction  to 
their  desires.  The  saints  when  they  were  below,  tried  other 
things  and  found  them  deficient.     But  now,  they  are  so  fully 


406  ON  THE  IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD. 

satisfied  with  the  beatific  vision,  that  if  Satan  should  have  en- 
trance among  the  angels  and  sons  of  God,  it  is  not  likely  he 
should  have  any  influence  upon  them;  lie  could  not  present  to 
their  understandings  any  thing  that  could,  either  at  the  first 
glance  or  upon  a  deliberate  view,  be  preferable  to  what  they 
enjoy  and  are  fixed  in. 

Well  then,  let  us  be  immovable  in  the  knowledge  and  love 
of  God.  It  is  the  delight  of  God  to  see  his  creatures  resemble 
him  in  what  they  are  able.  Let  not  our  affections  to  him  be  as 
Jonah's  gourd,  growing  up  one  night  and  withering  the  next. 
Let  us  not  only  fight  a  good  fight,  but  do  so  till  we  have  fin- 
ished our  course,  and  imitate  God  in  an  unchangeableness  of 
holy  purposes;  and  to  that  purpose,  examine  ourselves  daily 
what  fixedness  we  have  arrived  unto;  and  to  prevent  any  temp- 
tation to  a  revolt,  let  us  often  possess  our  minds  with  thoughts 
of  the  immutability  of  God's  nature  and  will,  which  like  fire 
under  water,  will  keep  a  good  matter  boiling  up  in  us,  and 
make  it  both  retain  and  increase  its  heat. 

Let  this  doctrine  teach  us  to  have  recourse  to  God,  and  aim 
at  a  near  conjunction  with  him.  When  our  spirits  begin  to 
flag,  and  a  cold  anguish  temper  is  drawing  upon  us,  let  us  go  to 
him,  who  only  can  fix  our  hearts,  and  furnish  us  with  a  bal- 
last to  render  them  steadfast.  As  he  only  is  immutable  in  his 
nature,  so  he  is  the  only  principle  of  immutability  as  well  as 
being  in  the  creature.  Without  his  grace,  we  shall  be  as 
changeable  in  our  appearances  as  a  chameleon,  and  in  our 
turnings  as  the  wind.  Wlien  Peter  trusted  in  himself,  he 
changed  to  the  worse:  it  was  his  Master's  recourse  to  God  for 
him  that  preserved  in  him  a  reducing  principle,  which  changed 
him  again  for  the  better  and  fixed  him  in  it,  Luke  xxii.  32. 

It  will  be  our  interest  to  be  in  conjunction  with  him,  that 
moves  not  about  with  the  heavens,  nor  is  turned  by  the  force 
of  nature,  nor  changed  by  the  accidents  in  the  world;  but  sits 
in  the  heavens,  moving  all  things  by  his  powerful  arm,  accord- 
ing to  his  infinite  skill.  While  we  have  him  for  our  God,  we 
have  his  immutability  as  well  as  any  other  perfection  of  his 
nature  for  our  advantage;  the  nearer  we  come  to  him,  the 
more  stability  we  shall  have  in  ourselves;  the  further  from  him, 
the  more  liable  to  change.  The  line  that  is  nearest  to  the  place 
where  it  is  first  fixed,  is  least  subject  to  motion;  the  further  it 
is  stretched  from  it,  the  weaker  it  is,  and  more  liable  to  be  sha- 
ken. Let  us  also  affect  those  things  which  are  nearest  to  him 
in  this  perfection;  the  righteousness  of  Christ  that  shall  never 
wear  out,  and  the  graces  of  the  Spirit  that  shall  never  burn  out; 
by  this  means  what  God  is  infinitely  by  nature,  we  shall  come 
to  be  finitely  by  grace  immutable,  as  far  as  the  capacity  of  a 
ereature  can  contain. 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  107 


DISCOURSE  VII. 

ON    GOD'S    OJINII'KKSEXCE. 

.Ier,  xxiii.  24. — Can  any  hide  himself  in  secret  places  thai  I  shall  not  see  him? 
saitli  the  Lord.     Do  not  I  fill  heaven  and  earth  I  suith  the  Lord. 

The  occasion  of  this  discourse  begins  ver.  1G,  where  God 
admonishes  the  people  not  to  hearken  to  the  words  of  the  false 
prophets  which  spake  a  vision  of  their  own  heart,  and  not  out 
of  the  mouth  of  the  Lord.  They  made  the  people  vain  by 
their  insinuations  of  peace,  when  God  had  proclaimed  war  and 
calamity;  and  uttered  the  dreams  of  their  fancies,  and  not  the 
visions  of  the  Lord;  and  so  turned  the  people  from  the  expec- 
tion  of  the  evil  day  which  God  had  threatened:  "They  say 
still  unto  them  that  despise  me,  The  Lord  hath  said,  Ye  shall 
have  peace ;  and  they  say  unto  every  one  that  walketh  after 
the  imagination  of  his  own  heart,  No  evil  shall  come  upon 
you,"  ver.  17.  And  they  invalidate  the  prophecies  of  those 
whom  God  had  sent:  "Who  hath  stood  in  the  counsel  of  the 
Lord,  and  hath  perceived  and  heard  his  word  ?  who  hath 
marked  his  word  and  heard  it?"  "Who  hath  stood  in  the 
counsel  of  the  Lord?"  ver  IS.  Are  they  acquainted  with  the 
secrets  of  God  more  than  we  ?  Who  have  the  word  of  the 
Lord,  if  we  have  not?  Or,  it  may  be  a  continuation  of  God's 
admonition: — Believe  not  those  prophets;  for  who  of  them 
have  been  acquainted  with  the  secrets  of  God  ?  or  by  what 
means  should  they  learn  his  counsel?  No;  assure  yourselves, 
"a  whirlwind  of  the  Lord  is  gone  forth  in  fury,  even  a  griev- 
ous whirlwind:  it  shall  fall  grievously  upon  the  head  of  the 
wicked,"  ver.  19.  A  whirlwind  shall  come  from  Babylon,  it 
is  just  at  the  door,  and  shall  not  be  blown  over,  it  shall  fall  with 
a  witness  upon  the  wicked  people,  and  the  deceiving  prophets, 
and  sweep  them  together  into  captivity.  For  ver.  20  says, 
"  The  anger  of  the  Lord  shall  not  return,  until  he  have  executed, 
and  till  he  have  performed  the  thoughts  of  his  heart."  My 
fury  shall  not  be  a  childish  fury  that  quickly  languisheth,  but 
shall  accomplish  whatsoever  I  threaten;  and  hum  so  hot,  as 
not  to  be  cool  till  I  have  satisfied  my  vengeance;  "in  the  latter 
days  ye  shall  consider  it  perfectly,"  ver.  20;  when  the  storm 
shall  beat  upon  you,  you  shall  then  know,  that  the  calamities 
shall  answer  the  words  you  have  heard.  When  the  conqueror 
shall  waste  your  grounds,  demolish  your  houses,  and  manacle 
your  hands,  thru  shall  you  consider  it,  and  have  the  wishes  of 
fools,  that  you  had  had  your  eyes  in  your  heads  before;  you 


408  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

shall  then  know  the  falseness  of  your  guides,  and  the  truth  of 
my  prophets,  and  discern  who  stood  in  the  counsel  of  the  Lord, 
and  shall  subscribe  to  the  messages  I  have  sent  you. 

Some  understand  this  not  only  of  the  Babylonish  captivity, 
but  refer  it  to  the  time  of  Christ,  and  the  false  doctrine  of  men's 
own  righteousness  in  opposition  to  the  righteousness  of  God; 
understanding  this  verse  to  be  partly  a  threatening  of  wrath, 
which  shall  end  in  an  advantage  to  the  Jews,  who  shall  in  the 
latter  time  consider  the  falseness  of  their  notions  about  a  Ipgal 
righteousness.  Thus  they  make  it  a  promise;  they  shall  then 
know  the  intent  of  the  Scripture,  and  in  the  latter  days,  the 
latter  end  of  the  world,  when  time  shall  be  near  the  rolling  up, 
they  shall  reflect  upon  themselves;  they  shall  look  upon  him 
whom  they  have  pierced;  and  till  these  latter  days,  they  shall 
be  hardened,  and  believe  nothing  of  evangelical  truths. 

Now  God  denies  that  he  sent  those  prophets ;  "  I  have  not 
sent  these  prophets,  yet  they  ran:  I  have  not  spoken  to  them, 
yet  they  prophesied,"  ver.  21.  They  have  intruded  themselves 
without  a  commission  from  me,  whatsoever  their  brags  are. 
The  reason  to  prove  it  is,  if  they  had  stood  in  my  counsel,  if 
they  had  been  instructed  and  inspired  by  me,  they  would  have 
caused  my  people  to  hear  my  words;  they  would  have  regu- 
lated themselves  according  to  my  word,  and  have  turned  them 
from  their  evil  way,  ver.  22:  that  is,  endeavoured  to  shake 
down  their  false  confidences  of  peace,  and  make  them  sensible 
of  their  false  notions  of  me  and  my  ways.  Now  because  those 
false  prophets  could  not  be  so  impudent  as  to  boast,  that  they 
prophesied  in  the  name  of  God,  when  they  had  not  commis- 
sion from  him,  unless  they  had  some  secret  sentiment,  that 
they  and  their  intentions  were  hid  from  the  knowledge  and  eye 
of  God  ;  he  adds,  "  Am  I  a  God  at  hand,  and  not  a  God  afar 
off?  Can  any  hide  himself  in  secret  places  that  I  shall  not  see 
him?  ver.  23,  24.  Have  I  not  the  power  of  seeing  and  know- 
ing what  they  do,  what  they  design,  what  they  think?  Why 
should  I  not  have  such  a  power,  since  I  fill  heaven  and  earth 
by  my  essence?  "  Am  I  a  God  at  hand,  and  not  a  God  afar 
off?"  He  excludes  here  the  doctrine  of  those  that  excluded 
the  providence  of  God  from  extending  itself  to  the  inferior 
things  of  the  earth;  which  error  was  ancient,  as  ancient  as  the 
time  of  Job,  as  appears  by  their  opinion,  that  God's  eyes  were 
hoodwinked  and  muffled  by  the  thickness  of  the  clouds,  and 
could  not  pierce  through  their  dark  and  dense  body:  ''Thick 
clouds  are  a  covering  to  him,  that  he  seeth  not,"  Job.  xxii.  14. 

Some  refer  it  to  time.1  Do  you  imagine  me  a  God  new 
framed  like  your  idols,  beginning  a  little  time  ago,  and  not 
existing  before  the  foundation  of  the  world;  yea,  from  eter- 

1  Munster,  Vatablus,  Castalio,  Oecolamp. 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCI.  4f)9 

nity  ?  "  A  God  afar  off,''  further  than  your  acutest  understand- 
ings can  reach?  I  am  of  a  longer  standing,  and  you  ought  to 
know  my  majesty.  But  it  rather  refers  to  place  than  lime. 
Do  you  think  I  do  not  behold  every  thing  in  the  earth,  as  well 
as  in  heaven?  Am  I  locked  up  within  the  walla  of  my  palace, 
and  cannot  peep  out  to  behold  the  things  done  in  the  world? 
Or  that  I  am  so  linked  to  pleasure  in  the  place  of  my  glory,  as 
earthly  kings  are  in  their  courts,  that  I  have  no  mind  or  leisure 
to  take  notice  of  the  carriage  of  men  upon  earth?  God  does 
not  say,  he  was  afar  off,  but  only  gives  an  account  of  the  in- 
ward thoughts  of  their  minds,  or  at  least,  of  the  language  ex- 
pressed by  their  actions. 

The  interrogation  carries  in  it  a  strong  affirmation,  and 
assures  us  more  of  God's  care,  and  the  folly  of  men  in  not  con- 
sidering it.  "Am  I  a  God  at  hand,  and  not  a  God  afar  off  ? 
Can  any  hide  himself  in  secret  places?"  (Heb.  in  hiddennesscs, 
in  the  deepest  cells.)  What!  are  you  besotted  by  your  base 
lusts,  that  yon  think  me  a  God  careless,  ignorant,  blind,  that  I 
can  see  nothing  but  as  a  purblind  man,  what  is  very  near  my 
eye?  Are  you  so  out  of  your  wits,  that  you  imagine  you  can 
deceive  me?  Does  not  all  your  behaviour  speak  such  a  senti- 
ment to  lie  secret  in  your  heart,  though  not  formed  into  a  full 
conception,  yet  testified  by  your  actions?  No,  you  are  much 
mistaken,  it  is  impossible  but  that  I  should  see  and  know  all 
things,  since  I  am  present  with  all  things,  and  am  not  at  a 
greater  distance  from  the  things  on  earth  than  from  the  things 
in  heaven;  for  I  fill  all  that  vast  fabric  which  is  divided  into 
those  two  parts  of  heaven  and  earth:  and  that  he  has  such  an 
infinite  essence,  cannot  be  distant,  cannot  be  ignorant;  nothing 
can  he  far  from  his  eyes,  since  every  thing  is  so  near  to  his 
essence. 

So  that  it  is  an  elegant  expression  of  the  omniscience  of  God, 
and  a  strong  argument  for  it.  He  asserts,  first,  the  universality 
of  his  knowledge;  but  lest  they  should  mistake,  and  confine 
his  presence  only  to  heaven,  he  adds,  that  he  fills  heaven  and 
earth.  I  do  not  see  things  so,  as  if  I  were  in  one  place,  and 
the  things  seen  in  another,  as  it  is  with  man;  but  whatsoever  I 
see,  I  see  not  without  myself;  because  every  corner  of  heaven 
and  earth  is  filled  by  me.  He  that  fills  all,  must  needs  see  and 
know  all. 

And  indeed,  men  that  question  the  knowledge  of  God,  would 
be  more  convinced  by  the  doctrine  of  his  immediate  presence 
with  them.  And  this  seems  to  be  the  design  and  manner  of 
arguing  in  this  place.  Nothing  is  remote  from  my  knowledge, 
because  nothing  is  distant  from  my  presence. 

"I  fill  heaven  and  earth;"  he  does  not  say,  I  am  in  heaven 
Vol.  I.— 52 


410  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

and  earth,  but  I  fill  heaven  and  earth,  that  is,  say  some,1  with 
my  knowledge;  others,  with  my  authority,  or  my  power.  But, 

The  word  "  filling"  cannot  properly  be  referred  to  the  act  of 
understanding  and  will.  A  presence  by  knowledge  is  to  be 
granted,  but  to  say  such  a  presence  fills  a  place,  is  an  impro- 
per speech.  Knowledge  is  not  enough  to  constitute  a  pre- 
sence. 

A  man  at  London  knows  there  is  such  a  city  as  Paris,  and 
knows  many  things  in  it;  can  he  be  concluded  therefore  to  be 
present  in  Paris,  or  fill  any  place  there,  or  be  present  with  the 
things  he  knows  there?  If  I  know  any  thing  to  be  distant  from 
me,  how  can  it  be  present  with  me?  For  by  knowing  it  to  be 
distant,  I  know  it  not  to  be  present.  Besides,  filling  heaven  and 
earth,  is  distinguished  here  from  knowing  or  seeing.  His  pre- 
sence is  rendered  as  an  argument  to  prove  his  knowledge.  Now 
a  proposition,  and  the  proof  of  that  proposition,  are  distinct, 
and  not  the  same. 

It  cannot  be  imagined  that  God  should  prove  idem  per  idem, 
"  the  same  by  the  same,"  as  we  say;  for  what  would  be  the 
import  of  the  speech  then?  I  know  all  things,  I  see  all  things, 
because  I  know  and  see  all  things.2  The  Holy  Ghost  here 
accommodates  himself  to  the  capacity  of  men;  because  we 
know  that  a  man  sees  and  knows  that  which  is  done,  where  he 
is  corporeally  present;  so  he  proves  that  God  knows  all  things 
that  are  done  in  the  most  secret  caverns  of  the  heart,  because 
he  is  every  where  in  heaven  and  earth,  as  light  is  every  where 
in  the  air,  and  air  every  where  in  the  world.  Hence  the  schools 
use  the  term  repletive  (before  explained)  for  the  presence  of 
God. 

Nor  by  filling  of  heaven  and  earth  is  meant  his  authority 
and  power.  It  would  be  improperly  said  of  a  king,  that,  in 
regard  of  the  government  of  his  kingdom,  is  every  where  by 
his  authority,  that  he  fills  all  the  cities  and  countries  of  his  do- 
minions. "  I,  do  not  I  fill?"3  That  "  I"  notes  the  essence  of 
God,  as  distinguished,  according  to  our  capacity,  from  the  per- 
fections pertaining  to  his  essence;  and  is  in  reason  better  refer- 
red to  the  substance  of  God  than  to  those  things  we  conceive 
as  attributes  in  him.  Besides,  were  it  meant  only  of  his  au- 
thority or  power,  the  argument  would  not  run  well.  I  see  all 
things,  because  my  authority  and  power  fills  heaven  and  earth. 
Power  does  not  always  rightly  infer  knowledge,  no,  not  in  a 
rational  agent.  Many  things  in  a  kingdom  are  done  by  the 
authority  of  the  king,  that  never  arrive  to  the  knowledge  of 
the  king.  Many  things  in  us  are  done  by  the  power  of  our 
souls,  which  yet  we  have  not  a  distinct  knowledge  of  in  our 

I  Turn  perspicacia,  turn  efficacia.  Grot. 

*  Suarez.  8  Amyrald.  de  Trinitate,  p.  67. 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  4]  | 

understandings.  There  arc  many  motions  in  sleep,  by  the 
virtue  of  the  soul  informing  the  body,  that  we  have  not  so  much 
as  a  simple  knowledge  of  in  our  minds.  Knowledge  is  not 
rightly  inferred  from  power,  or  power  from  knowledge. 

By  filling  heaven  and  earth  is  meant  therefore  a  filling  it 
ici//i  his  essence.  No  place  can  he  imagined  that  is  deprived 
of  the  presence  of  God;  and  therefore  when  the  Scripture  any 
where  speaks  of  the  presence  of  God,  it  joins  heaven  and  earth 
together;  he  so  fills  them,  that  there  is  no  place  without  him. 
We  do  not  say  a  vessel  is  full,  so  long  as  there  is  any  space  to 
contain  more.  Not  a  part  of  heaven,  nor  a  part  of  earth,  but 
the  whole  heaven,  the  whole  earth,  at  one  and  the  same  time. 
If  he  were  only  in  one  part  of  heaven,  or  one  part  of  earth; 
niy.  if  there  were  any  part  of  heaven  or  any  part  of  earth  void 
of  him,  he  could  not  be  said  to  fill  them.  I  fill  heaven  and 
earth;  not  a  part  of  me  fills  one  place,  and  another  part  of  me 
fills  another;  but  I,  God,  fill  heaven  and  earth;  I  am  whole 
God  filling  the  heaven,  and  whole  God  filling  the  earth.  I  fill 
heaven,  and  yet  fill  earth;  I  fill  earth,  and  yet  fill  heaven,  and 
fill  heaven  and  earth  at  one  and  the  same  time.  God  fills  his 
own  works,  a  heathen  philosopher  says.1 

Here  is  then  a  description  of  God's  presence. — By  power;  Am 
I  not  a  God  afar  oil?  a  God  in  the  extension  of  his  arm.  By 
knowledge;  Shall  I  not  see  them? — By  essence,  as  an  undenia- 
ble ground  for  inferring  the  two  former;  I  fill  heaven  and  earth. 

Doctrine.  God  is  essentially  every  where  present  in  heaven 
and  earth. 

If  God  be,  he  must  be  some  where;  that  which  is  no  where, 
is  nothing.  Since  God  is,  he  is  in  the  world;  not  in  one  part  of 
it,  for  then  he  were  circumscribed  by  it:  if  in  the  world,  and 
only  there,  though  it  be  a  great  space,  he  were  also  limited. 
Some  therefore  said,  God  was  every  where,  and  no  where.2 
No  where,  that  is,  not  bounded  by  any  place,  nor  receiving 
from  any  place  any  thing  for  his  preservation  or  sustainment. 
He  is  every  where,  because  no  creature,  either  body  or  spirit, 
can  exclude  the  presence  of  his  essence  ;  for  he  is  not  only  near, 
but  in  every  thing;  "In  him  we  live,  and  move,  and  have 
our  being,"  Acts  xvii.  2S.  Not  absent  from  any  thing,  but 
so  present  with  them,  that  they  live  and  move  in  him,  and 
move  more  in  God  than  in  the  air  or  earth  wherein  they  are; 
nearer  to  us  than  our  flesh  to  our  bones,  than  the  air  to  our 
breath';  he  cannot  be  far  from  them  that  live  and  have  every 
motion  in  him.  The  apostle  does  not  say,  by  him,  but  in  him, 
to  show  the  inwardness  of  his  presence. 

As  eternity  is  the  perfection  whereby  he  has  neither  begin- 

1  Seneca  de  Benefic.  lib.  4.  cap.  8.     Ipse  opus  suum  implct. 
3  Chrysostom. 


412  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

ning  nor  end;  immutability  the  perfection  whereby  he  has 
neither  increase,  nor  diminution  ;  so  immensity  or  omnipresence 
is  that  whereby  he  has  neither  bounds  nor  limitation.  As  he  is 
in  all  time,  yet  so  as  to  be  above  time ;  so  is  he  in  all  places,  yet 
so  as  to  be  above  limitation  by  any  place.  It  was  a  good  ex- 
pression of  a  heathen  to  illustrate  this,  that  God  is  a  sphere  or 
circle,  whose  centre  is  every  where,  and  circumference  no  where. 
His  meaning  was,  that  the  essence  of  God  was  indivisible;  that 
is,  could  not  be  divided.  It  cannot  be  said,  here  and  there  the 
lines  of  it  terminate ;  it  is  like  a  line  drawn  out  in  infinite  spaces, 
that  no  point  can  be  conceived  where  its  length  and  breadth 
end.  The  sea  is  a  vast  mass  of  waters;  yet  to  that  it  is  said, 
Hitherto  shalt  thou  go  and  no  further.  But  it  cannot  be  said 
of  God's  essence,  Hitherto  it  reaches,  and  no  further,  here  it  is, 
and  there  it  is  not.  It  is  plain,  that  God  is  thus  immense,  be- 
cause he  is  infinite;  we  have  reason  and  Scripture  to  assent  to 
it,  though  we  cannot  conceive  it.  We  know  that  God  is  eter- 
nal, though  eternity  is  too  great  to  be  measured  by  the  short 
line  of  a  created  understanding.  We  cannot  conceive  the  vast- 
ness  and  glory  of  the  heavens,  much  less  that  which  is  so  great 
as  to  fill  heaven  and  earth,  yea,  not  to  be  contained  in  the 
heaven  of  heavens,  1  Kings  viii.  27. 

Things  are  said  to  be  present,  or  in  place, 

Circumscriptive,  as  circumscribed.  This  belongs  to  things 
that  have  quantity,  as  bodies  that  are  encompassed  by  that  place 
wherein  they  are;  and  a  body  fills  but  one  particular  space 
wherein  it  is,  and  the  space  is  commensurate  to  every  part  of  it, 
and  every  member  has  a  distinct  place:  the  hand  is  not  in  the 
same  particular  space  that  the  foot  or  head  is. 

Definitive,  which  belongs  to  angels  and  spirits,  which  are 
said  to  be  in  a  point,  yet  so  as  that  they  cannot  be  said  to  be  in 
another  at  the  same  time. 

Repletive,  filling  all  places;  this  belongs  only  to  God.  As  he 
is  not  measured  by  time,  so  he  is  not  limited  by  place.  A  body 
or  spirit,  because  finite,  fills  but  one  space ;  God,  because  infi- 
nite, fills  all,  yet  so  as  not  to  be  contained  in  them,  as  wine  and 
water  is  in  a  vessel.  He  is  from  the  height  of  the  heaven  to  the 
bottom  of  the  deeps,  in  every  point  of  the  world,  and  in  the 
whole  circle  of  it,  yet  not  limited  by  it,  but  beyond  it. 

Now  this  has  been  acknowledged  by  the  wisest  in  the  world. 

Some  indeed  had  other  notions  of  God.  The  more  ignorant 
sort  of  the  Jews  confined  him  to  the  temple  r1  and  God  intimates 
that  they  had  such  a  thought,  when  he  asserts  his  presence  in 
heaven  and  earth,  in  opposition  to  the  temple  they  built  as  his 
house,  and  the  place  of  his  rest;2  and  the  idolaters  among  them 
thought  their  gods  might  be  at  a  distance  from  them,  which 

1  Hierom  on  Isa.  lxvi.  1 .  2  Hammond  on  Matt.  vi.  7. 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 


413 


Elias  intimates  in  the  scoff  he  puts  upon  them,  "Cry  aloud,  for 
lie  is  a  god,"  meaning  Baal ;  either  he  is  talking,  or  be  is  pursu- 
ing, or  he  is  in  a  journey,"  1  Kings  xviii.  27;  and  they  follow 
his  advice,  and  cried  louder,  ver.  2S;  whereby  it  is  evident,  they 
looked  not  on  it  as  a  mock,  hut  as  a  truth.  And  the  Syrians 
called  the  God  of  Israel  the  God  of  the  hills,  as  though  his  pre- 
sence were  fixed  there,  and  not  in  the  valleys,  1  Kings  xx.  23; 
and  their  own  gods  in  the  valleys,  and  not  in  the  mountains: 
they  fancied  every  god  to  have  a  particular  dominion  and  pre- 
sence in  one  place,  and  not  in  another;  and  bounded  the  terri- 
tories of  their  gods,  as  they  did  those  of  their  princes.1  And 
some  thought  him  tied  to  and  shut  up  in  their  temples  and 
groves  wherein  they  worshipped  him.2  Some  of  them  thought 
God  to  be  confined  to  heaven,  and  therefore  sacrificed  upon  the 
highest  mountains,  that  the  steam  might  ascend  nearer  heaven, 
and  their  praises  he  heard  better  in  those  places  which  were 
nearest  to  the  habitation  of  God.  But  the  wiser  Jews  acknow- 
ledged it;  and  therefore  called  God  place,3  whereby  they  deno- 
ted his  immensity;  he  was  not  contained  in  any  place,  every 
part  of  the  world  subsists  by  him:  he  was  a  place  to  himself, 
greater  than  any  thing  made  by  him.  And  the  wiser  heathen 
acknowledged  it  also. 

One  calls  God  a  mind  passing  through  the  universal  nature 
of  things;4  another,  that  he  was  infinite  and  immense  air;5 
another,  that  it  is  as  natural  to  think  that  God  is  every  where, 
as  to  think  that  God  is.  Hence  they  called  God  the  soul  of  the 
world,  that  as  the  soul  is  in  every  part  of  the  body,  to  quicken 
it,  so  is  God  in  every  part  of  the  world,  to  support  it. 

And  there  are  some  resemblances  of  this  in  the  world,  though 
no  creature  can  fully  resemble  God  in  any  one  perfection;  for 
then  it  would  not  be  a  creature,  but  God.  But  air  and  light 
are  some  weak  resemblances  of  it;  air  is  in  all  the  spaces  of  the 
world,  in  the  pores  of  all  bodies,  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and 
extends  itself  from  the  lowest  earth  to  the  highest  regions;  and 
the  heavens  themselves  are  probably  nothing  else  but  a  refined 
kind  of  air;  and  light  diffuseth  itself  through  the  whole  air,  and 
every  part  of  it  is  truly  light,  as  every  part  of  the  air  is  truly 
air;  and  though  they  seem  to  be  mingled  together,  yet  they  are 
distinct  things,  and  not  of  the  same  essence.  So  is  the  essence 
of  God  in  the  whole  world,  not  by  diffusion  as  air  or  light;  not 
mixed  with  any  creature;  but  remaining  distinct  from  the 
essence  of  any  created  being.  Now  when  this  has  been  owned 
by  men  instructed  only  in  the  school  of  nature,  it  is  a  greater 
shame  to  any  acquainted  with  the  Scripture,  to  deny  it. 

1    Med.  Diatrib.  vol.  1.  p.  71,  72.  »  Douglit,  Analcc.  excurs.  61.  113. 

8  Grot,  upon  Mar.  v.  16.  Mares.  Contra  Volk.  lib.  1.  cap.  27.  p.  494. 
*  Vide  Minut.  Fel.  p.  20.  s  piotin.  Enead  6.  lib.  5.  cap.  4. 


414  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

1.  For  the  understanding  of  this,  there  shall  be  some  propo- 
sitions premised  in  general. 

Prop.  (1.)  This  is  negatively  to  be  understood.  Our  know- 
ledge of  God  is  most  by  withdrawing  from  him,  or  denying  to 
him,  in  our  conception,  any  weaknesses  or  imperfections  in  the 
creature.  As  the  infiniteness  of  God  is  a  denial  of  limitation 
of  being,  so  immensity  or  omnipresence  is  a  denial  of  limitation 
of  place.  And  when  we  say,  God  is  lotus,  "  whole"  in  every 
place,  we  must  understand  it  thus,  that  he  is  not  every  where 
by  parts,  as  bodies  are,  as  air  and  light  are:  he  is  every  where, 
that  is,  his  nature  has  no  bounds,  he  is  not  tied  to  any  place,  as 
the  creature  is,  who  when  he  is  present  in  one  place,  is  absent 
from  another.  As  no  place  can  be  without  God,  so  no  place 
can  compass  and  contain  him. 

Prop.  (2.)  There  is  an  influential  omnipresence  of  God. 

Universal  with  all  creatures.  He  is  present  with  all  things 
by  his  authority,  because  all  things  are  subject  to  him;  by  his 
power,  because  all  things  are  sustained  by  him;  by  his  know- 
ledge, because  all  things  are  naked  before  him.  He  is  present 
in  the  world,  as  a  king  is  in  all  parts  of  his  kingdom  regally 
present:  providentially  present  with  all,  since  his  care  extends 
to  the  meanest  of  his  creatures.  His  power  reaches  all,  and 
his  knowledge  pierces  all. 

As  every  thing  in  the  world  was  created  by  God,  so  every 
thing  in  the  world  is  preserved  by  God ;  and  since  preservation 
is  not  wholly  distinct  from  creation,  it  is  necessary  God  should 
be  present  with  every  thing  while  he  preserves  it,  as  well  as 
present  with  it  when  he  created  it.  "  Thou  preservest  man  and 
beast,"  Psal.  xxxvi.  6.  "  He  upholds  all  things  by  the  word  of 
his  power,"  Heb.  i.  3.  There  is  a  virtue  sustaining  every  crea- 
ture, that  it  may  not  fall  back  into  that  nothing  from  whence  it 
was  elevated  by  the  power  of  God.  All  those  natural  virtues 
we  call  the  principles  of  operation,  are  fountains  springing  from 
his  goodness  and  power;  all  things  are  acted  and  managed  by 
him,  as  well  as  preserved  by  him;  and  in  this  sense  God  is  pre- 
sent with  all  creatures;  for  whatsoever  acts  another,  is  present 
with  that  which  it  acts,  by  sending  forth  some  virtue  and  influ- 
ence, whereby  it  acts.  If  free  agents  do  not  only  live,  but  move 
in  him,  and  by  him,  Acts  xvii.  28,  much  more  are  the  motions 
of  other  natural  agents,  by  a  virtue  communicated  to  them,  and 
upheld  in  them  in  the  time  of  their  acting.  This  virtual  pre- 
sence of  God  is  evident  to  our  sense,  a  presence  we  feel;  his 
essential  presence  is  evident  to  our  reason.  This  influential 
presence  may  be  compared  to  that  of  the  sun,  which,  though  at 
so  great  a  distance  from  the  earth,  is  present  in  the  air  and 
earth  by  its  light,  and  within  the  earth  by  its  influence  in  con- 
cocting those  metals  which  are  in  the  bowels  of  it,  without  be- 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  |  [  ;, 

ing  substantially  with  cither  of  them.  God  is  thus  so  intimate 
with  every  creature,  that  there  is  not  the  least  particle  of  any 
creature,  but  the  marks  of  his  power  and  goodness  are  seen  in 
it,  and  his  goodness  does  attend  them,  and  is  more  swift  in  its 
effluxes  than  the  hreaking  out  of  light  from  the  sun,  which  yet 
are  more  swift  than  can  be  declared.  But  to  say  he  is  in  the 
world  only  by  his  virtue,  is  to  acknowledge  only  the  effects  of 
his  power  and  wisdom  in  the  world,  that  his  eye  sees  all,  his 
arm  supports  all,  his  goodness  nourishes  all,  hut  himself  and  his 
essence  at  a  distance  from  them:1  and  so  the  soul  of  man,  accord- 
ing to  its  measure,  would  have  in  some  kind  a  more  excellent 
manner  of  presence  in  the  body,  than  God  according  to  the  infi- 
nitniess-of  his  being  with  his  creatures;  for  that  does  not  only 
communicate  life  to  the  body,  but  is  actually  present  with  it, 
and  spreads  its  whole  essence  through  the  hody  and  every 
member  of  it.  All  grant,  that  God  is  efficaciously  in  every 
creek  of  the  world;  but  some  say  he  is  only  substantially  in 
heaven. 

It  is  also  limited  to  such  subjects  that  are  capacitated  for 
this  or  that  kind  of  presence.  Yet  it  is  an  omnipresence,  be- 
cause it  is  a  presence  in  all  the  subjects  capacitated  for  it;  thus 
there  is  a  special  providential  presence  of  God  with  some,  in 
assisting  them  when  he  sets  them  on  work  as  his  instruments  for 
some  special  service  in  the  world:  as  with  Cyrus,  "  I  will  go  be- 
fore thee,  Isa.  xlv.  2;"  and  with  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  Alexan- 
der, whom  he  protected,  and  directed  to  execute  his  counsels 
in  the  world  ;  such  a  presence  Judas  and  others2  had  in  the 
working  of  miracles  who  shall  not  enjoy  his  glorious  pre- 
sence. Besides,3  as  there  is  an  effective  presence  of  God 
with  all  creatures,  because  he  produced  them,  and  preserves 
them;  so  there  is  an  objective  presence  of  God  with  rational 
creatures,  because  he  offers  himself  to  them,  to  be  known  and 
loved  by  them.  He  is  near  to  wicked  men  in  the  offers  of 
his  grace;  "Call  ye  upon  him  while  he  is  near,"  Isa.  lv.  6. 
Besides,  there  is  a  gracious  presence  of  God  with  his  people  in 
whom  he  dwells,  and  makes  his  abode,  as  in  a  temple  conse- 
crated to  him  by  the  graces  of  the  Spirit.  "  We  will  come  unto 
him,"  that  is,  the  Father  and  the  Son,  "and  make  our  abode 
with  him,"  John  xiv.  23.  He  is  present  with  all  by  the 
presence  of  his  Divinity,  but  only  in  his  saints  by  a  presence  of 
a  gracious  efficacy  ;  he  walks  in  the  midst  of  the  golden  candle- 
sticks, and  has  dignified  the  congregation  of  his  people  with  the 
title  of  Jehovah  Shammah,  "The  Lord  is  there,"  Ezek.  xlviii. 
35.     "  In  Salem  is  his  tabernacle,  and  his  dwelling-place  in 

'  Zanch. 

2  "In  thy  name  wc  have  done  many  wonderful  works,"  Matt.  vii.  22. 

*  Cajetan  in  Aquin.  par.  1.  qu.  8.  artic.  3. 


416  0N  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

Zion,"  Psal.  lxxvi.  2.  As  he  filled  the  tabernacle,  so  he  does 
the  church  with  the  signs  of  his  presence;  this  is  not  the  pre- 
sence wherewith  he  fills  heaven  and  earth.  His  Spirit  is  not 
bestowed  upon  all,  to  reside  in  their  hearts,  enlighten  their 
minds,  and  bedew  them  with  refreshing  comforts.  When  the 
apostle  speaks  of  God's  being  above  all,  and  through  all,  Eph. 
iv.  6,  above  all  in  his  majesty,  through  all  in  his  providence; 
he  does  not  appropriate  that,  as  he  does  what  follows,  "and  in 
you  all ;"  in  you  all  by  a  special  grace:  as  God  was  specially 
present  with  Christ  by  the  grace  of  union,  so  he  is  specially 
present  with  his  people  by  the  grace  of  regeneration.  So  there 
are  several  manifestations  of  his  presence;  he  has  a  presence  of 
glory  in  heaven  whereby  he  comforts  the  saints;  a  presence  of 
wrath  in  hell,  whereby  he  torments  the  damned:  in  heaven  he 
is  a  God  spreading  his  beams  of  light;  in  hell,  a  God  distribut- 
ing his  strokes  of  justice;  by  the  one  he  fills  heaven,  by  the 
other  he  fills  hell;  by  his  providence  and  essence  he  fills  both 
heaven  and  earth. 

Prop.  (3.)  There  is  an  essential  presence  of  God  in  the 
world.  He  is  not  only  every  where,  by  his  power  upholding 
the  creatures,  by  his  wisdom  understanding  them,  but  by  his 
essence  containing  them.  That  any  thing  is  essentially  present 
any  where,  it  has  from  God;  God  is  therefore  much  more  pre- 
sent every  where,  for  he  cannot  give  that  which  he  has  not. 

[1.]  He  is  essentially  present  in  all  places.1  It  is  as  reasona- 
ble to  think  the  essence  of  God  to  be  every  where,  as  to  be 
always;  immensity  is  as  rational  as  eternity;  that  indivisible 
essence  which  reaches  through  all  times,  may  as  well  reach 
through  all  places.  It  is  more  excellent  to  be  always,  than  to 
be  every  where;  for  to  be  always  in  duration  is  intrinsical;  to 
be  everywhere  is  extrinsic;  if  the  greater  belongs  to  God,  why 
not  the  less  ?  As  all  times  are  a  moment  to  his  eternity,  so  all 
places  are  as  a  point  to  his  essence:  as  he  is  larger  than  all  time, 
so  he  is  vaster  than  all  place.  The  nations  of  the  world  are  to 
him  as  the  dust  of  the  balance,  or  drop  of  a  bucket,  Isa.  xl.  15. 
the  nations  are  accounted  as  the  small  dust.  The  essence  of 
God  may  well  be  thought  to  be  present  every  where  with  that 
which  is  no  more  than  a  grain  of  dust  to  him,  and  in  all  those 
isles,  which  if  put  together,  are  a  very  little  thing  in  his  hand: 
therefore  says  a  learned  Jew,2  if  a  man  were  set  in  the  highest 
heavens,  he  would  not  be  nearer  to  the  essence  of  God  than  if 
he  were  in  the  centre  of  the  earth.  Why  may  not  the  presence 
of  God  in  the  world  be  as  noble  as  that  of  the  soul  in  the  body, 
which  is  generally  granted  to  be  essentially  in  every  part  of  the 
body  of  man,  which  is  but  a  little  world;  and  animates  every 
member  by  its  actual  presence,  though  it  exerts  not  the  same 

'  Ficin.  *  Maimonides. 


on  r.orvs  om\ii'i;i;si:\.  i:  j  j~ 

operation  in  every  part  ? '  The  world  is  less  to  tho  Creator, 
than  the  body  to  the  soul;  and  needs  more  the  presence  of  God, 
than  the  body  needs  the  presence  of  the  soul.  That  glorious 
body  of  the  sun  visits  every  part  of  the  habitable  earth  in 
twenty-four  hours  by  its  beams;  which  reaches  the  troughs  of 
the  lowest  valleys,  as  well  as  the  pinnacles  of  the  highest 
mountains;  must  we  not  acknowledge  in  the  Creator  of  this 
sun  an  infinite  greater  proportion  of  presence  ?  Is  it  not  as 
easy  with  the  essence;  of  God  to  overspread  the  whole  body  of 
heaven  and  earth,  as  it  is  for  the  sun  to  pierce  and  dill'iise  itself 
through  the  whole  air  between  it  and  the  earth,  and  send  up  its 
light  also  as  far  to  the  regions  above?  Do  we  not  see  some- 
thing like  it  in  sounds  and  voices?  Is  not  the  same  sound  of  a 
trumpet,  or  any  other  musical  instrument,  at  the  first  breaking 
out  of  a  blast,  in  several  places  within  such  a  compass  at  the 
>ame  time  ?  Does  not  every  ear  that  hears  it,  receive  alike  the 
whole  sound  of  it?  And  fragrant  odours  scented  in  several 
places  at  the  same  time,  in  the  same  manner;  and  the  organ 
proper  for  smelling  takes  in  the  same  in  every  person  within 
the  compass  of  it?  How  far  is  the  noise  of  thunder  heard 
alike  to  every  ear,  in  places  something  distant  from  one  an- 
other! And  do  we  daily  find  such  a  manner  of  presence  in 
those  things  of  so  low  a  concern,  and  not  imagine  a  kind  of 
presence  of  God  greater  than  all  those?  Is  the  sound  of  thun- 
der, the  voice  of  God  as  it  is  called,  every  where  in  such  a 
compass,  and  shall  not  the  essence  of  an  infinite  God  be  much 
more  every  where?  Those  that  would  confine  the  essence  of 
God  only  to  heaven,  and  exclude  it  from  the  earth,  run  into 
great  inconveniences.  It  may  be  demanded  whether  he  be  in 
one  part  of  the  heavens,  or  in  the  whole  vast  body  of  them? 
If  in  one  part  of  them,  his  essence  is  bounded;  if  he  moves 
from  that  part,  he  is  mutable,  for  he  changes  a  place  wherein 
he  was  for  another  wherein  he  was  not.  If  he  be  always  fixed 
in  one  part  of  the  heavens,  such  a  notion  would  render  him 
little  better  than  a  living  statue.1  If  he  be  in  the  whole  heaven, 
why  cannot  his  essence  possess  a  greater  space  than  the  whole 
heavens  which  are  so  vast?  How  comes  he  to  be  confined 
within  the  compass  of  that,  since  the  whole  heaven  compasses 
the  earth  ?  If  he  be  in  the  whole  heaven,  he  is  in  places  fur- 
ther distant  one  from  another,  than  any  part  of  the  earth  can  be 
Mom  the  heavens;  since  the  earth  is  like  a  centre  in  the  midst 
of  a  circle,  it  must  be  nearer  to  every  part  of  the  circle  than 
some  parts  of  the  circle  can  be  to  one  another.  If  therefore 
his  essence  possesses  the  whole  heavens,  no  reason  can  be  ren- 
dered why  he  does  not  also  possess  the  earth,  since  also  the 
earth  is  but  a  little  point  in  comparison  of  the  vastness  of  the 

1  Ficin.  2  Hornbcck,  Soun.  part  1.  p.  303. 

Vol.  I.— 53 


418  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

heavens;  if  therefore  he  be  in  every  part  of  the  heavens,  why 
not  in  every  part  of  the  earth? 

This  Scripture  is  plain,  "  Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy  spirit? 
or  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence?  If  I  ascend  np  into 
heaven,  thou  art  there:  if  I  make  my  bed  in  hell,  behold,  thou 
art  there.  If  1  take  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell  in 
the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea,  even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead 
me,  and  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me,"  Psal.  cxxxix.  7 — 9.  If 
he  be  in  heaven,  earth,  hell,  sea,  he  fills  all  places  with  his 
presence;  his  presence  is  here  asserted  in  places  the  most  dis- 
tant from  one  another;  all  the  places  then  between  heaven  and 
earth  are  possessed  by  his  presence.  It  is  not  meant  of  his 
knowledge,  for  that  the  Psalmist  had  spoken  of  before,  ver.  2, 
3.  "  Thou  nnderstandest  my  thought  afar  off — and  art  ac- 
quainted with  all  my  ways."  Besides,  "thou  art  there,"  not 
thy  wisdom  or  knowledge;  but  thou,  thy  essence,  not  only  thy 
virtue.  For  having  before  spoken  of  his  omniscience,  he  proves 
that  such  knowledge  could  not  be  in  God,  unless  he  were  pre- 
sent in  his  essence  in  all  places,  so  as  to  be  excluded  from  none: 
he  fills  the  depths  of  hell,  the  extension  of  the  earth,  and  the 
heights  of  the  heavens.  When  the  Scripture  mentions  the 
power  of  God  only,  it  expresses  it  by  hand  or  arm;  but  when 
it  mentions  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  does  not  intend  the  third 
person  in  the  Trinity,  it  signifies  the  nature  and  essence  of  God: 
and  so  here,  when  he  says,  "  Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy 
Spirit,"  he  adds  exegetically,  "whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy 
presence,"  (or  Heb.  face,)  and  the  face  of  God  in  Scripture 
signifies  the  essence  of  God.  "  Thou  canst  not  see  my  face," 
and  "my  face  shall  not  be  seen,"  Exod.  xxxiii.  20.  23;  the 
effects  of  his  power,  wisdom,  providence  are  seen,  which  are 
his  back  parts,  but  not  his  face;  the  effects  of  his  power  and 
wisdom  are  seen  in  the  world,  but  his  essence  is  invisible;  and 
this  the  Psalmist  elegantly  expresses.  Had  I  wings  endued 
with  as  much  quickness  as  the  first  dawnings  of  the  morning 
light,  or  the  first  darts  of  any  sunbeam  that  spreads  itself 
through  the  hemisphere,  and  passes  many  miles  in  as  short  a 
space  as  I  can  think  a  thought,  I  should  find  thy  presence  in 
all  places  before  me,  and  could  not  fly  out  of  the  infinite  com- 
pass of  thy  essence. 

[2.]  He  is  essentially  present  with  all  creatures.  If  he  be 
in  all  places,  it  follows  that  he  is  with  all  creatures  in  those 
places;  as  he  is  in  heaven,  so  he  is  with  all  angels;  as  he  is  in 
hell,  so  is  he  with  all  devils;  as  he  is  in  the  earth  and  sea,  he 
is  with  all  creatures  inhabiting  those  elements.  As  his  essen- 
tial presence  was  the  ground  of  the  first  being  of  things  by 
creation,  so  it  is  the  ground  of  the  continued  being  of  things 
by  conservation.     As  his  essential  presence  was  the  original, 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  j  |<) 

so  it  is  the  support  of  the  existence  of  all  the  creatures.  What 
are  all  those  magnificent  expressions  of  his  creative  virtue,  but 
testimonies  of' bis  essential  presence  at  the  laying  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world?  when  he  "  measured  the  waters  in  the  hol- 
low of  his  hand,  and  meted  out  heaven  with  the  span,  and 
comprehended  the  dust  of  the  earth  in  a  measure, and  weighed 
the  mountains  in  scales,  and  the  hills  in  a  balance,"  Isa.  xl.  12. 
lie.  sets  forth  the  power  and  majesty  of  God  in  the  creation 
and  preservation  of  things,  and  every  expression  testifies  his 
presence  with  them.  The  waters  that  were  upon  the  face  of 
the  earth  at  first  were  no  more  than  a  drop  in  the  palm  of  a 
man's  hand,  which  in  every  part  is  touched  by  his  hand.  And 
thus  he  is  equally  present  with  the  blackest  devils,  as  well  as 
the  brightest,  angels;  with  the  lowest  dust,  as  well  as  with  the 
most  sparkling  sun.  lie  is  equally  present  with  the  damned 
and  the  blessed,  as  he  is  an  infinite  Being,  but  not  in  regard  of 
his  goodness  and  grace.  He  is  equally  present  with  the  good 
and  the  bad,  with  the  scoffing  Athenians  as  well  as  the  believ- 
ing apostles,  in  regard  of  his  essence,  but  not  in  regard  of  the 
breathing  of  his  Divine  virtues  upon  them  to  make  them  like 
himself.  **  He  is  not  far  from  every  one  of  us;  for  in  him  we 
live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being,"  Acts  xvii.  27,  28.  The 
apostle  includes  all;  he  tells  them  they  should  seek  the  Lord; 
the  Lord  that  they  were  to  seek  is  God  essentially  considered: 
we  are  indeed  to  seek  the  perfections  of  God,  that  glitter  in  his 
works,  but  to  the  end  that  they  should  direct  us  to  the  seeking 
of  God  himself  in  his  own  nature  and  essence:1  and  therefore 
what  follows,  "  in  him  we  live,"  is  to  be  understood  not  of  his 
power  and  goodness,  perfections  of  his  nature,  distinguished 
according  to  our  manner  of  conception  from  his  essence;  but 
of  the  essential  presence  of  God  with  his  creatures.  If  he  had 
meant  it  of  his  efficacy  in  preserving  us,  it  had  not  been  any 
proof  of  his  nearness  to  us.  Who  would  go  about  to  prove 
the  body  or  substance  of  the  sun  to  be  near  us,  because  it  does 
warm  and  enlighten  us,  when  our  sense  evidences  the  distance 
of  it?  We  live  in  the  beams  of  the  sun,  but  we  cannot  be  said 
to  live  in  the  sun,  which  is  so  far  distant  from  us.  The  expres- 
sion seems  to  be  too  emphatical  to  intend  any  less  than  his 
essential  presence.  But  we  live  in  him  not  only  as  the  efficient 
cause  of  our  life,  but  as  the  foundation,  sustaining  our  lives 
and  motions,  as  if  he  were  like  air,  diffused  round  about  us. 
And  we  move  in  him,  as  Austin  says,  as  a  spunge  in  the  sea, 
not  containing  him,  but  being  contained  by  him.  He  compasses 
all,  is  encompassed  by  none;  he  fills  all,  is  comprehended  by 
none.  The  Creator  contains  the  world,  the  world  contains  not 
the  Creator;  as  the  hollow  of  the  hand  contains  the  water,  the 
'  Amyrald.  de  Ti  init 


420  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

water  in  the  hollow  of  the  hand  contains  not  the  hand ;  and 
therefore  some  have  chosen  to  say  rather,  that  the  world  is  in 
God,  it  lives  and  moves  in  him,  than  that  God  is  in  the  world. 
If  all  things  thus  live  and  move  in  him,  then  he  is  present  with 
every  thing  that  has  life  and  motion;  and  as  long  as  the  devils 
and  damned  have  life,  and  motion,  and  heing,  so  long  is  he 
with  them;  for  whatsoever  lives  and  moves,  lives  and  moves 
in  him. 

.But  now  this  essential  presence  is 

Without  any  mixture.  I  fill  heaven  and  earth,  not,  I  am 
mixed  with  heaven  and  earth;  his  essence  is  not  mixed  with 
the  creatures;  it  remains  entire  in  itself.  The  spunge  retains 
the  nature  of  a  spunge,  though  encompassed  by  the  sea,  and 
moving  in  it;  and  the  sea  still  retains  its  own  nature.  God  is 
most  simple;  his  essence  therefore  is  not  mixed  with  any  thing. 
The  light  of  the  sun  is  present  with  the  air,  but  not  mixed  with 
it;  it  remains  light,  and  the  air  remains  air:  the  light  of  the 
sun  is  diffused  through  all  the  hemisphere,  it  pierceth  all  trans- 
parent bodies,  it  seems  to  mix  itself  with  all  things,  yet  remains 
unmixed  and  undivided;  the  light  remains  light,  and  the  air 
remains  air;  the  air  is  not  light  though  it  be  enlightened.  Or 
take  this  similitude;  when  many  candles  are  lighted  up  in  a 
room,  the  light  is  all  together,  yet  not  mixed  with  one  another; 
every  candle  hath  a  particular  light  belonging  to  it,  which  may 
be  separated  in  a  moment,  by  removing  one  candle  from  an- 
other; but  if  they  were  mixed,  they  could  not  be  separated,  at 
least  so  easily.  God  is  not  formally  one  with  the  world,  or 
with  any  creature  in  the  world,  by  his  presence  in  it;  nor  can 
any  creature  in  the  world,  no,  not  the  soul  of  man,  or  an  angel, 
come  to  be  essentially  one  with  God,  though  God  be  essentially 
present  with  it. 

The  essential  presence  is  without  any  division  of  himself.  I 
fill  heaven  and  earth,  not  part  in  heaven,  and  part  in  earth;  I 
fill  one  as  well  as  the  other.  One  part  of  his  essence  is  not  in 
one  place,  and  another  part  of  his  essence  in  another  place;  he 
would  then  be  changeable;  for  that  part  of  his  essence  which 
were  now  in  this  place  he  might  alter  to  another,  and  place 
that  part  of  his  essence  which  were  in  another  place  to  this; 
but  he  is  undivided  every  where.  As  his  eternity  is  one  indi- 
visible point,  though  in  our  conception  we  divide  it  into  past, 
present,  and  to  come;  so  the  whole  world  is  a  point  to  him,  in 
regard  of  place,  as  before  was  said;  it  is  as  a  small  dust,  and 
grain  of  dust.  It  is  impossible  that  one  part  of  his  essence  can 
be  separated  from  another,  for  he  is  not  a  body,  to  have  one 
part  separable  from  another.  The  light  of  the  sun  cannot  be 
cut  into  parts,  it  cannot  be  shut  into  any  place  and  kept  there, 
it  is  entire  in  every  place:  shall  not  God,  who  gives  the  light 


ON  GOD'S   OMNIPRESENCE.  421 

that  power,  be  much  more  present  himself?  Whatsoever  lias 
parts  is  finite;  but  God  is  infinite,  therefore  baa  no  parts  of  his 
essence.  Besides,  if  there  were  such  a  division  of  his  being, 
he  would  not  be  the  most  simple  and  uncompounded  Being, 
but  would  be  made  up  of  various  parts;  he  would  not  be  a 
Spirit,  for  parts  are  evidences  of  composition;  and  it  could  not 
be  said  that  God  is  here  or  there,  but  only  a  part  of  God  here, 
and  a  part  of  God  there.  But  he  fills  heaven  and  earth,  he  is 
as  much  a  God  in  the  earth  beneath  as  in  heaven  above,  Dent, 
iv.  3!);  entirely  in  all  places,  not  by  scraps  and  fragments  of  his 
essence. 

This  essential  presence  is  not  by  multiplication.  For  that 
which  is  infinite  cannot  multiply  itself,  or  make  itself  more  or 
greater  than  it  was. 

This  essential  presence  is  not  by  extension  or  diffusion;  as  a 
piece  of  gold  may  be  beaten  out  to  cover  a  large  compass  of 
ground.  No,  if  God  should  create  millions  of  worlds,  he  would 
be  in  them  all,  not  by  stretching  out  his  being,  but  by  the  inii- 
niteness  of  his  being;  not  by  a  new  growth  of  his  being,  but 
by  the  same  essence  he  had  from  eternity;  upon  the  same  rea- 
sons mentioned  before,  his  simplicity  and  indivisibility. 

But  totally.  There  is  no  space,  not  the  least,  wherein  God 
is  not  wholly  according  to  his  essence,  and  wherein  his  whole 
substance  does  not  exist;  not  a  part  of  heaven  can  be  designed 
wherein  the  Creator  is  not  wholly;  as  he  is  in  one  part  of  hea- 
ven he  is  in  every  part  of  heaven.  Some  kind  of  resemblance 
we  may  have  from  the  water  of  the  sea,  which  fills  the  great 
space  of  the  world,  and  is  diffused  through  all:  yet  the  essence 
of  water  is  in  every  drop  of  water  in  the  sea,  as  much  as  the 
whole;  and  the  same  quality  of  water,  though  it  comes  short 
in  quantity;  and  why  shall  we  not  allow  God  a  nobler  way  of 
presence  without  ditfusion,  as  is  in  that?  Or  take  this  resem- 
blance, since  God  likens  himself  to  light  in  the  Scripture, '  "  he 
covereth  himself  with  light,"  Psal.  civ.  2:  a  crystal  globe  hung 
up  in  the  air  has  light  all  about  it,  all  within  it,  every  part  is 
pierced  by  it,  wherever  you  see  the  crystal  you  see  the  light; 
the  light  in  one  part  of  the  crystal  cannot  be  distinguished 
from  the  light  in  the  other  part:  and  the  whole  essence  of  light 
is  in  every  part :  and  shall  not  God  be  as  much  present  with 
his  creatures,  as  one  creature  can  be  with  another?2  God  is 
totally  every  where  by  his  own  simple  substance. 

Prop.  (4.)  God  is  present  beyond  the  world.  He  is  within 
and  above  all  places,  though  places  should  be  infinite  in  num- 
ber; as  he  was  before  and  beyond  all  time,  so  he  is  above  and 
beyond  all  place;  being  from  eternity  before  any  real  time,  he 
must  also  be  without  as  well  as  within  any  real  space.     If  God 

'  "  God  is  light,  and  in  him  is  no  darkness  at  all,"  1  John  i.  5.  2  Bernard. 


422  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

were  only  confined  to  the  world,  he  would  be  no  more  infinite 
in  his  essence  than  the  world  is  in  quantity :  as  a  moment  can- 
not be  conceived  from  eternity,  wherein  God  was  not  in  being, 
so  a  space  cannot  be  conceived  in  the  mind  of  man,  wherein 
God  is  not  present;  he  is  not  contained  in  the  world  nor  in  the 
heavens.  "But  will  God  indeed  dwell  on  the  earth?  behold 
the  heaven  and  heaven  of  heavens  cannot  contain  thee,"  1 
Kings  viii.  27.  Solomon  wonders  that  God  should  appoint  a 
temple  to  be  erected  to  him  upon  the  earth,  when  he  is  not  con- 
tained in  the  vast  circuit  of  the  heavens;  his  essence  is  not 
straitened  in  the  limits  of  any  created  work,  he  is  not  contained 
in  the  heavens,  that  is,  in  the  manner  that  he  is  there ;  but  he  is 
there  in  his  essence,  and  therefore  cannot  be  contained  there  in 
his  essence.  If  it  should  be  meant  only  of  his  power  and  provi- 
dence, it  would  conclude  also  for  his  essence;  if  his  power  and 
providence  were  infinite,  his  essence  must  be  so  too  ;  for  the  in- 
finiteness  of  his  essence  is  the  ground  of  the  infiniteness  of  his 
power.  It  can  never  enter  into  any  thought,  that  a  finite  es- 
sence can  have  an  infinite  power,  and  that  an  infinite  power 
can  be  without  an  infinite  essence.  It  cannot  be  meant  of  his 
providence,  as  if  Solomon  should  say,  the  heaven  of  heavens 
cannot  contain  thy  providence;  for  naming  the  heaven  of  heav- 
ens, that  which  encircles  and  bounds  the  other  parts  of  the 
world,  he  could  not  suppose  a  providence  to  be  exercised  where 
there  was  no  object  to  exercise  it  about ;  as  no  creature  is  men- 
tioned to  be  beyond  the  uttermost  heaven,  which  he  calls  here 
the  heaven  of  heavens.  Besides,  to  understand  it  of  his  provi- 
dence does  not  consist  with  Solomon's  admiration  :  he  wonders 
that  God,  that  has  so  immense  an  essence,  should  dwell  in  a 
temple  made  with  hands ;  he  could  not  so  much  wonder  at  his 
providence  in  those  things  that  immediately  concern  his  wor- 
ship. Solomon  plainly  asserts  this  of  God,  that  he  was  so  far 
from  being  bounded  within  the  rich  wall  of  the  temple,  which 
with  so  much  cost  he  had  framed  for  the  glory  of  his  name  that 
the  richer  palace  of  the  heaven  of  heavens  could  not  contain 
him;  it  is  true,  it  could  not  contain  his  power  and  wisdom,  be- 
cause his  wisdom  could  contrive  other  kind  of  worlds,  and  his 
power  erect  them.  But  does  the  meaning  of  that  wise  king 
reach  no  further  than  this — Will  the  power  and  wisdom  of  God 
reside  on  the  earth?  He  was  too  wise  to  ask  such  a  question, 
since  every  object  that  his  eyes  met  with  in  the  world  resolved 
him,  that  the  wisdom  and  power  of  God  dwelt  upon  the  earth, 
and  glittered  in  every  thing  he  had  created;  and  reason  would 
assure  him,  that  the  power  that  had  framed  this  world,  was 
able  to  frame  many  more:  but  Solomon,  considering  the  immen- 
sity of  God's  essence,  wonders  that  God  should  order  a  house 
to  be  built  for  him,  as  if  he  wanted  roofs,  and  coverings,  and 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  423 

habitation,  as  bodily  creatures  do.  Will  God  indeed  dwell  in  a 
temple,  who  has  an  essence  so  immense  as  not  to  be  contained 
in  the  heaven  of  heavens?  it  is  not  the  heaven  of  heavens  that 
can  contain  him,  his  substance.  Here  he  asserts  the  immensity 
of  his  essence,  and  his  presence  not  only  in  the  heaven,  but  be- 
yond the  heavens;  he  that  is  not  contained  in  the  heavens,  as 
a  man  is  in  a  chamber,  is  without,  and  above,  and  beyond  the 
heavens;  it  is  not  said  they  do  not  contain  him,  but  it  is  impos- 
sible they  should  contain  him;  they  cannot  contain  him.  It  is 
impossible  then  but  that  he  should  be  above  them:  he  that  is 
without  the  compass  of  the  world,  is  not  bounded  by  the  limits 
of  the  world:  as  his  power  is  not  limited  by  the  things  he  has 
made,  but  can  create  innumerable  worlds,  so  can  his  essence 
be  in  innumerable  spaces;  for  as  he  has  power  enough  to  make 
more  worlds,  so  lie  has  essence  enough  to  fill  them,  and  there- 
fore cannot  be  confined  to  what  he  has  already  created;  innu- 
merable worlds  cannot  be  a  sullicieut  place  to  contain  God,  he 
can  only  be  a  sufficient  place  to  himself. '  lie  that  was  before 
the  world,  and  place,  and  all  things,  was  to  himself  a  world, 
a  place,  and  every  thing;2  he  is  really  out  of  the  world  in 
himself,  as  he  was  in  himself  before  the  creation  of  the  world. 
As  because  God  was  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  we 
conclude  his  eternity;  so  because  he  is  without  the  bounds  of 
the  world,  we  conclude  his  immensity,  and  from  thence  his  om- 
nipresence. The  world  cannot  be  said  to  contain  him,  since  it 
was  created  by  him:  it  cannot  contain  him  now,  who  was  con- 
tained by  nothing  before  the  world  was:  as  there  was  no  place 
to  contain  him  before  the  world  was,  there  can  be  no  place  to 
contain  him  since  the  world  was. 

God  might  create  more  worlds  circular  and  round  as  this,  and 
those  eould  not  be  so  contiguous,  but  some  spaces  would  be  left 
between;  as  take  three  round  balls,  lay  them  as  close  as  you 
can  to  one  another,  there  will  be  some  spaces  between;  none 
would  say  but  God  would  be  in  these  spaces,  as  well  as  in  the 
world  he  had  created,  though  there  were  nothing  real  and  posi- 
tive in  those  spaces.  Why  should  we  then  exclude  God  from 
those  imaginary  spaces  without  the  world?  God  might  also 
create  many  worlds,  and  separate  them  by  distances,  that  they 
might  not  touch  one  another,  but  be  at  a  great  distance  from 
one  another;  and  would  not  God  fill  them  as  well  as  he  does 
this?  If  so,  he  must  also  fill  the  spaces  between  them:  for  if  he 
were  in  all  those  worlds,  and  not  in  the  spaces  between  those 
worlds,  his  essence  would  be  divided;  there  would  be  gaps  in 
it,  his  essence  would  be  cut  into  parts,  and  the  distance  between 
every  part  of  his  essence  would  be  as  great  as  the  space  be- 

'  Pctav.  »  Maccor.  Loc.  Commun.  cap.  19.  p.  153. 


424  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

tween  each  world.  The  essence  of  God  may  be  conceived  then 
well  enough  to  be  in  all  those  infinite  spaces  where  he  can  erect 
new  worlds. 

I  shall  give  one  place  more  to  prove  both  these  propositions, 
namely,  That  God  is  essentially  in  every  part  of  the  world,  and 
essentially  above  ours  without  the  world. 

"  The  heaven  is  my  throne,  and  the  earth  is  my  footstool," 
Isa.  lxvi.  1.  He  is  essentially  in  every  part  of  the  world,  he  is 
in  heaven  and  earth  at  the  same  time;  as  a  man  is  upon  his 
throne  and  his  footstool.  God  describes  himself  in  a  human 
shape,  accommodated  to  our  capacity;  as  if  he  had  his  head  in 
heaven  and  his  feet  on  earth;  doth  not  his  essence  then  fill  all 
intermediate  spaces  between  heaven  and  earth?  as  when  the 
head  of  a  man  is  in  the  upper  part  of  a  room,  and  his  feet 
upon  the  floor,  his  body  fills  up  the  space  between  the  head 
and  his  feet.  This  is  meant  of  the  essence  of  God ;  it  is  a  simi- 
litude drawn  from  kings  sitting  upon  the  throne,  and  not  their 
power  and  authority,  but  the  feet  of  their  persons,  are  supported 
by  the  footstool:  so  here  it  is  not  meant  only  of  the  perfections 
of  God,  but  the  essence  of  God.  Besides,  God  seems  to  tax  them 
with  an  erroneous  conceit  they  had  as  though  his  essence  were 
in  the  temple,  and  not  in  any  part  of  the  world;  therefore  God 
makes  an  opposition  between  heaven  and  earth,  and  the  tem- 
ple; "Where  is  the  house  that  ye  build  unto  me?  and  where 
is  the  place  of  my  rest  ?"  Had  he  understood  it  only  of  his 
providence,  it  had  not  been  any  thing  against  their  mistake ; 
for  they  granted  his  providence  to  be  not  only  in  the  temple, 
but  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  "  Where  is  the  house  that  ye 
build  unto  me?  to  me,  not  to  my  power  or  providence,  but 
think  to  include  me,  within  those  walls. 

Again,  it  shows  God  to  be  above  the  heavens.  If  the  hea- 
vens be  his  throne,  he  sits  upon  them,  and  is  above  them  as 
kings  are  above  the  thrones  on  which  they  sit.  So  it  cannot 
be  meant  of  his  providence,  because  no  creature  being  without 
the  sphere  of  the  heavens,  there  is  nothing  of  the  power  and 
the  providence  of  God  visible  there;  for  there  is  nothing  for 
him  to  employ  his  providence  about;  for  providence  supposes 
a  creature  in  actual  being;  it  must  be  therefore  meant  of  his 
essence,  which  is  above  the  world,  and  in  the  world. 

And  the  like  proof  you  may  see,  Job.  xi.  8,  9.  "  It  is  as  high 
as  heaven;  what  canst  thou  do?  deeper  than  hell;  what  canst 
thou  know?  The  measure  thereof  is  longer  than  the  earth, 
and  broader  than  the  sea."  Where  he  intends  the  unsearch- 
ableness  of  God's  wisdom,  but  proves  it  by  the  infiniteness  of 
his  essence ;  (Hebr.  He  is  the  height  of  the  heavens;)  he  is  the 
top  of  all  the  heavens;  so  that  when  you  have  begun  at  the 
lowest  part,  and  traced  him  through  all  the  creatures,  you  will 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  425 

find  his  essence  filling  all  the  creatures  to  be  at  the  top  of  the 
world,  and  infinitely  beyond  it. 

Prop.  (5.)  This  is  the  property  of  God,  incommunicable  to  any 
creature.  As  no  creature  can  be  eternal  and  immutable,  so  no 
creature  can  be  immense,  because  it  cannot  be  infinite;  nothing 
can  be  of  an  infinite  nature,  and  therefore  nothing  of  an  im- 
mense presence,  but  God.  It  cannot  be  communicated  t<>  the 
human  nature  of  Christ,  though  in  union  with  the  Divine;' 
some  indeed  argue,  that  Christ  in  regard  of  his  human  nature 
is  every  where,  because  he  sits  at  the  right  hand  of  God;  and 
the  right  hand  of  God  is  every  where.  His  sitting  at  the  right 
hand  of  God  signifies  his  exaltation,  and  cannot  with  any  rea- 
son be  extended  to  such  a  kind  of  arguing.  The  hearts  of 
kings  are  in  the  hand  of  God;  are  the  hearts  of  kings  every 
where,  because  God's  hand  is  every  where?  The  souls  of  the 
righteous  are  in  the  hand  of  God;  is  the  soul  therefore  of 
every  righteous  man  every  where  in  the  world?  The  right 
hand  of  God  is  from  eternity;  is  the  humanity  of  Christ  there- 
fore from  eternity,  because  it  sits  at  the  right  hand  of  God? 
The  right  hand  of  God  made  the  world;  did  the  humanity  of 
Christ  therefore  make  heaven  and  earth?  The  humanity  of 
Christ  must  then  be  confounded  with  his  Divinity;  be  the  same 
with  it,  not  united  to  it.  All  creatures  are  distinct  from  their 
Creator,  and  cannot  inherit  the  properties  essential  to  his  na- 
ture; as  eternity,  immensity,  immutability,  omnipresence,  om- 
niscience; no  angel,  no  soul,  no  creature  can  be  in  all  places  at 
once;  before  they  can  be  so,  they  must  be  immense,  and  so 
must  cease  to  be  creatures,  and  commence  God;  this  is  impos- 
sible. 

2.  We  shall  give  some  reasons  to  prove  God's  essential  pre- 
sence. 

(1.)  Because  he  is  infinite.  As  he  is  infinite,  he  is  every 
where;  as  he  is  simple,  his  whole  essence  is  every  where;  for 
in  regard  of  his  infiniteness,  he  has  no  bounds;  in  regard  of  his 
simplicity,  he  has  no  parts.  And  therefore  those  that  deny  God's 
omnipresence,  though  they  pretend  to  own  him  infinite,  must 
really  conceive  him  finite. 

[1.]  God  is  infinite  in  his  perfections.  None  can  set  bounds 
to  terminate  the  greatness  and  excellency  of  God.  "  His  great- 
ness is  unsearchable,"  Psal.  cxlv.  3;  Sept.  o£x  'iatt  rtspoj,  there 
is  no  end, no  limitation;  what  has  no  end  is  infinite.  His  power 
is  infinite,  "  which  doeth  great  things  and  unsearchable,"  Job 
v.  9;  no  end  of  those  things  he  is  able  to  do.  His  wisdom  infi- 
nite, Psal.  cxlvii.  5:  he  understands  all  things  past,  present,  and 
to  come;  what  is  already  made,  what  is  possible  to  be  made. 
His  duration  infinite:  the  number  of  his  years  cannot  be 
1  Rivet.  110.  Psal.  p.  301.  col.  2. 
Vol.  I.— 54 


426  0N  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

searched  out,  irttpavto^  Job  xxxvi.  26.  To  make  a  finite  thing 
of  nothing,  is  an  argument  of  an  infinite  virtue;  infinite  power 
only  can  extract  something  out  of  the  barren  womb  of  nothing; 
but  all  things  were  drawn  forth  by  the  word  of  God,  the 
heavens  and  all  the  host  of  them;  the  sun,  moon,  stars,  the  rich 
embellishments  of  the  world,  appeared  in  being  at  the  breath  of 
his  mouth,  Psal.  xxxiii.  6:  the  Author  therefore  must  be  infinite. 
And  since  nothing  is  the  cause  of  God,  or  of  any  perfection  in 
him:  since  he  derives  not  Ins  being,  or  the  least  spark  of  his 
glorious  nature  from  any  thing  without  him,  he  cannot  be 
limited  in  any  part  of  his  nature  by  any  thing  without  him; 
and  indeed  the  infiniteness  of  his  power  and  his  other  perfec- 
tions is  asserted  by  the  prophet,  when  he  tells  us  that  the  nations 
are  as  a  drop  of  a  bucket,  or  the  dust  of  the  balance,  and  less 
than  nothing  and  vanity,  Isa.  xl.  15.  17;  they  are  all  so  in  re- 
gard of  his  power,  wisdom,  &c.  Conceive  what  a  little  thing 
a  grain  of  dust  or  sand  is  to  all  the  dust  that  may  be  made  by 
the  rubbish  of  a  house;  what  a  little  thing  the  heap  of  the  rub- 
bish of  a  house  is  to  the  vast  heap  of  the  rubbish  of  a  whole 
city,  such  a  one  as  London;  how  little  that  also  would  be  to  the 
dust  of  a  whole  empire;  how  inconsiderable  that  also  to  the 
dust  of  one  quarter  of  the  world,  Europe,  or  Asia;  how  much 
less  that  still  to  the  dust  of  the  whole  world.  The  whole  world 
is  composed  of  an  inconceivable  number  of  atoms,  and  the  sea 
of  an  inconceivable  number  of  drops;  now  what  a  little  grain 
of  dust  is  in  comparison  of  the  dust  of  the  whole  world,  a  drop 
of  water  from  the  sea  to  all  the  drops  remaining  in  the  sea,  that 
is  the  whole  world  to  God.  Conceive  it  still  less,  a  mere  no- 
thing, yet  is  it  all  less  than  this  in  comparison  of  God.  There 
can  be  nothing  more  magnificently  expressive  of  the  infiniteness 
of  God  to  a  human  conception,  than  this  expression  of  God  him- 
self in  the  prophet. 

In  the  perfection  of  a  creature,  something  still  may  be  thought 
greater  to  be  added  to  it;  but  God  containing  all  perfections  in 
himself  formally,  if  they  be  mere  perfections;  and  eminently,  if 
they  be  but  perfections  in  the  creature  mixed  with  imperfection; 
nothing  can  be  thought  greater,  and  therefore  every  one  of  them 
is  infinite. 

[2.]  If  his  perfections  be  infinite,  his  essence  must  be  so. 
How  God  can  have  infinite  perfections  and  a  finite  essence  is 
inconceivable  by  a  human  or  angelical  understanding:  an  infi- 
nite power,  an  infinite  wisdom,  an  infinite  duration,  must  needs 
speak  an  infinite  essence;  since  the  infiniteness  of  his  attributes 
is  grounded  upon  the  infiniteness  of  his  essence:  to  own  infi- 
nite perfections  in  a  finite  subject  is  contradictory.  The  manner 
of  acting  by  his  power,  and  knowing  by  his  wisdom,  cannot 
exceed  the  manner  of  being  by  his  essence.     His  perfections 


ON  UOD'S  OMNIPRESKNci:. 


427 


flow  from  his  essence,  and  the  principle  must  be  of"  the  same 
rank  with  what  ilows  from  it;  and  if  we  conceive  his  essence 
to  be  the  cause,  of  his  perfections,  it  is  utterly  impossible  that 
an  infinite  effect  should  arise  from  a  finite  cause:  but  indeed 
his  perfections  are  his  essence;  for  though  we  conceive  the 
essence  of  God  as  the  subject,  and  the  attributes  of  God  as 
faculties  and  qualities  in  that  subject  according  to  our  weak- 
model,  who  cannot  conceive  of  an  infinite  God  without  some 
manner  of  likeness  to  ourselves;  (who  find  understanding,  and 
will,  and  power,  in  us  distinct  from  our  substance;)  yet  truly 
and  really  there  is  no  distinction  between  his  essence  atid  attri- 
butes; one  is  inseparable  from  the  other.  His  power  and  wisdom 
are  his  essence;  and  therefore  to  maintain  God  infinite  in  the 
om\  and  finite  in  the  other,  is  to  make  a  monstrous  God,  and 
have  an  unreasonable  notion  of  the  Deity;  for  there  would  be 
the  greatest  disproportion  in  his  nature, since  there  is  no  greater 
disproportion  can  possibly  be  between  one  thing  and  another, 
than  there  is  between  finite  and  infinite:  God  must  not  only 
then  be  compounded,  but  have  parts  of  the  greatest  distance 
from  one  another  in  nature;  but  God  being  the  most  simple 
Being,  without  the  least  composition,  both  must  be  equally  infi- 
nite. If  then  his  essence  be  not  infinite,  his  power  and  wisdom 
cannot  be  infinite,  which  is  both  against  Scripture  and  reason. 

Again,  how  should  his  essence  be  finite,  and  his  perfections 
be  infinite;  since  nothing  out  of  himself  gave  them  either  the 
one  or  the  other  ? 

Again,  either  the  essence  can  be  infinite,  or  it  cannot; '  if  it 
cannot,  there  must  be  some  cause  of  that  impossibility:  there 
can  be  nothing  without  him  ;  because  nothing  without  him  can 
be  as  powerful  as  himself,  much  less  too  powerful  for  him;  no- 
thing within  him  can  be  an  enemy  to  his  highest  perfection : 
since  he  is  necessarily  what  he  is,  he  must  be  necessarily  the 
most  perfect  Being,  and  therefore  necessarily  infinite ;  since  to 
be  something  infinitely,  is  a  greater  perfection  than  to  be  some- 
thing finitely:2  if  lie  can  be  infinite  he  is  infinite;  otherwise  he 
could  be  greater  than  he  is,  and  so  more  blessed  and  more 
perfect  than  he  is,  which  is  impossible  ;  for  being  the  most  per- 
fect Being,  to  whom  nothing  can  be  added,  he  must  needs  be 
infinite. 

If  therefore  God  have  an  infinite  essence,  he  has  an  infinite 
presence.  An  infinite  essence  cannot  be  contained  in  a  finite 
place:  as  those  things  which  are  finite  have  a  bounded  space, 
wherein  they  are,  so  that  which  is  infinite  has  an  unbounded 
space ;  for  as  finiteness  speaks  limitedness,  so  infiuiteness 
speaks  unboundedness;  and  if  we  grant  to   God  an  infinite 

1   A  my  raid,  de  Trinitat.  p.  89. 

*  Deu9  est  actus  purus  ct  nullam  habet  potcntiam  passivam. 


428  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

duration,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  acknowledging  an  infinite  pre- 
sence. Indeed  the  infiniteness  of  God  is  a  property  belonging 
to  him  in  regard  of  time  and  place ;  he  is  bounded  by  no  place, 
and  limited  to  no  time. 

Again,  infinite  essence  may  as  well  be  every  where,  as  in- 
finite power  reach  every  thing;  it  may  as  well  be  present  with 
every  being,  as  infinite  power  in  its  working  may  be  present 
with  nothing  to  bring  it  into  being.  Where  God  works  by  his 
power  he  is  present  in  his  essence,  because  his  power  and  ins 
essence  cannot  be  separated  ;  and  therefore  his  power,  wisdom, 
goodness,  cannot  be  any  where  where  his  essence  is  not :  his 
essence  cannot  be  severed  from  his  power,  nor  his  power  from 
his  essence;  for  the  power  of  God  is  nothing  but  God  acting, 
and  the  wisdom  of  God  nothing  but  God  knowing.  As  the 
power  of  God  is  always,  so  is  his  essence  ;  as  the  power  of  God 
is  every  where,  so  is  his  essence;  whatsoever  God  is,  he  is 
always,  and  every  where.  To  confine  him  to  a  place,  is  to  mea- 
sure his  essence;  as  to  confine  his  actions,  is  to  limit  his  power: 
his  essence  being  no  less  infinite  than  his  power  and  his  wis- 
dom, can  be  no  more  bounded  than  his  power  and  wisdom; 
but  they  are  not  separable  from  his  essence,  yea  they  are  his 
essence.  If  God  did  not  fill  the  whole  -world,  he  would  be  de- 
termined to  some  place,  and  excluded  from  others;  and  so  his 
substance  would  have  bounds  and  limits,  and  then  something 
might  be  conceived  greater  than  God  ;  for  we  may  conceive 
that  a  creature  may  be  made  by  God  of  so  vast  a  greatness  as 
to  fill  the  whole  world;  for  the  power  of  God  is  able  to  make 
a  body  that  should  take  up  the  whole  space  between  heaven 
and  earth,  and  reach  to  every  corner  of  it:  but  nothing  can  be 
conceived  by  any  creature  greater  than  God;  he  exceeds  all 
things,  and  is  exceeded  by  none:  God  therefore  cannot  be  in- 
cluded in  heaven,  nor  included  in  the  earth,  cannot  be  contain- 
ed in  either  of  them;  for  if  we  should  imagine  them  vaster  than 
they  are,  yet  still  they  would  be  finite;  and  if  his  essence  were 
contained  in  them,  it  could  be  no  more  infinite  than  the  world 
which  contains  it;  as  water  is  not  of  a  larger  compass  than  the 
vessel  which  contains  it.  If  the  essence  of  God  were  limited 
either  in  the  heavens  or  earth,  it  must  needs  be  finite,  as  the 
heavens  and  earth  are;  but  there  is  no  proportion  between 
finite  and  infinite;  God  therefore  cannot  be  contained  in  them: 
if  there  were  an  infinite  body,  that  must  be  every  where;  cer- 
tainly then  an  infinite  Spirit  must  be  every  where.  Unless  we 
will  account  him  finite,  we  can  render  no  reason  why  he  should 
not  be  in  one  creature  as  well  as  in  another:  if  he  be  in  hea- 
ven, which  is  his  creature,  why  can  he  not  be  in  the  earth, 
which  is  as  well  his  creature  as  the  heavens  ? 

(2.)  Because  of  the  continual  operation  of  God  in  the  world. 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  |.M) 

This  was  one  reason  which  made  the  heathen  helieve  that 
there  was  an  infinite  Spirit  in  the  vast  body  of  the  world,  act- 
ing in  every  tiring,  and  producing  those  admirable  motions 
which  we  see  every  where  in  nature.  The  cause  which  acts 
in  the  most  perfect  manner,  is  also  in  the  most  perfect  manner 
present  with  its  effeots. 

God  preserves  all,  and  therefore  is  in  all.  The  apostle 
thought  it  a  good  induction; — He  is  not  far  from  us;  for  in 
him  we  live,  Acts  xvii.  27.  For  being  as  much  as  because, 
shows  that  from  his  operation  he  concluded  his  real  presence 
with  all;  it  is  not,  his  virtue  is  not  far  from  every  one  of  us,  but 
he,  his  substance,  himself;  for  none  that  acknowledge  a  God, 
will  affirm  the  absence  of  the  virtue  of  God  from  any  part  of 
the  world.  He  works  in  every  thing,  every  thing  lives  and 
works  in  him;  therefore  he  is  present  with  all.1  Or  rather,  if 
things  live,  they  are  in  God,  who  gives  them  life.  If  things 
live,  God  is  in  them,  and  gives  them  life:  if  things  move,  God 
is  in  them,  ami  gives  them  motion:  if  tilings  have  any  being, 
God  is  in  them,  and  gives  them  being;  if  God  withdraws  him- 
self, they  presently  lose  their  being:  and  therefore  some  have 
compared  the  creature  to  the  impression  of  a  seal  upon  the 
wafer,  that  cannot  be  preserved  but  by  the  presence  of  the 
seal.  As  his  presence  was  actual  with  what  he  created,  so  Ins 
presence  is  actual  with  what  he  preserves,  since  creation  and 
preservation  do  so  little  differ ;  if  God  creates  things  by  his  es- 
sential presence,  by  the  same  he  supports  them:  if  his  substance 
cannot  be  disjoined  from  his  preserving  power,  his  power  and 
wisdom  cannot  be  separated  from  his  essence;  where  there  are 
the  marks  of  the  one,  there  is  the  presence  of  the  other;  for  it 
is  by  his  essence  that  he  is  powerful  and  wise;  no  man  can 
distinguish  the  one  from  the  other  in  a  simple  being:  God  does 
not  preserve  and  act  things  by  a  virtue  dill'uscd  from  him.  It 
may  be  demanded,  whether  that  virtue  be  distinct  from  God  ? 
If  it  be  not,  it  is  then  the  essence  of  God ;  if  it  be  distinct,  it  is 
a  creature;  and  then  it  may  be  asked,  how  that  virtue  which 
preserves  other  things  is  preserved  itself?  It  must  be  ulti- 
mately resolved  into  the  essence  of  God,  or  else  there  must  be 
a  running  in  infinitum:  or  else,2  is  that  virtue  of  God  a  sub- 
stance or  not;  is  it  endued  with  understanding  or  not?  If  it 
has  understanding,  how  does  it  differ  from  God?  If  it  wants 
understanding,  can  any  imagine  that  the  support  of  the  world, 
the  guidance  of  all  creatures,  the  wonders  of  nature  can  be 
wrought,  preserved,  managed  by  a  virtue  that  has  nothing  of 
understanding  in  it?  If  it  be  not  a  substance,  it  can  much  less 
be  able  to  produce  such  excellent  operations,  as  the  preservim; 
all  the  kinds  of  things  in  the  world,  and  ordering  them  to  per- 
1  Pont.  i  Amyrald.  do  Trinitat.  p.  106,  107. 


430  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

form  such  excellent  ends.  This  virtue  is  therefore  God  him- 
self, the  infinite  power  and  wisdom  of  God;  and  therefore 
wheresoever  the  effects  of  these  are  seen  in  the  world  God  is 
essentially  present:  some  creatures  indeed  act  at  a  distance  by 
a  virtue  diffused;  but  such  a  manner  of  acting  comes  from  a 
limitedness  of  nature,  that  such  a  nature  cannot  be  every  where 
present,  and  extend  its  substance  to  all  parts.  To  act  by  a 
virtue,  speaks  the  subject  finite,  and  it  is  a  part  of  indigence. 
Kings  act  in  their  kingdoms  by  ministers  and  messengers,  be- 
cause they  cannot  act  otherwise;  but  God  being  infinitely  per- 
fect, works  all  things  in  all  immediately,  1  Cor.  xii.  6.  Illumi- 
nation, sanctification,  grace,  &c,  are  the  immediate  works  of 
God  in  the  heart,  and  immediate  agents  are  present  with  what 
they  do.  It  is  an  argument  of  the  greater  perfection  of  a  being, 
to  know  things  immediately  which  are  done  in  several  places, 
than  to  know  them  at  the  second  hand  by  instruments:  it  is  no 
less  a  perfection  to  be  every  where,  rather  than  to  be  tied  to 
one  place  of  action,  and  to  act  in  other  places  by  instruments, 
for  want  of  a  power  to  act  immediately  itself.  God  indeed  acts 
by  means  and  second  causes  in  his  providential  dispensations  in 
the  world,  but  this  is  not  out  of  any  defect  of  power  to  work 
all  immediately  himself;  but  he  thereby  accommodates  his  way 
of  acting  to  the  nature  of  the  creature,  and  the  order  of  things 
which  he  has  settled  in  the  world.  And  when  he  works  by 
means,  he  acts  with  those  means, in  those  means;  sustains  their 
faculties  and  virtues  in  them,  concurs  with  them  by  his  power; 
so  that  God's  acting  by  means,  does  rather  strengthen  his  essen- 
tial presence  than  weaken  it ;  since  there  is  a  necessary  de- 
pendence of  the  creatures  upon  the  Creator  in  their  being  and 
acting;  what  they  are,  they  are  by  the  power  of  God;  what 
they  act,  they  act  in  the  power  of  God,  concurring  with  them; 
they  have  their  motion  in  him  as  well  as  their  being;  and 
where  the  power  of  God  is,  his  essence  is,  because  they  are 
inseparable;  and  so  this  omnipresence  arises  from  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  nature  of  God.  The  more  vast  any  thing  is,  the 
less  confined.  All  that  will  acknowledge  God  so  great,  as  to 
be  able  to  work  all  things  by  his  will,  without  an  essential  pre- 
sence, cannot  imagine  him,  upon  the  same  reason,  so  little  as  to 
be  contained  in  and  bounded  by  any  place. 

(3.)  Because  of  his  supreme  perfection. 

No  perfection  is  wanting  to  God.  But  an  unbounded  essence 
is  a  perfection;  a  limited  one  is  an  imperfection.  Though  it 
be  a  perfection  in  a  man  to  be  wise,  yet  it  is  an  imperfection 
that  his  wisdom  cannot  rule  all  the  things  that  concern  him; 
though  it  be  a  perfection  to  be  present  in  a  place  where  his 
affairs  lie,  yet  is  it  his  imperfection  that  he  cannot  be  present 
every  where,  in  the  midst  of  all  his  concerns;  if  any  man  could 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 


131 


be  so,  it  would  be  universally  owned  as  a  prime  perfection  in 
him  above  others:  is  that  which  would  be  a  perfection  in  man 
to  be  denied  to  God?1  As  that  which  has  life  is  more  perfect 
than  that  which  has  not  life;  and  that  which  has  sense  is  more 
perfect  than  that  which  has  only  life,  as  the  plants  have;  and 
what  has  reason  is  more  perfect  than  that  which  has  only  life 
ami  sense,  as  the  beasts  have;  so  what  is  every  where  is  more 
perfect  than  that  which  is  bounded  in  some  narrow  confines. 
If  a  power  of  motion  be  more  excellent  than  to  be  bed-ridden; 
and  swiftness  in  a  creature  be  a  more  excellent  endowment 
than  to  be  slow  and  snail-like;  then  to  be  every  where  with- 
out motion,  is  inconceivably  a  greater  excellency  than  to  be 
every  where  successively  by  motion.  God  sets  forth  his  readi- 
ness to  help  his  people  and  punish  his  enemies,  or  his  omnipre- 
sence, by  swiftness,  or  flying  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind,  Psal. 
xviii.  10.  The  wind  is  in  every  part  of  the  air  where  it  blows; 
it  cannot  be  said  that  it  is  in  this  or  that  point  of  the  air  where 
you  feel  it,  so  as  to  exclude  it  from  another  part  of  the  air 
where  you  are  not;  it  seems  to  possess  all  at  once. 

If  the  Divine  essence  had  any  bounds  of  place,  it  would  be 
imperfect,  as  well  as  if  it  had  bounds  of  time:  where  any  thing 
has  limitation,  it  has  some  defect  in  being;  and  therefore  if 
God  were  confined  or  concluded,  he  would  be  as  good  as  no- 
thing in  regard  of  infiniteness.  Whence  should  this  restraint 
arise?  There  is  no  power  above  him  to  restrain  him  to  a  cer- 
tain space;  if  so,  then  he  would  not  be  God,  but  that  power 
which  restrained  him  would  be  God.  Not  from  his  own  na- 
ture, for  the  being  every  where  implies  no  contradiction  to  his 
nature;  if  his  own  nature  determined  him  to  a  certain  place, 
then  if  he  removed  from  that  place  he  would  act  against  his 
nature;  to  conceive  any  such  thing  of  God  is  highly  absurd. 
It  cannot  be  thought  God  should  voluntarily  impose  any  such 
restraint  or  confinement  upon  himself;  this  would  be  to  deny 
himself  a  perfection  he  might  have:  if  God  have  not  this  per- 
fection, it  is  either  because  it  is  inconsistent  with  his  nature,  or 
because  he  cannot  have  it,  or  because  he  will  not.  The  former 
cannot  be;  for  if  he  has  impressed  upon  air  and  1  itrht  a  resem- 
blance of  his  excellency,  to  diffuse  themselves  and  fill  so  vast 
a  space,  is  such  an  excellency  inconsistent  with  the  Creator 
more  than  the  creature?  Whatsoever  perfection  the  creature 
has,  is  eminently  in  God.  "  Understand,  ye  brutish  among  the 
people:  and  ye  fools,  when  will  ye  be  wise?  He  that  planted 
the  ear,  shall  he  not  hear?  he  that  formed  the  eye,  shall  he  not 
see? — He  that  teacheth  man  knowledge,  shall  not  he  know?" 
Psal.  xciv.  8 — 10.  By  the  same  reason  he  that  has  given  Bttctl 
a  power  to  those  creatures,  air  and  light,  shall  not  he  much 

'  Amyrald.  de  Trinitat.  p.  74,  75. 


432  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

more  fill  all  spaces  of  the  world  ?  It  is  so  clear  a  rule,  that  the 
Psalmist  fixes  a  folly  and  brutishness  upon  those  that  deny  it: 
it  is  not  therefore  inconsistent  with  his  nature;  it  were  not  then 
a  perfection,  but  an  imperfection;  but  whatsoever  is  an  excel- 
lency in  creatures,  cannot  in  a  way  of  eminency  be  an  imper- 
fection in  God.  If  it  be  then  a  perfection,  and  God  want  it,  it 
is  because  he  cannot  have  it;  where  then  is  his  power?  how 
can  he  be  then  the  fountain  of  his  own  being?  If  he  will  not, 
where  is  his  love  to  his  own  nature  and  glory?  since  no  crea- 
ture would  deny  that  to  itself  which  it  can  have,  and  is  an  ex- 
cellency to  it.  God  therefore  has  not  only  a  power  or  fitness 
to  be  every  where,  but  he  is  actually  every  where. 

(4.)  Because  of  his  immutability. 

If  God  did  not  fill  all  the  spaces  of  heaven  and  earth,  but 
only  possess  one,  yet  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  God  has 
a  power  to  move  himself  to  another.  It  were  absurd  to  fix 
God  in  a  part  of  the  heavens,  like  a  star  in  an  orb,  without  a 
power  of  motion  to  another  place.  If  he  be  therefore  essen- 
tially in  heaven,  may  he  not  be  upon  the  earth  if  he  please,  and 
transfer  his  substance  from  one  place  to  another?  To  say  he 
cannot,  is  to  deny  him  a  perfection  which  he  has  bestowed  upon 
his  creatures:  the  angels,  his  messengers,  are  sometimes  in 
heaven,  sometimes  on  the  earth;  the  eagles,  meaner  creatures, 
are  sometimes  in  the  air  out  of  sight,  sometimes  upon  the  earth. 
If  he  does  move  therefore  and  recede  from  one  place,  and  settle 
in  another,  does  he  not  declare  himself  mutable  by  changing 
places,  by  being  where  he  was  not  before,  and  in  not  being 
where  he  was  before?  He  would  not  fill  heaven  and  earth  at 
once,  but  successively:  no  man  can  be  said  to  fill  a  room,  that 
moves  from  one  part  of  a  room  to  another;  if  therefore  any  in 
their  imaginations  take  God  to  the  heavens,  they  render  him 
less  than  his  creatures.  If  they  allow  him  a  power  of  motion 
from  one  place  to  another,  they  conceive  him  changeable;  and 
in  either  of  them  they  own  him  no  greater  than  a  finite  and 
limited  being;  limited  to  heaven,  if  they  fix  him  there;  limited 
to  that  space  to  which  they  imagine  him  to  move. 

(5.)  Because  of  his  omnipotence. 

The  almightiness  of  God  is  a  notion  settled  in  the  minds  of 
all,  that  God  can  do  whatsoever  he  pleases,  every  thing  that  is 
not  against  the  purity  of  his  nature,  and  does  not  imply  a  con- 
tradiction in  itself.  He  can  therefore  create  millions  of  worlds 
greater  than  this;  and  millions  of  heavens  greater  than  this  hea- 
ven he  has  already  created.  If  so,  he  is  then  in  inconceivable 
spaces  beyond  this  world;  for  his  essence  is  not  less  and  nar- 
rower than  his  power,  and  his  power  is  not  to  be  thought  of  a 
further  extent  than  his  essence;  he  cannot  be  excluded  there- 
fore from  those  vast  spaces  where  his  power  may  fix  those 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  433 

worlds  if  he  please:  if  so,  it  is  no  wonder  that  he  should  fill  this 
world;  and  there  is  no  reason  to  exclude  God  from  the  narrow 
space  of  this  world,  that  is  not  contained  in  infinite  spaces  be- 
yond the  world.  God  is  wheresoever  he  has  a  power  to  act ; 
but  he  has  a  power  to  act  every  where  in  the  world,  every 
where  out  of  the  world;  he  is  therefore  every  where  in 
the  world,  every  where  out  of  the  world.  Before  this  world 
was  made,  he  had  a  power  to  make  it  in  the  space  where  now 
it  stands.  Was  he  not  then  unlimitedly  where  the  world  now 
is  before  the  world  received  a  being  by  his  powerful  word? 
Why  should  lie  not  then  be  in  every  part  of  the  world  now? 
Can  it  be  thought  that  God,  who  was  immense  before,  should, 
after  he  had  created  the  world,  contract  himself  to  the  limits 
of  one  of  his  creatures,  and  tie  himself  to  a  particular  place 
of  his  own  creation,  and  be  less  after  his  creation  than  he  was 
before? 

This  might  also  be  prosecuted  by  an  argument  from  his  eter- 
nity. What  is  eternal  in  duration,  is  immense  in  essence;  the 
same  reason  which  renders  him  eternal,  renders  him  immense. 
That  which  proves  him  to  be  always,  will  prove  him  to  be 
every  where. 

3.  The  third  point  is,  propositions  for  the  further  clearing  this 
doctrine  from  any  exceptions. 

(1.)  This  truth  is  not  weakened  by  the  expressions  in 
Scripture,  where  God  is  said  to  dwell  in  heaven,  and  in  the  tem- 
ple. 

He  is  indeed  said  to  sit  in  heaven,  Psal.  ii.  4;  and  to  dwell 
on  high,  Psal.  cxiii.  5;  but  he  is  no  where  said  to  dwell  only  in 
the  heavens,  as  confined  to  them.  It  is  the  court  of  his  majes- 
tical  presence,  but  not  the  prison  of  his  essence.  For  when  we 
are  told,  that  the  heaven  is  his  throne,  we  are  told  with  the  same 
breath  that  the  earth  is  his  footstool,  Isa.  lxvi.  1.  He  dwells  on 
high  in  regard  of  the  excellency  of  his  nature  ;  but  he  is  in  all 
places  in  regard  of  the  diffusion  of  his  presence.  The  soul  is 
essentially  in  all  parts  of  the  body,  but  it  does  not  exert  the 
same  operations  in  all;  the  more  noble  discoveries  of  it  are  in 
the  head  and  heart:  in  the  head,  where  it  exercises  the  chiefest 
senses,  for  the  enriching  the  understanding;  in  the  heart,  where 
it  vitally  resides,  and  communicates  life  and  motion  to  the  rest 
of  the  body.  It  does  not  understand  with  the  foot,  or  any 
other  member,  though  it  be  in  all  parts  of  the  body  it  informs. 
And  so  God  may  be  said  to  dwell  in  heaven,  both  in  regard  of 
the  more  excellent  and  majestic  representation  of  himself  to  the 
creatures  that  inhabit  the  place,  as  angels  and  blessed  spirits; 
and  also  in  those  marks  of  his  greatness  which  he  has  planted 
there,  those  spiritual  natures  which  have  a  nobler  stamp  of 
God  upon  them,  and  those  excellent  bodies,  as  suu  and  stars, 
Vol.  I.— 55 


434  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

which  as  so  many  tapers,  light  us  to  behold  his  glory,  Psal.  xix. 
1,  and  astonish  the  minds  of  men  when  they  gaze  upon  them. 
It  is  his  court,  where  he  has  the  most  solemn  worship  from  his 
creatures,  all  his  courtiers  attending  there  with  a  pure  love  and 
glowing  zeal.  He  reigns  there  in  a  special  manner,  without 
any  opposition  to  his  government;  it  is  therefore  called  his  holy- 
dwelling  place,  2  Chron.  xxx.  27.  The  earth  has  not  that  title, 
since  sin  cast  a  stain  and  a  ruining  curse  upon  it.  The  earth 
is  not  his  throne,  because  his  government  is  opposed.  But  hea- 
ven is  none  of  Satan's  precinct,  and  the  rule  of  God  is  uncontra- 
dicted by  the  inhabitants  of  it.  It  is  from  thence  also  he  has 
given  the  greatest  discoveries  of  himself.  Thence  he  sends 
the  angels  his  messengers,  his  Son  upon  redemption,  his  Spirit 
for  sanctification.  From  heaven  his  gifts  drop  down  upon  our 
heads,  and  his  grace  upon  our  hearts,  James  iii.  17.  From 
thence  the  chiefest  blessings  of  earth  descend.  The  motions  of 
the  heavens  fatten  the  earth;  and  the  heavenly  bodies  are  but 
stewards  to  the  earthly  comforts  for  man  by  their  influence. 
Heaven  is  the  richest,  vastest,  most  steadfast  and  majestic  part 
of  the  visible  creation.  It  is  there  where  he  will  at  last  manifest 
himself  to  his  people  in  a  full  conjunction  of  grace  and  glory, 
and  be  for  ever  open  to  his  people  in  uninterrupted  expressions 
of  goodness,  and  discoveries  of  his  presence,  as  a  reward  of 
their  labour  and  service.  And  in  these  respects  it  may  pecu- 
liarly be  called  his  throne.  And  this  does  no  more  hinder  his 
essential  presence  in  all  parts  of  the  earth,  than  it  does  his  gra- 
cious presence  in  all  the  hearts  of  his  people.  God  is  in  heaven 
in  regard  of  the  manifestation  of  his  glory:  in  hell  by  the  ex- 
pressions of  his  justice;  in  the  earth  by  the  discoveries  of  his 
wisdom,  power,  patience,  and  compassion;  in  his  people  by 
the  monuments  of  his  grace;  and  in  all,  in  regard  of  his  sub- 
stance. 

He  is  said  also  to  dwell  in  the  ark  and  temple.  It  is  called 
the  habitation  of  his  house,  and  the  place  where  his  honour 
dwelleth,  Psal.  xxvi.  8.  And  he  is  said  to  dwell  in  Jerusalem 
as  in  his  holy  mountain,  <•'  The  mountain  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts," 
Zech.  viii.  3;  in  regard  of  publishing  his  oracles,  answering 
their  prayers,  manifesting  more  of  his  goodness  to  the  Israelites 
than  to  any  other  nation  in  the  world,  erecting  his  true  worship 
among  them,  which  was  not  settled  in  any  part  of  the  world 
besides.  And  his  worship  is  principally  intended  in  that  psalm. 
The  ark  is  the  place  where  his  honour  dwells;  the  worship  of 
God  is  called  the  glory  of  God:  they  changed  the  glory  of  God 
into  an  image  made  like  to  corruptible  man,  Rom.  i.  23;  that 
is,  they  changed  the  worship  of  God  into  idolatry;  and  to  that 
also  doth  the  place  in  Zechariah  refer. 

Now  because  he  is  said  to  dwell  in  heaven,  is  he  essentially 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 


135 


only  there?  Is  lie  not  as  essentially  in  the  temple  and  ark  as 
he  is  in  heaven,  since  there  are  as  high  expressions  of  his  habi- 
tations there  as  of  his  dwelling  in  heaven?  It'  he  dwell  only 
in  heaven,  how  came  he  to  dwell  in  the  temple?  both  are 
asserted  in  Scripture,  one  as  much  as  the  other.  It'  his  dwell- 
ing in  heaven  did  not  hinder  his  dwelling  in  the  ark,  it  could 
as  little  hinder  the  presence  of  his  essence  on  the  earth.  To 
dwell  iii  heaven  and  in  one  part  of  the  earth  at  the  same  time, 
is  all  one  as  to  dwell  in  all  parts  of  heaven  and  all  parts  of 
earth.  If  he  were  in  heaven,  and  in  the  ark  and  temple,  it  was 
the  same  essence  in  both,  though  not  the  same  kind  of  mani- 
festation of  himself.  If  by  his  dwelling  in  heaven  be  meant 
his  whole  essence,  why  is  it  not  also  to  be  meant  by  his  dwell- 
ing in  the  ark?  It  was  not,  surely,  part  of  his  essence  that  was 
in  heaven,  and  part  of  his  essence  that  was  on  earth;  his  essence 
would  then  be  divided;  and  can  it  be  imagined,  that  he  would 
be  in  heaven  and  the  ark  at  the  same  time,  and  not  in  the 
spaces  between?  Could  his  essence  be  split  into  fragments,  and 
a  gap  made  in  it,  that  two  distant  spaces  should  be  filled  by  him, 
and  all  between  be  empty  of  him.  So  that  God's  being  said 
to  dwell  in  heaven,  and  in  the  temple,  is  so  far  from  impairing 
the  truth  of  this  doctrine,  that  it  more  confirms  and  evidences  it. 

(2.)  Nor  do  the  expressions  of  God's  coming  to  us,  or  depart- 
ing from  us,  impair  this  doctrine  of  his  omnipresence. 

God  is  said  to  hide  his  face  from  his  people,  Psal.  x.  1;  to  be 
far  from  the  wicked,  Prov.  xv.  29,  and  the  gentiles  are  said  to 
be  afar  off,  namely,  from  God,  Eph.  ii.  17,  and  upon  the  mani- 
festation of  Christ  made  near.  These  must  not  be  understood 
of  any  distance  or  nearness  of  his  essence,  for  that  is  equally 
near  to  all  persons  and  things;  but  of  some  other  special  way 
and  manifestation  of  his  presence.  Thus  God  is  said  to  be  in 
believers  by  love,  as  they  are  in  him;  "He  that  dwelleth  in 
love  dwelleth  in  God,  and  God  in  him,"  1  John  iv.  16.  He 
that  loves  is  in  the  thing  beloved;  and  when  two  love  one  an- 
other they  are  in  one  another.  God  is  in  a  righteous  man  by 
a  special  grace,  and  far  from  the  wicked  in  regard  of  such  spe- 
cial works;  and  God  is  said  to  be  in  a  place  by  a  special  mani- 
festation, as  when  he  was  in  the  bush,Exod.  iii.  or  manifesting 
his  glory  upon  mount  Sinai:  "The  glory  of  the  Lord  abode 
upon  mount  Sinai,"  Exod.  xxiv.  16.  God  is  said  to  hide  his 
face,  when  he  withdraws  his  comforting  presence,  disturbs  the 
repose  of  our  hearts,  Hashes  terror  into  our  consciences:  when 
he  puts  men  under  the  smart  of  the  cross,  as  though  he  had 
ordered  his  mercy  utterly  to  depart  from  them  ;  or  when  he  does 
withdraw  his  special  assisting  providence  from  us  in  our  affairs: 
so  he  departed  from  Saul,  when  he  withdrew  his  direction  and 
protection  from  him  in  the  concerns  of  his  government;  "  The 


436  0N  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

Spirit  of  the  Lord  departed  from  Saul,"  1  Sam.  xvi.  14,  that  is, 
the  spirit  of  government.  God  may  be  far  from  us  in  one 
respect,  and  near  to  us  in  another;  far  from  us  in  regard  of 
comfort,  yet  near  to  us  in  regard  of  support,  when  his  essential 
presence  continues  the  same;  this  is  a  necessary  consequent 
upon  the  infiniteness  of  God,  the  other  is  an  act  of  the  will  of 
God:  so  he  was  said  to  forsake  Christ  in  regard  of  his  obscuring 
his  glory  from  his  human  nature,  and  inflicting  his  wrath, 
though  he  was  near  to  him  in  regard  of  his  grace,  and  preserved 
him  from  contracting  any  spot  in  his  sufferings.  We  do  not  say 
the  sun  is  departed  out  of  the  heavens  when  it  is  bemisted ;  it 
remains  in  the  same  part  of  the  heavens,  passes  on  its  course, 
though  its  beams  do  not  reach  us  by  reason  of  the  bar  between 
us  and  it.  The  soul  is  in  every  part  of  the  body,  in  regard  of 
its  substance,  and  constantly  in  it,  though  it  does  not  act  so 
sprightly  and  vigorously  at  one  time  as  at  another  in  one  and 
the  same  member,  and  discover  itself  so  sensibly  in  its  opera- 
tions; so  all  the  various  effects  of  God  towards  the  sons  of  men 
are  but  divers  operations  of  one  and  the  same  essence.  He  is 
far  from  us,  or  near  to  us,  as  he  is  a  Judge  or  a  Benefactor; 
when  he  comes  to  punish,  it  notes  not  the  approach  of  his 
essence,  but  the  stroke  of  his  justice;  when  he  comes  to  benefit, 
it  is  not  by  a  new  access  of  his  essence,  but  an  efflux  of  his 
grace:  he  departs  from  us  when  he  leaves  us  to  the  frowns  of 
his  justice;  he  comes  to  us  when  he  encircles  us  in  the  arms  of 
his  mercy;  but  he  was  equally  present  with  us  in  both  dispen- 
sations, in  regard  of  his  essence.  And  likewise  God  is  said  to 
come  down,  "And  the  Lord  came  down  to  see  the  city,"  Gen. 
xi.  5,  when  he  does  some  signal  and  wonderful  works  which 
attract  the  minds  of  men  to  the  acknowledgment  of  a  supreme 
power  and  providence  in  the  world,  who  judged  God  absent 
and  careless  before. 

(3.)  Nor  is  the  essential  presence  of  God  with  all  creatures 
any  disparagement  to  him.  Since  it  was  no  disparagement  to 
create  the  heaven  and  the  earth,  it  is  no  disparagement  to  him 
to  fill  them:  if  he  were  essentially  present  with  them  when  he 
created  him,  it  is  no  dishonour  to  him  to  be  essentially  present 
with  them  to  support  them:  if  it  were  his  glory  to  create  them 
by  his  essence,  when  they  were  nothing,  can  it  be  his  disgrace 
to  be  present  by  his  essence,  since  they  are  something,  and 
something  good,  and  very  good  in  his  eye?  Gen.  i.  31.  God 
saw  every  thing,  and  behold  it  was  very  good,  or  mighty  good; 
all  ordered  to  declare  his  goodness,  wisdom,  power,  and  to  make 
him  adorable  to  man;  and  he  therefore  took  complacency  in 
them.  There  is  a  harmony  in  all  things,  a  combination  in  them 
for  those  glorious  ends  for  which  God  created  them;  and  is  it  a 
disgrace  for  God  to  be  present  with  his  own  harmonious  com- 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  .|;J7 

position?  Is  it  not  a  musician's  glory  to  touch  with  his  fingers 
the  treble,  the  least  and  tenderest  string, as  well  as  the  strongest 
and  greatest  bass?  Has  not  every  thing  some  Stamp  of  God's 
own  being  upon  it,  since  he  eminently  contains  in  himself  the 
perfections  of  all  his  works?  Whatsoever  has  being,  has  a  foot- 
step of  God  upon  it,  who  is  all  being;  every  thing  in  the  earth 
is  his  footstool,  having  a  mark  of  his  fool  upon  it;  .ill  declare  the 
being  of  Clod,  because  they  had  their  being  from  God  ;  and  will 
God  account  it  any  disparagement  to  him  to  be  present  with 
that  which  confirms  his  being,  and  the  glorious  perfections  of 
his  nature  to  his  intelligent  creatures?  The  meanest  things  are 
not  without  their  virtues,  which  may  boast  God's  being  the 
Creator  of  them;  and  rank  them  in  the  midst  of  his  works  of 
wisdom  as  well  as  power.  Does  God  debase  himself  to  be  pre- 
sent by  his  essence  with  the  things  he  has  made,  more  than  he 
does  to  know  them  by  his  essence  ?  Is  not  the  least  thing  known 
by  him?  How?  not  by  a  faculty  or  act  distinct  from  his  esence; 
but  by  his  essence  itself.  How  is  any  thing  disgraceful  to  the  es- 
sential presence  of  God,  that  is  not  disgraceful  to  his  knowledge 
by  his  essence?  Besides,  would  God  make  any  thing  that  should 
be  an  invincible  reason  to  him  to  part  with  his  own  infiniteness, 
by  a  contraction  of  his  own  essence  into  a  less  compass  than 
before?  It  was  immense  before,  it  had  no  bounds;  and  would 
God  make  a  world  that  he  would  be  ashamed  to  be  present  with, 
and  continue  it  to  the  diminution  and  lessening  of  himself, 
rather  than  annihilate  it  to  avoid  the  disparagement?  This  were 
to  impeach  the  wisdom  of  God,  and  cast  a  blemish  upon  his 
infinite  understanding,  that  he  knows  not  the  consequences  of 
his  work,  or  is  well  contented  to  be  impaired  in  the  immensity 
of  his  own  essence  by  it.  No  man  thinks  it  a  dishonour  to  light, 
a  most  excellent  creature,  to  be  present  with  a  toad  or  serpent; 
and  though  there  be  an  infinite  disproportion  between  light,  a 
creature,  and  the  Father  of  lights,  the  Creator;  yet  God  being  a 
Spirit,  knows  how  to  be  with  bodies  as  if  they  were  not  bodies; 
and  being  jealous  of  his  own  honour,  would  not,  could  not  do 
any  thing  that  might  impair  it.1 

(4.)  Nor  will  it  follow,  that  because  God  is  essentially  every 
where,  that  every  thing  is  God.  God  is  not  every  where  by 
any  conjunction,  composition,  or  mixture  with  any  thing  on 
earth.  \V 'hen  light  is  in  every  part  of  a  crystal  globe,  and  encir- 
cles it  close  on  every  side,  do  they  become  one?  No;  the  crystal 
remains  what  it  is,  and  the  light  retains  its  own  nature.  God 
is  not  in  us  as  a  part  of  us,  but  as  an  efficient  and  preserving 
cause;  it  is  not  by  his  essential  presence,  but  his  efficacious  pre- 
sence, that  he  brings  any  person  into  a  likeness  to  his  own  na- 
ture.    God  is  so  in  his  essence  with  things,  as  to  be  distinct 

•  Gasscnri. 


438  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

from  them  as  a  cause  from  the  effect;  as  a  Creator  different  from 
the  creature,  preserving  their  nature,  not  communicating  his 
own;  his  essence  touches  all,  is  in  conjunction  with  none.  Finite 
and  infinite  cannot  be  joined;  he  is  not  far  from  us,  therefore 
near  to  us  ;  so  near  that  we  live  and  move  in  him  Acts,  xvii.  28. 
Nothing  is  God  because  it  moves  in  him,  any  more  than  a  fish 
in  the  sea,  is  the  sea,  or  a  part  of  the  sea,  because  it  moves  in 
it.  Does  a  man  that  holds  a  thing  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand, 
transform  it  by  that  action,  and  make  it  like  his  hand  ? '  The  soul 
and  body  are  more  straitly  united,  than  the  essence  of  God  is 
by  his  presence  with  any  creature.  The  soul  is  in  the  body  as 
a  form  in  matter,  and  from  their  union  does  arise  a  man;  yet 
in  this  near  conjunction,  both  body  and  soul  remain  distinct; 
the  soul  is  not  the  body,  nor  the  body  the  soul ;  they  both  have 
distinct  natures  and  essences;  the  body  can  never  be  changed 
into  a  soul,  nor  the  soul  into  a  body:  no  more  can  God  into  the 
creature,  or  the  creature  into  God.  Fire  is  in  heated  iron  in 
every  part  of  it,  so  that  it  seems  to  be  nothing  but  fire;  yet  fire 
and  iron  are  not  the  same  thing.  But  such  a  kind  of  arguing 
against  God's  omnipresence,  that  if  God  were  essentially  pre- 
sent every  thing  would  be  God,  would  exclude  him  from  heaven 
as  well  as  from  earth.  By  the  same  reason,  since  they  ac- 
knowledge God  essentially  in  heaven,  the  heaven  where  he  is 
should  be  changed  into  the  nature  of  God;  and  by  arguing 
against  his  presence  on  earth  upon  this  ground,  they  run  into 
such  an  inconvenience,  that  they  must  own  him  to  be  no  where, 
and  that  which  is  no  where  is  nothing.  Does  the  earth  become 
God,  because  God  is  essentially  there,  any  more  than  the  hea- 
vens, where  God  is  acknowledged  by  all  to  be  essentially  present? 

Again,  if  where  God  is  essentially  that  must  be  God,  then  if 
they  place  God  in  a  point  of  the  heavens,  not  only  that  point 
must  be  God,  but  all  the  world;  because  if  that  point  be  God 
because  God  is  there,  then  the  point  touched  by  that  point 
must  be  God,  and  so  consequently  as  far  as  there  are  any  points 
touched  by  one  another.  We  live  and  move  in  God,  so  we 
live  and  move  in  the  air;  we  are  no  more  God  by  that,  than 
we  are  mere  air,  because  we  breathe  in  it,  and  it  enters  into  all 
the  pores  of  our  body.  Nay,  where  there  was  a  straiter  union 
of  the  Divine  nature  to  the  human  in  our  Saviour,  yet  the  na- 
ture of  both  was  distinct,  and  the  humanity  was  not  changed 
into  the  Divinity,  nor  the  Divinity  into  the  humanity. 

(5.)  Nor  does  it  follow,  that  because  God  is  every  where, 
therefore  a  creature  may  be  worshipped  without  idolatry. 
Some  of  the  heathens  who  acknowledged  God's  omnipresence, 
abused  it  to  the  countenancing  idolatry:  because  God  was 
resident  in  every  thing,  they  thought  every  thing  might  be 

'  Amyrald.  de  Trinitat.  p.  99,  100. 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  l;}Q 

worshipped;  and  some  have  used  it  as  an  argument  against 
this  doctrine:  the  best  doctrines  may  by  men's  corruption  be 
drawn  out  into  unreasonable  and  pernicious  conclusions.  Have 
you  not  met  with  any,  that  from  the  doctrine  of  God's  free 
mercy,  and  our  Saviour's  satisfactory  death,  have  drawn  poi- 
son to  feed  their  lusts  and  consume  their  souls*  a  poison  com- 
posed by  their  own  corruption,  and  not  offered  by  those  truths? 
The  apostle  intimates  to  us,  that  some  did,  or  at  least  were 
ready  to  be  more  lavish  in  sinning,  because  God  was  abun- 
dant in  grace;  "Shall  we  continue  in  sin,  that  grace  may 
abound?"  Rom.  vi.  I;1  where  he  prevents  an  objection  that 
he  thought  might  be  made  by  some,  lint  as  to  this  case  ;  since 
though  God  be  present  in  every  thing,  yet  every  thing  retains 
i:s  nature,  distinct  from  the  nature  of  God;  therefore  it  is  not 
to  have  a  worship  dne  to  the  excellency  of  God.  As  long  as 
any  thing  remains  a  creature,  it  is  only  to  have  the  respect  from 
us  which  is  dne  to  it  in  the  rank  of  creatures.  When  a  prince 
is  present  with  his  guard,  or  if  he  should  go  arm  in  arm  with  a 
peasant,  is  therefore  the  veneration  and  honour  dne  to  the 
prince  to  be  paid  to  the  peasant,  or  any  of  his  guard  ?  Would 
the  presence  of  the  prince  excuse  it,  or  would  it  not  rather 
aggravate  it?  He  acknowledged  such  a  person  equal  to  me, 
by  giving  him  my  rights,  even  in  my  sight.  Though  God 
dwelt  in  the  temple,  would  not  the  Israelites  have  been  ac- 
counted guilty  of  idolatry,  had  they  worshipped  the  images  of 
the  cherubim,  or  the  ark,  or  the  altar,  as  objects  of  worship, 
which  were  erected  only  as  means  for  his  service  ?  Is  there 
not  as  much  reason  to  think  God  was  as  essentially  present  in 
the  temple  as  in  heaven;  since  the  same  expressions  are  used 
of  the  one  and  the  other?  The  sanctuary  is  called  the  glorious 
high  throne,  Jer.  xvii.  12;  and  he  is  said  to  dwell  between  the 
cherubims,  Psal.  lxxx.  l,that  is,  the  two  cherubims  that  were  at 
the  two  ends  of  the  mercy-seat,  appointed  by  God  as  the  two 
sides  of  his  throne  in  the  sanctuary,  Exod.  xxv.  IS,  where  he 
was  to  dwell,  ver.  S,  and  meet  and  commune  with  his  people, 
ver.  22.  Could  this  excuse  Manasseh's  idolatry  in  bringing  in 
a  carved  image  into  the  house  of  God?  2  Chron.  xxxiii.  7. 
Had  it  been  a  good  answer  to  the  charge,  "  God  is  present 
here,  and  therefore  every  thing  may  be  worshipped  as  God?" 
If  he  be  only  essentially  in  heaven,  would  it  not  be  idolatry  to 
direct  a  worship  to  the  heavens,  or  any  part  of  it,  as  a  due  ob- 
ject, because  of  the  presence  of  God  there?  Though  we  look 
up  to  the  heavens,  when  we  pray  and  worship  God,  yet  hea- 
ven is  not  the  object  of  worship:  the  soul  abstracts  God  from 
the  creature. 

(6.)  Nor  is  God  defiled  by  being  present  with  those  crea- 

1  "Shall  we  sin,  because  we  arc  not  under  the  law,  but  under  grace?"  ver.  15. 


440  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

tures  which  seem  filthy  to  us.  Nothing  is  filthy  in  the  eye  of 
God  as  his  creature;  he  could  never  else  have  pronounced  all 
good:  whatsoever  is  filthy  to  us,  yet  as  it  is  a  creature,  it  owes 
itself  to  the  power  of  God.  His  essence  is  no  more  defiled  by 
being  present  with  it,  than  his  power  by  producing  it :  no  crea- 
ture is  foul  in  itself,  though  it  may  seem  so  to  us.  Does  not  an 
infant  lie  in  a  womb  of  impurities  ?  Yet  is  not  the  power  of 
God  present  with  it,  in  working  it  curiously  in  the  lower  parts 
of  the  earth  ?  Are  his  eyes  defiled  by  seeing  the  substance 
when  it  is  yet  imperfect  ?  or  his  hand  defiled  by  writing  every 
member  in  his  book?  Psal.  cxxxix.  15,  16.  Have  not  the  vilest 
and  most  noisome  things  excellent  medicinal  virtues  ?  How 
are  they  endued  with  them?  How  are  those  qualities  preserved 
in  them?  By  any  thing  without  God,  or  no?  Every  artificer 
looks  with  pleasure  upon  the  work  he  has  wrought  with  art 
and  skill;  can  his  essence  be  defiled  by  being  present  with  them, 
anymore  than  it  was  in  giving  them  such  virtues,  and  preserv- 
ing them  in  them  ?  God  measures  the  heaven  and  the  earth 
with  his  hand;  is  his  hand  defiled  by  the  evil  influences  of  the 
planets,  or  the  corporeal  impurities  of  the  earth?  Nothing  can 
be  filthy  in  the  eye  of  God  but  sin,  since  every  thing  else  owes 
its  being  to  him.  What  may  appear  deformed  and  unworthy 
to  us,  is  not  so  to  the  Creator;  he  sees  beauty  where  we  see  de- 
formity; finds  goodness  where  we  behold  what  is  nauseous  to 
us.  All  creatures  being  the  effects  of  his  power,  may  be  the 
objects  of  his  presence.  Can  any  place  be  more  foul  than  hell, 
if  you  take  it  either  for  the  hell  of  the  damned,  or  for  the  grave 
where  there  is  rottenness  ?  yet  there  he  is,  Psal.  cxxxix.  8.  When 
Satan  appeared  before  God,  and  God  spake  with  him,  Job  i.  7, 
could  God  contract  any  impurity  by  being  present  where  that 
filthy  spirit  was,  more  impure  than  any  corporeal,  noisome,  and 
defiling  thing  can  be?  No,  God  is  purity  to  himself  in  the 
midst  of  noisomeness;  a  heaven  to  himself  in  the  midst  of  hell. 
Who  ever  heard  of  a  sunbeam  stained  by  shining  upon  a  quag- 
mire, any  more  than  sweetened  by  breaking  into  a  perfumed 
room? '  Though  the  light  shines  upon  pure  and  impure  things, 
yet  it  mixes  not  itself  with  either  of  them;  so  though  God  be 
present  with  devils  and  wicked  men,  yet  it  is  without  any  mix- 
ture: he  is  present  with  their  essence,  to  sustain  it  and  support 
it;  not  in  their  defection,  wherein  lies  their  defilement,  and 
which  is  not  a  physical  but  a  moral  evil;  bodily  filth  can  never 
touch  an  incorporeal  substance.  Spirits  are  not  present  with  us 
in  the  same  manner  that  one  body  is  present  with  another: 
bodies  can  by  a  touch  only  defile  bodies.  Is  the  glory  of  an 
angel  stained  by  being  in  a  coal-mine  ?  Or  could  the  angel 
that  came  into  the  lion's  den,  to  deliver  Daniel,  Dan.  vi.  22,  be 
1  Shelford  of  the  Attributes,  p.  170. 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  |  j  | 

any  moro  disturbed  by  the  stench  of  the  place,  than  he  could 
be  scratched  by  the  paws  or  torn  by  the  teeth  of  the  beasts? 
Their  spiritual  nature  secures  them  against  any  infection,  when 
they  are  ministering  spirits  to  persecuted  believers  in  their  filthy 
prisons,  Acts  xii.  7.  The  sonl  is  straitly  united  with  the  body, 
but  it  is  not  made  white  or  black  by  the  whiteness  or  blackness 
of  its  habitation;  is  it  infected  by  the  corporeal  impurities  of 
the  body,  while  it  continually  dwells  in  a  sea  of  filthy  pollu- 
tion ?  If  the  body  be  cast  into  a  common  sewer,  is  the  soul  de- 
filed by  it  ?  Can  a  diseased  body  derive  a  contagion  to  the 
spirit  that  animates  it  ?  Is  it  not  often  the  purer  by  grace,  the 
more  the  body  is  infected  by  nature  ?  Hezekialrs  spirit  was 
scarce  ever  more  fervent  with  God,  than  when  the  sore,  which 
some  think  to  be  a  plague  sore,  was  upon  him,  Isa.  xxxviii.  3. 
How  can  any  corporeal  filth  impair  the  purity  of  the  Divine 
essence?  It  may  as  well  be  said,  that  God  is  not  present  in 
battles  and  fights  for  his  people,  Josh,  xxiii.  10,  because  he 
would  not  be  disturbed  by  the  noise  of  cannons  and  clashing  of 
swords,  as  that  he  is  not  present  in  the  world,  because  of  the 
ill  scents.  Let  us  therefore  conclude  this  with  the  expression 
of  a  learned  man  of  our  own;1  "To  deny  the  omnipresence  of 
God  because  of  ill-scented  places,  is  to  measure  God  rather  by 
the  nicety  of  sense  than  by  the  sagacity  of  reason." 

4.  The  Use. 

Use  (1.)  Of  information. 

[1.]  Christ  has  a  Divine  nature.  As  eternity,  and  immuta- 
bility, two  incommunicable  properties  of  the  Divine  nature,  are 
ascribed  to  Christ,  so  also  is  this  of  omnipresence  or  immensity. 
"No  man  hath  ascended  up  to  heaven,  but  he  that  came  down 
from  heaven,  even  the  Son  of  man  which  is  in  heaven,"  John 
iii.  13.  Not  which  wets,  but  which  is;  he  comes  from  hea- 
ven by  incarnation,  and  remains  in  heaven  by  his  Divinity. 
He  was,  while  he  spake  to  Nicodemus,  locally  on  earth,  in  re- 
gard of  his  humanity,  but  in  heaven  according  to  his  Deity,  as 
■well  as  upon  earth  in  the  union  of  his  Divine  and  human  na- 
ture. He  descended  upon  earth,  but  he  left  not  heaven;  he 
was  in  the  world  before  he  came  in  the  flesh.  "  He  was  in  the 
world,  and  the  world  was  made  by  him,"  John  i.  10.  He  was 
in  the  world,  as  the  light  that  enlightens  every  man  that  comes 
into  the  world:  in  the  world  as  God,  before  he  was  in  the  world 
as  man.  He  was  then  in  the  world  as  man,  while  he  discoursed 
with  Nicodemus,  yet  so  that  he  was  also  in  heaven  as  God.  No 
creature  but  is  bounded  in  space,  either  circumscribed  as  body, 
or  determined  as  spirit  to  be  in  one  place,  so  as  not  to  be  in 
another  at  the  same  time;  to  leave  a  place  where  they  were, 
and  possess  a  place  where  they  were  not.     But  Christ  is  so  on 

'  Dr.  More 
Vol.  I.— 56 


442  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

earth,  that  at  the  same  time  he  is  in  heaven ;  he  is  therefore 
infinite.  To  be  in  heaven  and  earth  at  the  same  moment  of 
time,  is  a  property  solely  belonging  to  the  Deity,  wherein  no 
creature  can  be  a  partner  with  him.  He  was  in  the  world  be- 
fore he  came  to  the  world,  and  "  the  world  was  made  by  him," 
John  i.  10.  His  coming  was  not  as  the  coming  of  angels,  that 
leave  heaven,  and  begin  to  be  on  earth,  where  they  were  not 
before;  but  such  a  presence  as  can  be  ascribed  only  to  God, 
who  fills  heaven  and  earth.  Again,  if  all  things  were  made 
by  him,  then  he  was  present  with  all  things  which  were  made. 
For  where  there  is  a  presence  of  power,  there  is  also  a  presence 
of  essence,  and  therefore  he  is  still  present.  For  the  right  and 
power  of  conservation  follows  the  power  of  creation.  And 
according  to  this  Divine  nature,  he  promises  his  presence  with 
his  church.  "  There  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them,"  Matt,  xviii. 
20.  And,  "I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world,"  Matt,  xxviii.  20,  that  is,  by  his  Divinity;  for  he  had 
before  told  them,  that  they  were  not  to  have  him  always  with 
them,  Matt.  xxvi.  11,  meaning,  according  to  his  humanity;  but 
in  his  Divine  nature  he  is  present  with,  and  walks  in  the  midst 
of  the  golden  candlesticks.  If  we  understand  it  of  a  presence 
by  his  Spirit  in  the  midst  of  the  church,  does  it  invalidate  his 
essential  presence?  No,  he  is  no  less  than  the  Spirit  whom  he 
sends;  and  therefore  as  little  confined  as  the  Spirit  is,  who 
dwells  in  every  believer.  And  this  may  also  be  inferred  from 
John  x.  30.  "I  and  my  Father  are  one;  not  one  by  consent, 
though  that  be  included;  but  one  in  power:  for  he  speaks  not 
of  their  consent,  but  of  their  joint  power  in  keeping  his  people. 
Where  there  is  a  unity  of  essence,  there  is  a  unity  of  presence. 

[2.]  Here  is  a  confirmation  of  the  spiritual  nature  of  God. 
If  he  were  an  infinite  body,  he  could  not  fill  heaven  and  earth, 
but  with  the  exclusion  of  all  creatures.  Two  bodies  cannot  be 
in  the  same  space;  they  may  be  near  one  another,  but  not  in 
any  of  the  same  points  together.  A  body  bounded  he  has  not, 
for  that  would  destroy  his  immensity;  he  could  not  then  fill 
heaven  and  earth,  because  a  body  cannot  be  at  one  and  the 
same  time  in  two  different  spaces;  but  God  does  not  fill  heaven 
at  one  time  and  the  earth  at  another,  but  both  at  the  same  time. 
Besides,  a  limited  body  cannot  be  said  to  fill  the  whole  earth, 
but  one  particular  space  in  the  earth  at  a  time.  A  body  may 
fill  the  earth  with  its  virtue,  as  the  sun,  but  not  with  its  substance. 
Nothing  can  be  every  where  with  a  corporeal  weight  and  mass; 
but  God  being  infinite,  is  not  tied  to  any  part  of  the  world,  but 
penetrates  all,  and  equally  acts  by  his  infinite  power  in  all. 

[3.]  Here  is  an  argument  for  providence.  His  presence  is 
mentioned  in  the  text,  in  order  to  his  government  of  the  affairs 
of  the  world.     Is  he  every   where,  to  be  unconcerned  with 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE 


m 


every  thing?  Before  the  world  had  a  being,  God  was  present 

with  himself;  since  the  world  has  a  being,  he  is  present  with 
his  creatures,  to  exercise  his  wisdom  in  the  ordering,  as  he  did 
his  power  in  the  production  of  them.  As  the  knowledge  of 
God  is  not  a  hare  contemplation  of  a  tiling,  so  his  presence  is 
not.  a  hare  inspection  into  a  thing.  Were  it  an  idle,  careless 
presence,  it  were  a  presence  to  no  purpose,  which  cannot  be 
imagined  of  (lod.  Infinite  power,  goodness,  and  wisdom  being 
every  where  present  with  his  essence,  are  never  without  their 
exercise.  He  never  manifests  any  of  his  perfections,  but  the 
manifestation  is  full  of  some  indulgence  and  benefit  to  his  crea- 
tines. It  cannot  be  supposed  God  should  neglect  those  things 
wherewith  he  is  constantly  present  in  a  way  of  efficiency  and 
operation.  He  is  not  every  where,  without  acting  every  where. 
Wherever  his  essence  is,  there  is  a  power  and  virtue  worthy  of 
(lod  everywhere  dispensed.1  He  governs  by  his  presence 
what  he  made  by  his  power;  and  is  present  as  an  agent  with 
all  his  works.  His  power  and  essence  are  together  to  preserve 
them  while  he  pleases,  as  his  power  and  his  essence  are  toge- 
ther to  create  them  when  he  saw^ood  to  do  it.  Every  creature 
has  a  stamp  of  God,  and  his  presence  is  necessary  to  keep  the 
impression  standing  upon  the  creature.  As  all  things  are  his 
works,  they  are  the  objects  of  his  care;  and  the  wisdom  he 
employed  in  framing  them  will  not  sutler  him  to  be  careless  of 
them.  His  presence  with  them  engages  him  in  honour  not  to 
be  a  negligent  Governor.  His  immensity  fits  him  for  govern- 
ment ;  and  where  there  is  a  fitness,  there  is  an  exercise  of  go- 
vernment, where  there  are  objects  for  the  exercise  of  it.  He 
is  worthy  to  have  the  universal  rule  of  the  world,  he  can  be 
present  in  all  places  of  his  empire,  there  is  nothing  can  be  done 
by  any  of  his  subjects  hut  in  his  sight.  As  his  eternity  renders 
him  King  always,  so  his  immensity  renders  him  King  every 
where.  If  he  were  only  present  in  heaven,  it  might  occasion 
a  suspicion  that  he  minded  only  the  things  of  heaven,  and  had 
no  concern  for  things  below  that  vast  body;  but  if  he  be  pre- 
sent here,  his  presence  has  a  tendency  to  the  government  of 
those  things  with  which  he  is  present.  We  are  all  in  him  as 
fish  in  the  sea;  and  he  bears  all  creatures  in  the  womb  of  his 
providence  and  the  arms  of  his  goodness.  It  is  most  certain 
that  his  presence  with  his  people  is  far  from  being  an  idle  one ; 
for  when  he  promises  to  be  with  them,  he  adds  some  special 
cordial,  as,  "I  will  be  with  thee,  and  will  bless  thee,"  Gen. 
xxvi.  3;  Jer.  xv.  20.  "  I  am  with  thee — I  will  strengthen  thee; 
— I  will  help  thee — I  will  uphold  thee,"  Isa.  xli.  10.  14.  Infi- 
nite goodness  will  never  countenance  a  negligent  presence. 
[  1.  ]  The  omniscience  of  God  is  inferred  from  hence.  If  God 

'  Cyril. 


444  0N  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

be  present  every  where,  he  must  needs  know  what  is  done 
every  where.  It  is  for  this  end  he  proclaims  himself  a  God 
filling  heaven  and  earth,  in  the  text:  "  Can  any  hide  himself  in 
secret  places  that  I  shall  not  see  him?  saith  the  Lord."  I  have 
heard  what  the  prophets  say,  that  prophesy  lies  in  my  name. 
"  If  I  fill  heaven  and  earth,  the  most  secret  thing  cannot  he  hid 
from  my  sight."  An  intelligent  being  cannot  be  every  where 
present,  and  more  intimate  in  every  thing  than  it  can  be  in 
itself;  but  he  must  know  what  is  done  without,  what  is  thought 
within.  Nothing  can  be  obscure  to  him,  who  is  in  every  part 
of  the  world,  in  every  part  of  his  creatures.  Not  a  thought  can 
start  up  but  in  his  sight,  who  is  present  in  the  souls  and  minds 
of  every  thing.  How  easy  is  it  with  him,  to  whose  essence  the 
world  is  but  a  point,  to  know  and  observe  every  thing  done  in 
this  world!  as  any  of  us  can  know  what  is  done  in  one  point 
of  place  where  we  are  present.  If  light  were  an  understand- 
ing being,  it  would  behold  and  know  every  thing  done  where 
it  diffuseth  itself.  God  is  light,  (as  light  in  a  crystal  glass,  all 
within  it,  all  without  it,)  and  is  not  ignorant  of  what  is  done 
within  and  without;  no  ignorance  can  be  fastened  upon  him 
who  hath  a  universal  presence. 

Hence  by  the  way  we  may  take  notice  of  the  wonderful 
patience  of  God,  who  bears  with  so  many  provocations ;  not 
from  a  principle  of  ignorance,  for  he  bears  with  sins  that  are 
committed  near  him,  in  his  sight;  sins  that  he  sees,  and  cannot 
but  see. 

[5.]  Hence  may  be  inferred  the  incomprehensibility  of  God. 
He  that  fills  heaven  and  earth  cannot  be  contained  in  any  thing; 
he  fills  the  understandings  of  men,  the  understandings  of  angels, 
but  is  comprehended  by  neither:  it  is  a  rashness  to  think  to  find 
out  any  bounds  of  God;  there  is  no  measuring  of  an  infinite 
Being;  if  it  were  to  be  measured  it  were  not  infinite;  but  be- 
cause it  is  infinite,  it  is  not  to  be  measured.  God  sits  above  the 
cherubim,  Ezek.  x.  1,  above  the  fulness,  above  the  brightness, 
not  only  of  a  human,  but  a  created  understanding.  Nothing 
is  more  present  than  God,  yet  nothing  more  hid ;  he  is  light, 
and  yet  obscurity;1  his  perfections  are  visible,  yet  unsearcha- 
ble: we  know  there  is  an  infinite  God,  but  it  surpasses  the 
compass  of  our  minds.  We  know  there  is  no  number  so  great, 
but  another  may  be  added  to  it ;  but  no  man  can  put  it  in  prac- 
tice without  losing  himself  in  a  maze  of  figures.  What  is  the 
reason  we  comprehend  not  many,  nay  most  things  in  the  world? 
Partly  from  the  excellency  of  the  object,  and  partly  from  the 
imperfection  of  our  understanding.  How  can  we  then  com- 
prehend God,  who  exceeds  all,  and  is  exceeded  by  none;  con- 

1  KpD^turjjs-  Dionysius  called  God. 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  445 

tains  all,  and  is  contained  by  none;  is  above  our  understanding, 
as  well  as  above  our  sense?  As  considered  in  himself,  infinite; 
as  considered  in  comparison  with  our  understandings,  incom- 
prehensible; who  can  with  his  eye  measure  the  breadth,  length, 
and  depth  of  the  sea,  and  at  one  cast  view  every  dimension  of 
the  heavens:  God  is  greater,  and  we  cannot  know  him,  Job 
xxxvi  26;  he  fills  the  understanding  as  he  fills  heaven  and 
earth;  yet  is  above  the  understanding  as  he  is  above  heaven 
and  earth,  lie  is  known  by  faith,  enjoyed  by  love,  but  com- 
prehended by  no  mind.  God  is  not  contained  in  that  one  sylla- 
ble, God:  by  it  we  apprehend  an  excellent  and  unlimited  nature: 
himself  only  understands  himself,  and  can  unveil  himself. 

[6.]  How    wonderful  is  God,  and    how  nothing  are   crea- 
tures! "Ascribe  ye  greatness  unto  our  God,"  Deut.  xxxii.  2. 
He  is  admirable  in  the  consideration  of  his  power,  in  the  ex- 
tent of  his  understanding,  and  no  less  wonderful  in  the  im- 
mensity of  his  essence;  so  that,  as   Austin  says,  he  is  in  the 
world,  yet  not  confined  to  it;  he  is  out  of  the  world,  yet  not 
debarred  from   it;   he  is  above  the  world,  yet  not  elevated 
by  it;  he  is  below  the  world,  yet  not  depressed  by  it;  he  is 
above  all,  equalled  by  none;  he  is  in  all,  not  because  he  needs 
them,  but  they  stand  in  need  of  him; — all  this,  as  well  as  eter- 
nity, makes  a  vast  disproportion  between  God  and  the  creature. 
The  creature  is  bounded  by  a  little  space,  and  no  space  is  so 
great  as  to  bound  the  Creator.     By  this  we  may  take  a  prospect 
of  our  own  nothingness:  as  in  the  consideration  of  God's  holi- 
ness we  are  minded  of  our  own  impurity,  and  in  the  thoughts 
of  his  wisdom  have  a  view  of  our  own  folly,  and  in  the  medi- 
tation of  his  power  have  a  sense  of  our  weakness;  so  his  im- 
mensity should  make  us,  according  to  our  own  nature,  appear 
little  in  our  own  eyes.     What  little,  little,  little  things  are  we  to 
God!  Less  than  an  atom  in  the  beams  of  the  sun;  poor  drops 
to  a  God  that  fills  heaven  and  earth;  and  yet  dare  we  to  strut 
against  him,  and  dash  ourselves  against  a  Rock?  If  the  consid- 
eration of  ourselves  in  comparison  with  others,  be  apt  to  purl' 
us  up,  the  consideration  of  ourselves  in  comparison  with  God, 
will  be  sullicient  to  pull  us  down.     If  we  consider  him  in  the 
greatness  of  his  essence,  there  is  but  little  more  proportion  be- 
tween him  and  us,  than  between  being  and  not  beinir,  than  be- 
tween a  drop  and  the  ocean.     We  should  never  think  of  God 
without  a  holy  admiration  of  his  greatness,  and  a  deep  sense  of 
our  own  littleness.     As  the  angels  cover  their  faces  before  him, 
with  what  awe  should  creeping  worms  come  into  his  sight!  and 
since  God  fills  heaven  and  earth  with  his  presence,  we  should 
fill  heaven  and  earth  with  his  glory;  for  this  end  he  created 
angels  to  praise  him  in  heaven,  and  men  to  worship  him  on 
earth,  that  the  places  he  fills  with  his  presence  may  be  filled 


446  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

with  his  praise.  We  should  be  swallowed  up  in  admiration  of 
the  immensity  of  God,  as  men  are  at  the  first  sight  of  the  sea, 
when  they  behold  a  mass  of  waters,  without  beholding  the 
bounds  and  immense  depth  of  it. 

[7.]  How  much  is  this  attribute  of  God  forgotten  or  con- 
temned! We  pretend  to  believe  him  to  be  present  every  where, 
and  yet  many  live  as  if  he  were  present  no  where. 

It  is  commonly  forgotten,  or  not  believed.  All  the  extrava- 
gancies of  men  may  be  traced  to  the  forgetfulness  of  this  attri- 
bute, as  their  spring.  The  first  speech  Adam  spake  in  paradise 
after  his  fall,  testified  his  unbelief  of  this;  "  I  heard  thy  voice 
in  the  garden — and  I  hid  myself,"  Gen.  iii.  10;  his  ear  under- 
stood the  voice  of  God,  but  his  mind  did  not  conclude  the  pre- 
sence of  God;  he  thought  the  trees  could  shelter  him  from  him, 
whose  eye  was  present  in  the  minutest  parts  of  the  earth.  He 
that  thought  after  his  sin  that  he  could  hide  himself  from  the 
presence  of  his  justice,  thought  before  that  he  could  hide  him- 
self from  the  presence  of  his  knowledge;  and  being  deceived  in 
the  one,  he  would  try  what  would  be  the  fruit  of  the  other. 
In  both  he  forgets,  if  not  denies  this  attribute;  either  corrupt  no- 
tions of  God,  or  a  slight  belief  of  what  in  general  men  assent 
unto,  give  birth  to  every  sin.  In  all  transgressions  there  is 
something  of  atheism ;  either  denying  the  being  of  God,  or  a 
dash  upon  some  perfection  of  God;  a  not  believing  his  holiness 
to  hate  it,  his  truth  that  threatens,  his  justice  to  punish  it,  and 
his  presence  to  observe  it.  Though  God  be  not  afar  off  in  his 
essence,  he  is  afar  off  in  the  apprehension  of  the  sinner. »  There 
is  no  wicked  man,  but  if  he  be  an  atheist,  he  is  a  heretic;  and 
to  gratify  his  lust,  will  fancy  himself  to  be  out  of  the  presence 
of  his  Judge.  His  reason  tells  him  God  is  present  with  him; 
his  lust  presses  him  to  embrace  the  season  of  a  sensual  pleasure: 
he  will  forsake  his  reason,  and  prove  a  heretic  that  he  may  be 
an  undisturbed  sinner ;  and  sins  doubly,  both  in  the  error  of  his 
mind,  and  the  vileness  of  his  practice.  He  will  conceit  God, 
with  those  in  Job  xxii.  14,  veiled  with  thick  clouds,  and  not  able 
to  pierce  into  the  lower  world;  as  if  his  presence  and  cares  were 
confined  to  celestial  things,  and  the  earth  were  too  low  a  sphere 
for  his  essence  to  reach,  at  least  with  any  credit.  It  is  forgot- 
ten by  good  men,  when  they  fear  too  much  the  designs  of  their 
enemies.  "  Fear  not,  for  I  am  with  thee,"  Isa.  xliii.  5.  If  the 
presence  of  God  be  enough  to  strengthen  against  fear,  then  the 
prevailing  of  fear  issues  from  our  forgetfulness  of  it. 

This  attribute  of  God's  omnipresence  is  for  the  most  part 
contemned,  when  men  will  commit  that  in  the  presence  of  God 
which  they  would  be  afraid  or  ashamed  to  do  before  the  eye 
of  man.     Men  do  not  practise  that  modesty  before  God  as  be- 

1  Drexel.  Nicet.  lib.  2.  cap.  10. 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  447 

fore  men.  He  that  would  restrain  his  tongue  out  of  fear  of 
men's  eyes,  will  not  restrain  either  tongue  or  hands  out  of  fear 
of  God's.  What  is  the  language  of  this,  hut  that  God  is  not 
present  with  us,  or  his  presence  ought  to  be  of  less  regard  with 
US,  and  influence  upon  us,  than  that  of  a  creature? l  Ask  the 
thief  why  he  dares  to  steal.  Will  he  not  answer,  no  eye  sees 
him?  Ask  the  adulterer  why  he  .strips  himself  of  his  chastity, 
anil  invades  the  rights  of  another?  Will  he  not  answer,  no 
eye  sees  me?  Job  xxiv.  15.  He  disguises  himself  to  be  un- 
seen by  man,  but  slights  the  all-seeing  eye  of  God.  If  only  a 
"  man  know  them,  they  are  in  terrors  of  the  shadow  of  death," 
Job  xxiv.  17;  they  are  planet-struck;  but  stand  unshaken  at 
the  presence  of  God.  Is  not  this  to  account  God  as  limited  as 
man,  as  ignorant,  as  absent,  as  if  God  were  something  less  than 
those  things  which  restrain  us  ?  It  is  a  debasing  God  below  a 
creature.  If  we  can  forbear  sin  from  any  awe  of  the  presence 
of  man,  to  whom  we  are  equal  in  regard  of  nature;  or  from 
the  presence  of  a  very  mean  man,  to  whom  we  are  superior  in 
regard  of  condition,  and  not  forbear  it  because  we  are  within 
the  ken  of  God,  we  respect  him  not  only  as  our  inferior,  but  in- 
ferior to  the  meanest  man  or  child  of  his  creation,  in  whose 
sight  we  would  not  commit  the  like  action.  It  is  to  represent 
him  as  a  sleepy,  negligent,  or  careless  God;  as  though  any 
thing  might  be  concealed  from  him,  before  whom  the  least 
fibres  of  the  heart  are  anatomized  and  open,  who  sees  as  plainly 
midnight  as  noon- day  sins,  Heb.  iv.  13.  Now  this  is  a  high 
aggravation  of  sin.  To  break  a  king's  laws  in  his  sight,  is 
more  bold  than  to  violate  them  behind  his  back.  The  least 
iniquity  receives  a  high  tincture  from  this.  And  no  sin  can  be 
little  that  is  an  alfront  in  the  face  of  God,  casting  the  filth  of  the 
creature  before  the  eyes  of  his  holiness:  as  if  a  wife  should 
commit  adultery  before  her  husband's  face,  or  a  slave  dis- 
honour his  master,  and  disobey  his  commands  in  his  presence. 
And  has  it  not  often  been  thus  with  us?  have  we  not  been 
disloyal  to  God  in  his  sight,  before  his  eyes,  those  pure  eyes 
that  cannot  behold  iniquity  without  anger  and  grief?  "  Ye  did 
evil  before  my  eyes,"  Isa.  lxv.  12.  Nathan  charges  this  home 
upon  David.  Thou  hast  "despised  the  commandment  of  the 
Lord  to  do  evil  in  his  sight,"  2  Sam.  xii.  (J.  And  David,  in 
his  repentance,  rellects  upon  himself  for  it;  ft  Against  thee, 
thee  only,  have  I  sinned,  and  done  this  evil  in  thy  sight,"  Psal. 
li.  4.  I  observed  not  thy  presence,  I  neglected  thee  while  thy 
eye  was  upon  me.  And  this  consideration  should  sting  our 
hearts  in  all  our  confessions  of  our  crimes.  Men  will  be  afraid 
of  the  presence  of  others,  whatsoever  they  think  in  their  heart. 

1  Drexel.  Nicet.  lib.  2.  cap.  10 


448  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

How  unworthily  do  we  deal  with  God,  in  not  giving  him  so 
much  as  an  eye-service,  which  we  do  man! 

[8.]  How  terrible  should  the  thoughts  of  this  attribute  be  to 
sinners!  How  foolish  is  it,  to  imagine  any  hiding-place  from 
the  incomprehensible  God,  who  fills  and  contains  all  things, 
and  is  present  in  every  point  of  the  world!1  When  men  have 
shut  the  door,  and  made  all  darkness  within,  to  meditate  or 
commit  a  crime,  they  cannot  in  the  most  intricate  recesses  be 
sheltered  from  the  presence  of  God.  If  they  could  separate 
themselves  from  their  own  shadows,  they  could  not  avoid  his 
company,  or  be  obscured  from  his  sight. 2  Hypocrites  cannot 
disguise  their  sentiments  from  him,  he  is  in  the  most  secret 
nook  of  their  hearts.  No  thought  is  hid,  no  lust  is  secret,  but 
the  eye  of  God  beholds  this,  and  that,  and  the  other.  He  is 
present  with  our  heart  when  we  imagine,  with  our  hands 
when  we  act.  We  may  exclude  the  sun  from  peeping  into 
our  solitudes,  but  not  the  eyes  of  God  from  beholding  our 
actions.  "  The  eyes  of  the  Lord  are  in  every  place,  beholding 
the  evil  and  the  good,"  Prov.  xv.  3.  He  lies  in  the  depths  of 
our  souls,  and  sees  afar  off  our  designs  before  we  have  con- 
ceived them.  He  is  in  the  greatest  darkness,  as  well  as  the 
clearest  light ;  in  the  closest  thought  of  the  mind,  as  well  as  the 
openest  expressions.  Nothing  can  be  hid  from  him,  no  not  in 
the  darkest  cells,  or  thickest  walls.  He  compasses  our  path 
wherever  we  are,  and  is  acquainted  with  all  our  ways,  Psal. 
cxxxix.  3.  He  is  as  much  present  with  wicked  men  to  observe 
their  sins,  as  he  is  to  detest  them.  Where  he  is  present  in  his 
essence,  he  is  present  in  his  attributes;  his  holiness  to  hate,  and 
his  justice  to  punish,  if  he  please  to  speak  the  word.  It  is 
strange  men  should  not  be  mindful  of  this,  when  their  very 
sins  themselves  might  put  them  in  mind  of  his  presence. 
Whence  hast  thou  the  power  to  act?  who  preserves  thy  being, 
whereby  thou  art  capable  of  committing  that  evil  ?  Is  it  not 
his  essential  presence  that  sustains  us,  and  his  arm  that  supports 
us?  and  where  can  any  man  fly  from  his  presence  ?  Not  the 
vast  regions  of  heaven  could  shelter  a  sinning  angel  from  his 
eye.  How  was  Adam  ferreted  out  of  his  hiding-places  in 
paradise!  Nor  can  we  find  the  depths  of  the  sea  a  sufficient 
covering  to  us.  If  we  were  with  Jonah  closeted  up  in  the  belly 
of  a  whale;  if  we  had  the  wings  of  the  morning,  as  quick  a 
motion  as  the  light  at  the  dawning  of  the  day,  that  does  in 
an  instant  surprise  and  overpower  the  regions  of  darkness, 
and  could  pass  to  the  utmost  parts  of  the  earth  or  hell,  there 
we  should  find  him,  there  his  eye  would  be  upon  us,  there 

1  Quo  fugis  Encelade  quascunque  accesseris  oras,  sub  Jove  semper  cris. 

2  "  The  darkness  and  the  light  are  both  alike  to  thee,"  Psal.  cxxxix.  12. 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  ,j.|9 

would  his  hand  lay  hold  of  us,  and  lead  us  as  a  conqueror  tri- 
umphing over  a  captive,  Psal.  cxxxix.  8 — 10.  Nay,  if  we 
could  leap  out  of  the  compass  of  heaven  and  earth,  we  should 
find  as  little  reserves  from  him.  He  is  without  the  world  in 
those  infinite  spaces  which  the  mind  of  man  can  imagine.  In 
regard  of  his  immensity,  nothing  in  being  can  be  distant  from 
him,  wheresoever  it  is. 

Use  (2.)  For  comfort.  That  God  is  present  every  where,  is 
as  much  a  comfort  to  a  good  man  as  it  is  a  terror  to  a  wicked 
one.  He  is  every  where  for  his  people,  not  only  by  a  neces- 
sary perfection  of  his  nature,  but  an  immense  diffusion  of  his 
goodness.  He  is  in  all  creatures  as  their  Preserver,  in  the 
damned  as  their  terror,  in  his  people  as  their  Protector.  He 
fills  hell  with  his  severity,  heaven  with  his  glory,  his  people 
with  his  grace.  He  is  with  his  people  as  light  in  darkness,  a 
fountain  in  a  garden,  as  manna  in  the  ark.  God  is  in  the  world 
as  a  spring  of  preservation,  in  the  church  as  his  cabinet,  a  spring 
of  grace  in  consolation.  A  man  is  present  sometimes  in  his 
field,  but  more  delightfully  in  his  garden.  A  vineyard,  as  it 
has  more  of  cost,  so  more  of  care,  and  a  watchful  presence  of 
the  owner.  "  I  the  Lord  do  keep  it;"  namely,  his  vineyard; 
"  I  will  water  it  every  moment:  lest  any  hurt  it,  I  will  keep  it 
night  and  day,"  Isa.  xxvii.  3.  As  there  is  a  presence  of  essence 
which  is  natural,  so  there  is  a  presence  of  grace,  which  is  fede- 
ral; a  presence  by  covenant,  "I  will  not  leave  thee,  I  will  be 
with  thee:"  this  latter  depends  upon  the  former;  for  take  away 
the  immensity  of  God,  and  you  leave  no  foundation  for  his 
universal  gracious  presence  with  his  people  in  all  their  emer- 
gencies, in  all  their  hearts.  And  therefore  where  he  is  present 
in  his  essence,  he  cannot  be  absent  in  his  grace  from  them  that 
fear  him.  It  is  from  his  filling  heaven  and  earth  he  proves  his 
knowledge  of  the  designs  of  the  false  prophets;  and  from  the 
same  topic  may  as  well  be  inferred  the  employment  of  his  power 
and  grace  for  his  people. 

[I.]  The  omnipresence  of  God  is  comfort  in  all  violent 
temptations.  No  fiery  dart  can  be  so  present  with  us,  as  God 
is  present  both  with  that  and  the  marksman.  The  most  raging 
devils  cannot  be  so  near  us,  as  God  is  to  us  and  them.  He  is 
present  with  his  people  to  relieve  them,  and  present  with  the 
devil  to  manage  him  to  his  own  holy  purposes:  so  he  was  with 
Job,  defeating  his  enemies,  and  bringing  him  triumphantly  out 
of  those  pressing  trials.  Tbis  presence  is  such  a  terror,  that 
whatsoever  the  devil  can  despoil  us  of,  he  must  leave  this  un- 
touched. He  might  scratch  the  apostle  with  a  thorn,  hut  he 
could  not  rille  him  of  the  presence  of  Divine  grace,  which  God 
promised  him,  2  Cor.  xvii.  7.  9.  He  must  prevail  so  far  as  to 
make  God  cease  to  be  God,  before  he  can  make  him  to  be  dis- 
Vol.  I.— 57 


450  0N  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

tant  from  us:  and  while  this  cannot  be,  the  devils  and  men 
can  no  more  hinder  the  emanations  of  God  to  the  soul,  than  a 
child  can  cut  off  the  rays  of  the  sun  from  embellishing  the 
earth.  It  is  no  mean  support  for  a  good  man,  at  any  time  buf- 
feted by  a  messenger  of  Satan,  to  think  God  stands  near  him, 
and  beholds  how  ill  he  is  used.  It  would  be  a  satisfaction  to  a 
king's  favourite  in  the  midst  of  the  violence  some  enemies 
might  use  to  him  upon  a  surprise,  to  understand  that  the  king 
who  loves  him,  stands  behind  a  curtain,  and  through  a  hole 
sees  the  injuries  he  suffers;  and  were  the  devil  as  considerate 
as  he  is  malicious,  he  could  not  but  be  in  great  fear  at  God's 
being  in  the  generation  of  the  righteous,  as  his  serpentine  seed 
is:  "There  were  they  in  great  fear;  for  God  is  in  the  genera- 
tion of  the  righteous,"  Psal.  xiv.  5. 

[2.]  The  omnipresence  of  God  is  a  comfort  in  sharp  afflic- 
tions. Good  men  have  a  comfort  in  this  presence  in  their 
filthy  prisons,  oppressing  tribunals;  in  the  overflowing  waters 
or  scorching  flames,  he  is  still  with  them,  Isa.  xliii.  2 ;  and 
many  times  by  his  presence  keeps  the  bush  from  consuming, 
when  it  seems  to  be  all  in  a  flame.  In  afflictions  God  shows 
himself  most  present,  when  friends  are  most  absent:  "When 
my  father  and  mother  forsake  me,  then  the  Lord  will  take  me 
up,"  Psal.  xxvii.  10  ;  then  God  will  stoop  and  gather  me  into  his 
protection:  (Hebr.  will  gather  me;)  alluding  to  those  tribes  that 
were  to  bring  up  the  rear  in  the  Israelites'  march,  to  take  care 
that  none  were  left  behind,  and  exposed  to  famine  or  wild 
beasts,  by  reason  of  some  disease  that  disabled  them  to  keep 
pace  with  their  brethren.  He  that  is  the  sanctuary  of  his  peo- 
ple in  all  calamities,  is  more  present  with  them  to  support  them, 
than  their  adversaries  can  be  present  with  them  to  afflict  them: 
"  A  very  present  help  in  trouble,"  Psal.  xlvi.  2.  He  is  present 
with  all  things  for  this  end:  though  his  presence  be  a  necessary 
presence,  in  regard  of  the  immensity  of  his  nature;  yet  the  end 
of  this  presence,  in  regard  that  it  is  for  the  good  of  his  people, 
is  a  voluntary  presence.  It  is  for  the  good  of  man  he  is  present 
in  the  lower  world,  and  principally  for  the  good  of  his  people, 
for  whose  sake  he  keeps  up  the  world,  his  eyes  "  run  to  and  fro 
throughout  the  whole  earth,  to  show  himself  strong  in  the  be- 
half of  them  whose  heart  is  perfect  towards  him,"  2  Chron. 
xvi.  9.  If  he  does  not  deliver  good  men  from  afflictions,  he 
will  be  so  present  as  to  manage  them,  as  that  his  glory  shall 
issue  from  their  sufferings,  and  their  grace  be  brightened  by 
them.1 

What  a  man  was  Paul  when  he  was  lodged  in  a  prison,  or 
dragged  to  the  courts  of  judicature!  when  he  was  torn  with 
rods,  or  laden  with  chains!  then  did  he  show  the  greatest  mira- 

1  Chrysostora. 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  45] 

cles,  made  the  judge  tremble  upon  the  bench,  and  brake  the 
heart,  though  not  the  prison,  of  the  jailor;  so  powerful  is  the 
presence  of  God  in  the  pressures  of  his  people.     This  presence 

outweighs  all  other  comforts,  and  is  more  valuable  to  a  Chris- 
tian than  barns  of  corn  or  cellars  of  wine  can  l><'  to  a  covetous 
man,  l's.il.  iv.  7.  It  was-  this  presence  was  David's  cordial  in  the 
mutinying  of  his  soldiers,  1  Sun.  xxx.  fi.     What  a  comfort  is 

this  in  exile,  or  a  forced  desertion  of  our  habitations!  Good 
men  may  be  banished  from  their  country,  but  never  from  the 
presence  of  their  protector.  Ye  cannot  say  of  any  corner  of  the 
earth,  or  of  any  dungeon  in  a  prison,  God  is  not  here.  If  you 
were  cast  out  of  your  country  one  thousand  miles  off,  you  are 
not  out  of  God's  precinct;  his  arm  is  there  to  cherish  the  good 
as  well  as  to  drag  out  the  wicked  ;  it  is  the  same  God,  the  same 
presence  in  every  country,  as  well  as  the  same  sun,  moon,  and 
stars:  and  were  not  God  every  where,  yet  he  could  not  be 
meaner  than  his  creature,  the  sun  in  the  firmament,  which 
visits  every  part  of  the  habitable  world  in  twenty-four  hours. 

[3.]  The  omnipresence  of  God  is  a  comfort  in  all  duties  of 
worship.  He  is  present  to  observe,  and  present  to  accept  our 
petitions,  and  answer  our  suits.  Good  men  have  not  only  the 
essential  presence,  which  is  common  to  all,  but  his  gracious 
presence;  not  only  the  presence  that  flows  from  his  nature,  but 
that  which  flows  from  his  promise;  his  essential  presence  makes 
no  diJl'erence  between  this  and  that  man  in  regard  of  spirituals, 
without  this  in  conjunction  with  it;  his  nature  is  the  cause  of 
the  presence  of  his  essence;  his  will,  engaged  by  his  truth,  is 
the  cause  of  the  presence  of  his  grace.  He  promised  to  meet 
the  Iraclites  in  the  place  where  he  should  set  his  name,  and  in 
all  places  where  he  does  record  it:  "  In  all  places  where  I  re- 
cord my  name  I  will  come  unto  thee,  and  I  will  bless  thee," 
Exod.  xx.  24;  in  everyplace  where  I  shall  manifest  the  special 
presence  of  my  Divinity.  In  all  places,  hands  may  be  lifted  up, 
without  doubting  of  his  ability  to  hear;  he  dwells  in  the  contrite 
heart,  wherever  it  is  most  in  the  exercise  of  contrition;  which  is 
usually  in  times  of  special  worship,  Isa.  lvii.  15,  and  that  to  revive 
and  refresh  it.  Habitation  notes  a  special  presence;  though  he 
dwell  in  the  highest  heavens  in  the  sparklings  of  his  glory,  he 
dwells  also  in  the  lowest  hearts  in  the  beams  of  his  grace:  as 
none  can  expel  him  from  his  dwelling  in  heaven;  so  none  can 
eject  him  from  his  residence  in  the  heart.  The  tabernacle 
had  his  peculiar  presence  fixed  to  it,  Lev.  xxvi.  11;  his  soul 
will  not  abhor  them  as  they  are  washed  by  Christ,  though  they 
arc  loathsome  by  sin.  In  a  greater  dispensation  there  cannot 
be  a  less  presence,  since  the  church  under  the  New  Testament 
is  called  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  wherein  he  will  both  dwell 
and  walk,  2  Cor.  vi.    6:  or,  "  I  will  indwell  in  them;"  as  if 


452  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

he  should  say,  I  will  dwell  in  and  in  them;  I  will  dwell  in 
them  by  grace,  and  walk  in  them  by  exciting  their  graces.  He 
will  be  more  intimate  with  them  than  their  own  souls,  and  con- 
verse with  them  as  the  living  God,  that  is,  as  a  God  that  has 
life  in  himself,  and  life  to  convey  to  them  in  their  converse  with 
him ;  and  show  his  spiritual  glory  among  them  in  a  greater  mea- 
sure than  in  the  temple;  since  that  was  but  aheap  of  stones,  and 
the  figure  of  the  Christian  Church,  the  mystical  body  of  his 
Son.  His  presence  is  not  less  in  the  substance  than  it  was  in 
the  shadow;  this  presence  of  God  in  his  ordinances, is  the  glory 
of  a  church,  as  the  presence  of  a  king  is  the  glory  of  a  court; 
the  defence  of  it  too,  as  a  wall  of  fire,  Zech.  ii.  5,  alluding  to 
the  fire  travellers  in  a  wilderness  made  to  fright  away  wild 
beasts.  It  is  not  the  meanness  of  the  place  of  worship  can  ex- 
clude him.  The  second  temple  was  not  so  magnificent  as  the 
first  of  Solomon's  erecting;  and  the  Jews  seem  to  despond  of 
so  glorious  a  presence  of  God  in  the  second,  as  they  had  in  the 
first ;  because  they  thought  it  not  so  good  for  the  entertainment 
of  him  that  inhabits  eternity;  but  God  comforts  them  against 
this  conceit  again  and  again ;  "  Be  strong — be  strong — be  strong 
— I  am  with  you,"  Hag.  ii.  4;  the  meanness  of  the  place  shall 
not  hinder  the  grandeur  of  my  presence.  No  matter  what  the 
room  is,  so  it  be  the  presence-chamber  of  the  King,  wherein  he 
will  favour  our  suits  ;  he  can  every  where  slide  into  our  souls 
with  a  perpetual  sweetness,  since  he  is  every  where,  and  so  inti- 
mate with  every  one  that  fears  him.  If  we  should  see  God  on 
earth  in  his  amiableness,  as  Moses  did,  should  we  not  be  en- 
couraged by  his  presence,  to  present  our  requests  to  him,  to  echo 
out  our  praises  of  him.  And  have  we  not  as  great  a  ground 
now  to  do  it,  since  he  is  as  really  present  with  us,  as  if  he  were 
visible  to  us?  He  is  in  the  same  room  with  us,  as  near  to  us  as 
our  souls  to  our  bodies;  not  a  word  but  he  hears,  not  a  motion 
but  he  sees,  not  a  breath  but  he  perceives;  he  is  through  all; 
he  is  in  all. 

[4.]  The  omnipresence  of  God  is  a  comfort  in  all  special  ser- 
vices. God  never  puts  any  upon  a  hard  task,  but  he  makes 
promises  to  encourage  them  and  assist  them;  and  the  matter 
of  the  promise  is  that  of  his  presence:  so  he  did  assure  the  pro- 
phets of  old  when  he  set  them  difiicult  tasks:  and  strengthened 
Moses  against  the  face  of  Pharaoh,  by  assuring  him  he  would 
be  with  his  mouth,  Exod.  iv.  12:  and  when  Christ  put  his  apos- 
tles upon  a  contest  with  the  whole  world,  to  preach  a  gospel 
that  would  be  foolishness  to  the  Greeks,  and  a  stumbling-block 
to  the  Jews;  he  gives  them  a  cordial  composed  only  of  his  pre- 
sence, I  will  be  with  you,  Matt,  xxviii.  20.  It  is  this  presence 
scatters  by  its  light  the  darkness  of  our  spirits;  it  is  this  that  is 
the  cause  of  what  is  done  for  his  glory  in  the  world;  it  is  this 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  453 

that  mingles  itself  with  all  that  is  done  for  his  honour;  it  is  this 
from  whence  springs  all  the  assistance  of  his  creatures,  marked 
out  for  special  purposes. 

[5.]  This  presence  is  not  without  the  special  presence  of  all 
his  attributes.  Where  his  essence  is,  his  perfect  ions  are,  because 
they  are  one  with  his  essence  ;  yea,  they  are  his  essence,  though 
they  have  their  several  degrees  of  manifestation.  As  in  the 
covenant,  he  makes  over  himself  as  our  God,  not  apart  of  him- 
self, but  his  whole  Deity,  so  in  promising  of  his  presence,  he 
means  not  a  part  of  it,  but  the  whole,  the  presence  of  all  the 
excellencies  of  his  nature  to  be  manifested  for  our  good.  It  is 
not  a  piece  of  God  is  here,  and  another  parcel  there;  but  God 
in  his  whole  essence  and  perfections;  in  his  wisdom  to  guide 
us,  his  power  to  protect  and  support  us,  his  mercy  to  pity  us, 
his  fulness  to  refresh  us,  and  his  goodness  to  relieve  us.  He  is 
ready  to  sparkle  out  in  this  or  that  perfection,  as  the  necessities 
of  his  people  require,  and  his  own  wisdom  directs  for  his  own 
honour:  so  that  being  not  far  from  us  in  any  excellency  of  his 
nature,  we  can  quickly  have  recourse  to  him  upon  any  emergency; 
so  that  if  we  are  miserable,  we  have  the  presence  of  his  good- 
ness;  if  we  want  direction,  we  have  the  presence  of  his  wis- 
dom; if  we  are  weak,  we  have  the  presence  of  his  power:  and 
should  we  not  rejoice  in  it,  as  a  man  does  in  the  presence  of  a 
powerful,  wealthy,  and  compassionate  friend? 

Use  (3.)  For  exhortation. 

[1.]  Let  us  be  much  in  the  actual  thought  of  this  truth.  How 
should  we  enrich  our  understandings  with  the  knowledge  of 
the  excellency  of  God,  whereof  this  is  none  of  the  least;  nor  has 
less  of  honey  in  its  bowels,  though  it  be  more  terrible  to  the 
wicked  than  the  presence  of  a  lion.  It  is  this  that  makes  all  other 
excellencies  of  the  Divine  nature  sweet.  What  would  grace, 
wisdom,  power,  signify  at  a  distance  from  us?  Let  us  frame  in 
our  minds  a  strong  idea  of  it;  it  is  this  makes  so  great  a  differ- 
ence between  the  actions  of  one  man  and  another;  one  main- 
tains actual  thoughts  of  it,  another  does  not,  though  all  believe 
it  as  a  perfection  pertaining  to  the  infiniteness  of  his  essence. 
David,  or  rather  a  greater  than  David,  had  God  always  before 
him;  there  was  no  time,  no  occasion  wherein  he  did  not  stir 
up  some  lively  thoughts  of  him,  Psal.  xvi.  8.  Let  us  have 
right  notions  of  it;  imagine  not  God  as  a  great  King,  sitting 
only  in  his  majesty  in  heaven;  acting  all  by  his  servants  and 
ministers.  This,  saith  one,'  is  a  childish  and  unworthy  conceit 
of  God,  and  may  in  time  bring  such  a  conceiver  by  degrees  to 
deny  his  providence.  The  denial  of  this  perfection  is  an  axe 
at  the  root  of  religion  ;  if  it  be  not  deeply  imprinted  in  the  mind, 
personal  religion  grows  faint  and  feeble.    Who  would  fear  that 

1  Musculus. 


454  0N  <^OD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

God  that  is  not  imagined  to  be  a  witness  of  his  actions  ?  Who 
would  worship  a  God  at  a  distance  both  from  the  worship  and 
worshipper?  •  Let  us  believe  this  truth,  but  not  with  an  idle  faith, 
as  if  we  did  not  believe  it;  let  us  know,  that  as  wheresoever 
the  fish  moves,  it  is  in  the  water ;  wheresoever  the  bird  moves, 
it  is  in  the  air;  so  wheresoever  we  move  we  are  in  God:  as 
there  is  not  a  moment  but  we  are  under  his  mercy;  so  there  is 
not  a  moment  that  we  are  out  of  his  presence.  Let  us  there- 
fore look  upon  nothing,  without  thinking  who  stands  by,  with- 
out reflecting  upon  him  in  whom  it  lives,  moves,  and  has  its 
being.  When  you  view  a  man,  you  fix  your  eyes  upon  his 
body,  but  your  mind  upon  that  invisible  part  that  acts  every 
member  by  life  and  motion,  and  makes  them  fit  for  your  con- 
verse. Let  us  not  bound  our  thoughts  to  the  creatures  we  see, 
but  pierce  through  the  creature  to  that  boundless  God  we  do 
not  see:  we  have  continual  remembrances  of  his  presence,  the 
light  whereby  we  see,  and  the  air  whereby  we  live,  give  us  per- 
petual notices  of  it,  and  some  weak  resemblance:  why  should 
we  forget  it?  yea,  what  a  shame  is  our  unmindfulness  of  it, 
when  every  cast  of  our  eye,  every  motion  of  our  lungs,  jogs  us 
to  remember  it!  Light  is  in  every  part  of  the  air,  in  every  part 
of  the  world,  yet  not  mixed  with  any;  both  remain  entire  in 
their  own  substance.  Let  us  not  be  worse  than  some  of  the 
heathen,  who  pressed  this  notion  upon  themselves  for  the  spirit- 
ing their  actions  with  virtue,  That  all  places  were  full  of  God.2 
This  was  the  means  Basil  used  to  prescribe,  upon  a  question 
which  was  asked  him,  "  How  shall  we  do  to  be  serious?" 
"  Mind  God's  presence."  How  shall  we  avoid  distractions  in 
service?  "Think  of  God's  presence."  How  shall  we  resist 
temptations  ?     Oppose  to  them  the  presence  of  God. 

This  will  be  a  shield  against  all  temptations.  "  God  is  pre- 
sent," is  enough  to  blunt  the  weapons  of  hell:  this  will  secure 
us  from  a  ready  compliance  with  any  base  and  vile  attractives, 
and  curb  that  headstrong  principle  in  our  nature,  that  would 
join  hands  with  them;  the  thoughts  of  this  would,  like  the  pow- 
erful presence  of  God  with  the  Israelites,  take  off  the  wheels 
from  the  chariots  of  our  sensitive  appetites,  and  make  them, 
perhaps,  more  slow,  at  least  towards  a  temptation.  How  did 
Peter  fling  off  the  temptation  which  had  worsted  him,  upon  a 
look  from  Christ!  The  acted  faith  of  this  would  stifle  the  darts 
of  Satan;  and  fire  us  with  an  anger  against  his  solicitations, 
as  strong  as  the  fire  that  inflames  the  darts.  Moses's  sight  of 
him  that  was  invisible,  strengthened  him  against  the  costly  plea- 
sures and  luxuries  of  a  prince's  court,  Heb.  xi.  27.  We  are 
utterly  senseless  of  a  Deity,  if  we  are  not  moved  with  this  hint 
from  our  conscience,  "  God  is  present."      Had  our  first  pa- 

1  Drexel.  2  Omnia  Diis  plena. 


ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE.  455 

rents  actually  considered  the  nearness  of  God  to  them,  when 
they  were  tempted  to  eat  of  the  forbidden  fruit,  they  had  not 
probably  so  easily  been  overcome  by  the  temptation.  What 
soldier  would  be  so  base  as  to  revolt  under  the  eye  of  a  tender 
and  obliging  general?  Or  what  man  so  negligent  of  himself,  as 
to  rob  a  house  in  the  sight  of  a  judge?  Let  us  consider,  that 
God  is  as  near  to  observe  us,  as  the  devil  to  solicit  us,  yea  nearer: 
the  devil  stands  by  us,  but  God  is  in  US;  we  may  have  a  thought 
the  devil  knows  not,  but  not  a  thought  but  God  is  actually  pre- 
sent with,  as  our  souls  an;  with  the  thought  they  think;  nor  can 
any  creature  attract  our  heart,  if  our  minds  were  fixed  on  that 
invisible  presence  that  contributes  to  that  excellency,  and  sus- 
tains it,  and  considered  that  no  creature  could  be  so  present 
with  us  as  the  Creator  is. 

It  will  be  a  spur  to  holy  actions.  What  man  would  do  an 
unworthy  action,  or  speak  an  unhandsome  word,  in  the  presence 
of  his  prince?  The  eye  of  the  general  inflames  the  spirit  of  a 
soldier.  Why  did  David  keep  God's  testimonies?  because  he 
considered  that  all  his  ways  were  before  him,  Psal.  cxix.  168; 
because  he  was  persuaded  his  ways  were  present  with  God, 
God's  precepts  should  be  present  with  him.  The  same  was  the 
cause  of  Job's  integrity;  "  Does  not  he  see  my  ways?"  Job 
xxxi.  4.  To  have  God  in  our  eye  is  the  way  to  be  sincere; 
"  Walk  before  me,"  as  in  my  sight,  "  and  be  thou  perfect," 
Gen.  xvii.  1.  Communion  with  God  consists  chiefly  in  an  or- 
dering our  ways  as  in  the  presence  of  him  that  is  invisible. 
This  would  make  us  spiritual,  raised,  and  watchful  in  all  our 
passions,  if  we  considered  that  God  is  present  with  us  in  our 
shops,  in  our  chambers,  in  our  walks,  and  in  our  meetings,  as 
present  with  us  as  with  the  angels  in  heaven;  who  though  they 
have  a  presence  of  glory  above  us;  yet  have  not  a  greater  mea- 
sure of  his  essential  presence  than  we  have.  What  an  awe 
had  Jacob  upon  him  when  he  considered  God  was  present  in 
Bethel!  Gen.  xxviii.  16,17.  If  God  should  appear  visibly  to 
us  when  we  were  alone,  should  we  not  be  reverent  and  serious 
before  him!  God  is  every  where  about  us,  he  does  encompass 
us  with  his  presence;  should  not  God's  seeing  us  have  the  same 
influence  upon  us  as  our  seeing  God?  He  is  not  more  essen- 
tially present  if  he  should  so  manifest  himself  to  us,  than  when 
he  does  not.  Who  would  appear  besmeared  in  the  presence  of 
a  great  person?  or  not  be  ashamed  to  be  found  in  his  chamber 
in  an  indecent  posture  by  some  visitant?  Would  not  a  man 
blush  to  be  catched  about  some  mean  action,  though  it  were  not 
an  immoral  crime?  If  this  truth  were  impressed  upon  our 
spirits,  we  should  blush  more  to  have  our  souls  daubed  with 
some  loathsome  lusts,  swarms  of  sin,  like  Egyptian  lice  and 
frogs,  creeping  about  our  heart  in  his  sight.     If  the  most  sen- 


456  ON  GOD'S  OMNIPRESENCE. 

sual  man  be  ashamed  to  do  a  dishonest  action  in  the  sight  of  a 
grave  and  holy  man,  one  of  great  reputation  for  wisdom  and 
integrity;  how  much  more  should  we  lift  up  ourselves  in  the 
ways  of  God,  who  is  infinite  and  immense,  is  every  where,  and 
infinitely  superior  to  man,  and  more  to  be  regarded!  We  could 
not  seriously  think  of  his  presence,  but  there  would  pass  some 
intercourse  between  us;  we  should  be  putting  up  some  petition 
upon  the  sense  of  our  indigence;  or  sending  up  our  praises  to 
him  upon  the  sense  of  his  bounty.  The  actual  thoughts  of  the 
presence  of  God  is  the  life  and  spirit  of  all  religion;  we  could 
not  have  sluggish  spirits,  and  a  careless  watch,  if  we  considered 
that  his  eye  is  upon  us  all  the  day. 

It  will  quell  distractions  in  worship.  The  actual  thought  of 
this  would  establish  our  thoughts,  and  pull  them  back  when 
they  began  to  rove;  the  mind  could  not  boldly  give  God  the 
slip,  if  it  had  lively  thoughts  of  it;  the  consideration  of  this 
would  blow  off  all  the  froth  that  lies  on  the  top  of  our  spirits. 
An  eye  taken  up  with  the  presence  of  one  object,  is  not  at  lei- 
sure to  be  filled  with  another.  He  that  looks  intently  upon  the 
sun,  shall  have  nothing  for  a  while  but  the  sun  in  his  eye. 
Oppose  to  every  intruding  thought  the  idea  of  the  Divine  om- 
nipresence, and  put  it  to  silence  by  the  awe  of  his  majesty. 
When  the  master  is  present,  scholars  mind  their  books,  keep 
their  places,  and  run  not  over  the  forms  to  play  with  one  an- 
other. The  master's  eye  keeps  an  idle  servant  to  his  work, 
that  otherwise  would  be  gazing  at  every  straw,  and  prating  to 
every  passenger.  How  soon  would  the  remembrance  of  this 
dash  all  extravagant  fancies  out  of  countenance!  just  as  the 
news  of  the  approach  of  a  prince  would  make  the  courtiers 
bustle  up  themselves,  huddle  up  their  vain  sports,  and  prepare 
themselves  for  a  reverent  behaviour  in  his  sight.  We  should 
not  dare  to  give  God  a  piece  of  our  heart,  when  we  apprehend 
him  present  with  the  whole;  we  should  not  dare  to  mock  one 
that  we  knew  was  more  intimately  acquainted  with  us  than 
we  are  with  ourselves,  and  that  beheld  every  motion  of  our 
mind,  as  well  as  action  of  our  body. 

[2.]  Let  us  endeavour  for  the  more  special  and  influential 
presence  of  God.  Let  the  essential  presence  of  God  be  the 
ground  of  our  awe,  and  his  gracious  influential  presence  the 
object  of  our  desire.  The  heathen  thought  themselves  secure 
if  they  had  their  little  petty  household  gods  with  them  in  their 
journeys.  Such  seem  to  be  the  images  Rachel  stole  from  her 
father,  Gen.  xxxi.  19,  to  accompany  her  travel  with  their  bless- 
ings. She  might  not  at  that  time  have  cast  off  all  respect  to 
those  idols,  in  the  acknowledgment  of  which  she  had  been 
educated  from  her  infancy;  and  they  seem  to  have  been  kept 
by  her,  till  God  called  Jacob  to  Bethel,  after  the  rape  of  Dinah, 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE  457 

when  Jacob  called  for  the  strange  gods,  and  hid  them  under  the 
oak,  Gen.  xxxv.  4.  The  gracious  presence  of  God  we  should 
look  after  in  our  actions,  as  travellers  that  have  a  charge  of 
money  or  jewels,  desire  to  keep  themselves  in  company  that 
may  protect  them  from  highwaymen  that  would  nlle  them. 
Since  we  have"  the  concern  of  the  eternal  happiness  of  our 
souls  upon  our  hands,  we  should  endeavour  to  have  God's 
merciful  and  powerful  presence  with  us  in  all  our  ways.  "  In 
all  thy  ways  acknowledge  him,  and  he  shall  direct  thy  paths," 
Prov.  iii.  (J;  acknowledge  him  before  any  action,  by  imploring; 
acknowledge  him  after,  by  rendering  him  the  glory;  acknow- 
ledge his  presence  before  worship,  in  worship,  after  worship. 
It  is  this  presence  makes  a  kind  of  heaven  upon  earth,  causes 
affliction  to  put  off  the  nature  of  misery.  How  much  will  the 
presence  of  the  sun  outshine  the  stars  of  lesser  comforts,  and 
fully  answer  the  want  of  them!  The  ark  of  God  going  before 
us,  can  alone  make  all  things  successful:  it  was  this  lpd  the 
Israelites  over  Jordan,  and  settled  them  in  Canaan.  Without 
this  we  signify  nothing.  Though  we  live  without  this,  we 
cannot  be  distinguished  for  ever  from  devils;  his  essential  pre- 
sence they  have,  and  if  we  have  no  more  we  shall  be  no  better. 
It  is  the  enlivening,  fructifying  presence  of  the  sun,  that  revives 
the  languishing  earth ;  and  this  alone  can  repair  our  ruined 
soul.  Let  it  be  therefore  our  desire,  that  as  he  fills  heaven 
and  earth  by  his  essence,  he  may  fill  our  understandings  and 
wills  by  his  grace;  that  we  may  have  another  kind  of  presence 
with  us,  than  animals  have  in  their  brutish  state,  or  devils  in 
their  chains:  his  essential  presence  maintains  our  beings,  but 
his  gracious  presence  confers  and  continues  a  happiness. 


DISCOURSE  VIII. 


ON     GODS      KNOWLEDGE 


Psalm  cxlvw.  5. — Great  is  our  Lord,  and  of  great  power:   his  understanding  is 

infinite. 

It  is  uncertain  who  was  the  author  of  this  psalm,  and  when  it 
was  penned;  some  think  after  the  return  from  the  Babylonish 
captivity.  It  is  a  psalm  of  praise,  and  is  made  up  of  matter  of 
praise  from  the  beginning  to  the  end;  God's  benefits  to  the 
church,  his  providence  over  his  creatures,  the  essential  excel- 
lency of  his  nature. 

The  psalmist  doubles  his  exhortation  to  praise  God,  "  Praise 
Vol.  I.— 58 


458  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

ye  the  Lord — sing  praises  to  our  God,"  ver.  1;  to  praise  him 
from  his  dominion  as  Lord;  from  his  grace  and  mercy  as  our 
God ;  from  the  excellency  of  the  duty  itself,  it  is  good,  it  is 
comely:  some  read  it  comely,  some  lovely  or  desirable,  from 
the  various  derivation  of  the  word. 

Nothing  does  so  much  delight  a  gracious  soul,  as  an  oppor- 
tunity of  celebrating  the  perfections  and  goodness  of  the  Crea- 
tor. 

The  highest  duties  a  creature  can  render  to  the  Creator  are 
pleasant  and  delightful  in  themselves;  they  are  comely,  Praise 
is  a  duty  that  affects  the  whole  soul. 

The  praise  of  God  is  a  decent  thing;  the  excellency  of  God's 
nature  deserves  it,  and  the  benefits  of  God's  grace  require  it. 

It  is  comely  when  done  as  it  ought  to  be,  with  the  heart  as 
well  as  with  the  voice:  a  sinner  sings  ill  though  his  voice  be 
good ;  the  soul  in  it  is  to  be  elevated  above  earthly  things. 

The  first  matter  of  praise,  is  God's  erecting  and  preserving 
his  church,  "  The  Lord  doth  build  up  Jerusalem:  he  gathereth 
together  the  outcasts  of  Israel,"  ver.  2.  The  walls  of  demo- 
lished Jerusalem  are  now  re-edified;  God  has  brought  back 
the  captivity  of  Jacob,  and  restored  his  people  from  their  Baby- 
lonish exile,  and  those  that  were  dispersed  into  strange  regions 
he  has  restored  to  their  habitations.  Or  it  may  be  prophetic 
of  the  calling  of  the  gentiles,  and  the  gathering  the  outcasts  of 
the  spiritual  Israel,  that  were  before  as  without  God  in  the 
world,  and  strangers  to  the  covenant  of  promise.  Let  God  be 
praised,  but  especially  for  building  up  his  church,  and  gather- 
ing the  gentiles,  before  counted  as  outcasts,  Isa.  xi.  12;  he 
gathers  them  in  this  world  to  the  faith,  and  hereafter  to  glory. 

From  the  two  first  verses  observe, 

All  people  are  under  God's  care;  but  he  has  a  particular  re- 
gard to  his  church.  This  is  the  signet  on  his  hand,  as  a  brace- 
let upon  his  arm;  this  is  his  garden  which  he  delights  to  dress; 
if  he  prunes  it,  it  is  to  purge  it;  if  he  digs  about  his  vine,  and 
wounds  the  branches,  it  is  to  make  it  more  beautiful  with  new 
clusters,  and  restore  it  to  a  fruitful  vigour. 

All  great  deliverances  are  to  be  ascribed  to  God,  as  the  prin- 
cipal author,  whosoever  are  the  instruments.  "  The  Lord 
doth  build  up  Jerusalem:  he  gathereth  together  the  outcasts  of 
Israel."  This  great  deliverance  from  Babylon,  is  not  to  be 
ascribed  to  Cyrus  or  Darius,  or  the  rest  of  our  favourers;  it  is 
the  Lord  that  does  it;  we  had  his  promise  for  it,  we  have  now 
his  performance.  Let  us  not  ascribe  that  which  is  the  effect  of 
his  truth,  only  to  the  good  will  of  men:  it  is  God's  act;  not  by 
might,  nor  by  power,  nor  by  weapons  of  war  or  strength  of 
horses,  but  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord.  He  sent  prophets  to  com- 
fort us  while  we  were  exiles  ;  and  now  he  has  stretched  out  his 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLKIH.I 


-159 


own  arm  to  work  our  deliverance,  according  to  his  word. 
Blind  man  Looks  so  much  upon  instruments,  that  be  hardly 

takes  notice  of  God,  either  in  aliliclions  or  mercies,  and  this  is 
the  cause  that  robs  God  of  so  much  prayer  and  praise  in  the 
world. 

"  He  healeth  the  broken  in  heart,  and  bindeth  up  their 
wounds,"  ver.  3.  He  has  now  restored  those  who  had  no  hope 
hut  in  his  word;  he  has  dealt  with  them  as  a  tender  and  skilful 
Surgeon;  he  has  applied  his  curiiiLT  plasters,  and  dropped  in  his 
sovereign  balsams;  he  lias  now  furnished  our  fainting  hearts 
with  refreshing  cordials,  and  comforted  our  wounds  with 
strengthening  ligatures. 

How  gracious  is  God,  that  restores  liberty  to  the  captives, 
and  righteousness  to  the  penitent!  Man's  misery  is  the  fittest 
opportunity  for  God  to  make  his  mercy  illustrious  in  itself,  and 
most  welcome  to  the  patient. 

He  proceeds. — Wonder  not  that  God  calls  together  the  out- 
casts, and  singles  them  out  from  every  corner,  for  a  return ;  why 
can  he  not  do  this,  as  well  as  tell  the  number  of  the  stars,  and 
call  them  all  by  their  names?  ver.  4. 

There  are  none  of  his  people  so  despicable  in  the  eye  of  man, 
but  they  are  known  and  regarded  by  God;  though  they  are 
clouded  in  the  world,  yet  they  are  the  stars  of  the  world;  and 
shall  God  number  the  inanimate  stars  in  the  heavens,  and  make 
no  account  of  his  living  stars  on  the  earth?  No,  wherever  they 
are  dispersed  he  will  not  forget  them,  however  they  are  afflicted 
he  will  not  despise  them:  the  stars  are  so  numerous,  that  they 
are  innumerable  by  man  ;  some  are  visible  and  known  by  men, 
others  lie  more  hid  and  undiscovered  in  a  confused  light,  as 
those  in  the  milky-way;  man  cannot  see  one  of  them  distinctly. 

God  knows  all  his  people.  As  he  can  do  what  is  above  the 
power  of  man  to  perform,  so  he  understands  what  is  above  the 
skill  of  man  to  discover;  shall  man  measure  God  by  his  scanti- 
ness? Proud  man  must  not  equal  himself  to  God,  nor  cut  God 
as  short  as  his  own  line. 

"He  telleth  the  number  of  the  stars;  he  calleth  them  all  by 
their  names."  He  has  them  all  in  his  list,  as  generals  the  names 
of  their  soldiers  in  their  muster-roll,  for  they  are  his  host,  which 
he  marshals  in  the  heavens,  as  Isa.  xl.  26,  where  you  have  the 
like  expression;  he  knows  them  more  distinctly  than  man  can 
know  any  thing,  and  so  distinctly  as  to  call  them  all  by  their 
names.  He  knows  their  names,  that  is,  their  natural  oliices,  influ- 
ences, the  different  degrees  of  heat  and  light,  their  order  and  mo- 
tion; and  allot  them,  the  least  glimmering  star  as  well  as  the 
most  glaring  planet.  This  man  cannot  do;  "■Tell  the  stars,  if 
thou  be  able  to  number  them,"  Gen.  xv.  5,  says  God  to  Abra- 
ham (whom  Josephus  represents  as  a  great  astronomer:)  yea, 


460  0N  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

they  cannot  be  numbered,  Jer.  xxxiii.  22;  and  the  uncertainty 
of  the  opinions  of  men,  evidences  their  ignorance  of  their  num- 
ber; some  reckoning  one  thousand  and  twenty-two,  others  one 
thousand  and  twenty-five,  others  one  thousand  and  ninety-eight, 
others  seven  thousand,  besides  those  that,  by  reason  of  their 
mixture  of  light  with  one  another,  cannot  be  distinctly  discerned, 
and  others  perhaps  so  high,  as  not  to  be  reached  by  the  eye  of 
man.  To  impose  names  on  things,  and  names  according  to 
their  natures,  is  both  an  argument  of  power  and  dominion,  and 
of  wisdom  and  understanding:  from  the  imposition  of  names 
upon  the  creatures  by  Adam,  the  knowledge  of  Adam  is  gene- 
rally concluded,  and  it  was  also  a  fruit  of  that  dominion  God 
allowed  him  over  the  creatures.  Now  he  that  numbers  and 
names  the  stars  that  seem  to  lie  confused  among  one  another, 
as  well  as  those  that  appear  to  us  in  an  unclouded  night,  may 
well  be  supposed  accurately  to  know  his  people,  though  lurking 
in  secret  caverns,  and  know  those  that  are  fit  to  be  instruments 
of  their  deliverance;  the  one  is  as  easy  to  him  as  the  other;  and 
the  number  of  the  one  as  distinctly  known  by  him  as  the  multi- 
tude of  the  other. 

For  "great  is  our  Lord,  and  of  great  power:  his  understand- 
standing  is  infinite,"  ver.  5.  He  wants  not  knowledge  to  know 
the  objects,  nor  power  to  effect  his  will  concerning  them.  Of 
great  power.  Much  power, plenteous  in  power;  so  this  word 
is  rendered,  Psal.  lxxxvi.  15.  A  multitude  of  power,  as  well 
as  a  multitude  of  mercy;  a  power  that  exceeds  all  created 
power  and  understanding. 

"His  understanding  is  infinite."  You  may  not  imagine 
how  he  can  call  the  stars  by  name;  the  multitude  of  visible 
being  so  great,  and  the  multitude  of  the  invisible  being  greater; 
but  you  must  know,  that  as  God  is  almighty,  so  he  is  omni- 
scient; and  as  there  is  no  end  of  his  power,  so  no  account  can 
exactly  be  given  of  his  understanding.  "His  understanding  is 
infinite;"  no  number  or  account  of  it,  and  so  the  same  words 
are  rendered  Joel  i.  6.  "  A  nation — strong,  and  without  num- 
ber:" no  end  of  his  understanding,  (Syriac,)  no  measure,  no 
bounds.  His  essence  is  infinite,  and  so  is  his  power  and  under- 
standing: so  vast  is  his  knowledge,  that  we  can  no  more  com- 
prehend it  than  we  can  measure  spaces  that  are  without  limits, 
or  tell  the  minutes  or  hours  of  eternity.  Who  then  can  fathom 
that  whereof  there  is  no  number,  but  which  exceeds  all,  so 
that  there  is  no  searching  of  it  out?  He  knows  universals,  he 
knows  particulars.  We  must  not  take  understanding  here  as 
noting  a  faculty,  but  the  use  of  the  understanding  in  the  know- 
ledge of  things,  and  the  judgment  in  the  consideration  of  them; 
and  so  it  is  often  used. 

In  the  verse  there  is  a  description  of  God — In  his  essence, 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 


461 


"great  is  the  Lord." — In  his  power,  "  of  great  power." — In 
his  knowledge,  "his  understanding  is  infinite;"  Ins  understand- 
ing is  his  eye,  and  his  power  is  his  arm. — Of  his  infinite  under- 
standing I  am  to  discourse. 

Doctrine.  God  has  an  infinite  knowledge  and  understand- 
ing: all  knowledge.  Omnipresence,  which  before  we  spake 
of,  respects  his  essence;  omniscience  respects  his  understand- 
ing, according  to  our  manner  of  conception. 

This  is  clear  in  Scripture;  hence  God  is  called  a  God  of 
knowledge,  1  Sam.  ii.  3.  "The  Lord  is  a  God  of  knowledge," 
(Heb.)  knowledges,  in  the  plural  number,  of  all  kind  of  know- 
ledge. It  is  spoken  there  to  quell  man's  pride  in  his  own  rea- 
son and  parts.  What  is  the  knowledge  of  man  but  a  spark  to 
the  whole  element  of  fire,  a  grain  of  dust,  and  worse  than 
nothing  in  comparison  of  the  knowledge  of  God,  as  his  essence 
is  in  comparison  of  the  essence  of  God?  All  kind  of  know- 
ledge. He  knows  what  angels  know,  what  man  knows,  and 
infinitely  more;  he  knows  himself,  his  own  operations,  all  his 
creatures,  the  notions  and  thoughts  of  them;  lie  is  understand- 
ing above  understanding,  mind  above  mind,  the  Mind  of  minds, 
the  Light  of  lights:  this  the  Greek  word  ©to?  signifies  in  the 
etymology  of  it;  of  ®i7a0ai,  to  see,  to  contemplate;  and  bai^v, 
of  6ou'u,  scio.  The  names  of  God  signify  a  nature  viewing  and 
piercing  all  things;  and  the  attributing  of  our  senses  to  God  in 
Scripture,  as  hearing  and  seeing,  which  are  the  senses  whereby 
knowledge  enters  into  us,  signifies  God's  knowledge. 

The  notion  of  God's  knowledge  of  all  things  lies  above  the 
ruins  of  nature;  it  was  not  obliterated  by  the  fall  of  man.  It 
was  necessary  that  offending  man  should  know  that  he  had  a 
Creator  whom  he  had  injured,  that  he  had  a  Judge  to  try  and 
punish  him;  since  God  thought  fit  to  keep  up  the  world,  it  had 
been  kept  up  to  no  purpose,  had  not  this  notion  been  continued 
alive  in  the  minds  of  men;  there  would  not  have  been  any 
practice  of  his  laws,  no  bar  to  the  worst  of  crimes.  If  men 
had  thought  they  had  to  deal  with  an  ignorant  Deity,  there 
could  be  no  practice  of  religion.  Who  would  lift  up  his  eyes 
or  spread  his  hand  towards  heaven,  if  he  imagined  his  devo- 
tion were  directed  to  a  God  as  blind  as  the  heathen  imagined 
fortune  ?  To  what  boot  would  it  be  for  them  to  make  heaven 
and  earth  resound  with  their  cries,  if  they  had  not  thought  God 
had  an  eye  to  see  them,  and  an  ear  to  hear  them  ?  And  indeed 
the  very  notion  of  a  God  at  the  first  blush,  speaks  him  a  Being 
endued  with  understanding;  no  man  can  imagine  a  creator 
void  of  one  of  the  noblest  perfections  belonging  to  those  crea- 
tures that  are  the  flower  and  cream  of  his  works. 

Therefore  all  nations  acknowledge  this,  as  well  as  the  exist- 
ence and  being  of  God.     No  nation  but  had  their  temples. 


452  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

particular  ceremonies  of  worship,  and  presented  their  sacrifices, 
which  they  could  not  have  been  so  vain  as  to  do  without  an 
acknowledgment  of  this  attribute.  This  notion  of  God's  know- 
ledge owed  not  its  rise  to  tradition,  but  to  natural  implantation; 
it  was  born  and  grew  up  with  every  rational  creature.  Though 
the  several  nations  and  men  of  the  world  agreed  not  in  one 
kind  of  Deity,  or  in  their  sentiments  of  his  nature  or  other  per- 
fections, some  judging  him  clothed  with  a  fine  and  pure  body, 
others  judging  him  an  uncompounded  Spirit;  some  fixing  him 
to  a  seat  in  the  heavens,  others  owning  his  universal  presence 
in  all  parts  of  the  world,  yet  they  all  agreed  in  the  universality 
of  his  knowledge:  and  their  own  consciences  reflecting  their 
crimes,  unknown  to  any  but  themselves,  would  keep  this  notion 
in  some  vigour  whether  they  would  or  not.  Now  this  being 
implanted  in  the  minds  of  all  men  by  nature,  cannot  be  false; 
for  nature  imprints  not  in  the  minds  of  all  men  an  assent  to  a 
falsity.  Nature  would  not  pervert  the  reason  and  minds  of 
men:  universal  notions  of  God  are  from  original,  not  lapsed 
nature,  and  preserved  in  mankind  in  order  to  a  restoration  from 
a  lapsed  state.  The  heathen  did  acknowledge  this:1  in  all  the 
solemn  covenants,  solemnized  with  oaths  and  the  invocation  of 
the  name  of  God,  this  attribute  was  supposed.  They  confessed 
knowledge  to  be  peculiar  to  the  Deity;  Scieniia  deorum  vita, 
"Knowledge  is  the  life  of  the  gods,"  says  Cicero.  Some  called 
him  Nj?$,  Mens,  Mind,  pure  understanding,  without  any  mote; 
'EvUtris,  the  Inspector  of  all.  As  they  called  him  Life,  be- 
cause he  was  the  Author  of  life;  so  they  called  him  Intellectus, 
because  he  was  the  Author  of  all  knowledge  and  understand- 
ing in  his  creatures.  And  one  being  asked,  whether  any  man 
could  be  hid  from  God?  No,  says  he,  not  so  much  as  thinking. 
Some  call  him  the  Eye  of  the  world,2  and  the  Egyptians  repre- 
sented God  by  an  eye  on  the  top  of  a  sceptre,  because  God  is 
all  eye,  and  can  be  ignorant  of  nothing. 

And  the  same  nation  made  eyes  and  ears  of  the  most  excel- 
lent metals,  consecrating  them  to  God,  and  hanging  them  up  in 
the  midst  of  their  temples,  in  signification  of  God's  seeing  and 
hearing  all  things;  hence  they  called  God  Light,  as  well  as  the 
Scripture,  because  all  things  are  visible  to  him. 

For  the  better  understanding  of  this,  we  will  inquire — What 
kind  of  knowledge  or  understanding  there  is  in  God — What  God 
knoWs — How  God  knows  things — The  proof  that  God  knows 
all  things — The  use  of  all  to  ourselves. 

1.  What  kind  of  understanding  or  knowledge  there  is  in 
God? 

i  Agamemnon,  making  a  covenant  with  Priam,  invocates  the  sun; 

*Hf>.io$  oj  licivt '  ityopct;  xai   rtctvt'  t7raxiiiL$. — Homer  II.  3.  v.  6. 
2  Gamach.  in  1  Pa.  Aqui.  q.  14.  cap.  1.  p.  119.  Clem.  Alexand.  Strom,  lib.  6. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  K;;> 

The  knowledge  of  God  in  Scripture  has  various  names, 
according  to  the  various  relations  or  objects  of  it:  in  respect  of 
present  tilings,  it  is  called  knowledge  or  sight ;  in  respect  of 
things  past,  remembrance;  in  respect  of  things  future  or  to 
come,  it  is  called  foreknowledge  or  prescience,  1  Pet.  i.  2.  In 
regard  of  the  universality  of  the  objects,  it  is  called  omniscience; 
in  regard  of  the  simple,  understanding  of  things,  it  is  called 
knowledge;  in  regard  of  acting,  and  modelling  the  ways  of  act- 
ing, it  is  called  wisdom  and  prudence,  Eph.  i.  8.  He  musl  have 
knowledge,  otherwise  he  could  not  be  wise;  wisdom  is  the 
flower  of  knowledge,  and  knowledge  is  the  root  of  wisdom. 

As  to  what  this  knowledge  is;  if  we  know  what  knowledge 
is  in  man,  we  may  apprehend  what  it  is  in  God,  removing  all 
imperfection  from  it,  and  ascribing  to  him  the  most  eminent 
way  of  understanding,  because  we  cannot  comprehend  God 
but  as  he  is  pleased  to  condescend  to  us  in  his  own  ways  of 
discovery,  that  is,  under  some  way  of  similitude  to  his  most 
perfect  creatures.  Therefore  we  have  a  notion  of  God  by  his 
understanding  and  will;  understanding,  whereby  he  conceives 
and  apprehends  things;  will,  whereby  he  extends  himself  in 
acting  according  to  his  wisdom,  and  whereby  he  does  approve 
or  disapprove.  Yet  we  must  not  measure  his  understanding  by 
our  own,  or  think  it  to  be  of  so  gross  a  temper  as  a  created 
mind;  that  he  has  eyes  of  flesh,  or  sees  or  knows  as  man  sees, 
Job  x.  4.  We  can  no  more  measure  his  knowledge  by  ours, 
than  we  can  measure  his  essence  by  our  essence:  as  he  has  an 
incomprehensible  essence,  to  which  ours  is  but  as  a  drop  of  a 
bucket;  so  lie  has  an  incomprehensible  knowledge,  to  which 
ours  is  but  as  a  grain  of  dust,  or  mere  darkness:  his  thoughts 
are  above  our  thoughts,  as  the  heavens  are  above  the  earth. 

The  knowledge  of  God  is  variously  divided  by  the  schools, 
and  acknowledged  by  all  divines. 

(1.)  A  knowledge  visionis,  el  simplicis  intclligenlix:  the 
one  we  may  call  a  sight,  the  other  an  understanding;  the  one 
refers  to  a  sense,  the  other  to  the  mind. 

A  knowledge  of  vision  or  sight. — Thus  God  knows  himself, 
and  all  things  that  really  were,  are,  or  shall  be  in  time;  all 
those  things  which  he  hath  decreed  to  be,  though  they  are  not 
yet  actually  sprung  up  in  the  world,  but  lie  hidden  in  their 
causes. 

A  knowledge  of  intelligence  or  simple  understanding. — 
The  object  of  this  is  not  things  that  are  in  being,  or  that  shall 
by  any  decree  of  God  ever  be  existent  in  the  world:  but  such 
things  as  are  possible  to  be  wrought  by  the  power  of  God, 
though  they  shall  never  in  the  least  peep  up  into  being,  but  lie 
for  ever  wrapped  up  in  darkness  and  nothing. 1     This  also  is  a 

1  Suarex  dc  Deo,  lib.  3.  cap.  A.  p.  230. 


464  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

necessary  knowledge  to  be  allowed  to  God,  because  the  object 
of  this  knowledge  is  necessary.  The  possibility  of  more  crea- 
tures than  ever  were  or  shall  be,  is  a  conclusion  that  has  a  ne- 
cessary truth  in  it;  as  it  is  necessary  that  the  power  of  God 
can  produce  more  creatures,  though  it  be  not  necessary  that  it 
should  produce  more  creatures;  so  it  is  necessary  that  whatso- 
ever the  power  of  God  can  work,  is  possible  to  be.  And  as 
God  knows  this  possibility,  so  he  knows  all  the  objects  that  are 
thus  possible;  and  herein  doth  much  consist  the  infiniteness  of 
his  knowledge,  as  shall  be  shown  presently. 

These  two  kinds  of  knowledge  differ.  That  of  vision,  is  of 
things  which  God  hath  decreed  to  be,  though  they  are  not  yet. 
That  of  intelligence,  is  of  things  which  never  shall  be;  yet  they 
may  be,  or  are  possible  to  be,  if  God  please  to  will  and  order 
their  being.  One  respects  things  that  shall  be;  the  other, 
things  that  may  be,  and  are  not  repugnant  to  the  nature  of  God 
to  be.  The  knowledge  of  vision  follows  the  act  of  God's  will, 
and  supposes  an  act  of  God's  will  before,  decreeing  things  to 
be.  If  we  could  suppose  any  first  or  second  in  God's  decree, 
we  might  say  God  knew  them  as  possible  before  he  decreed 
them;  he  knew  them  as  future  because  he  decreed  them.  For 
without  the  will  of  God  decreeing  a  thing  to  come  to  pass,  God 
cannot  know  that  it  will  infallibly  come  to  pass.  But  the 
knowledge  of  intelligence  stands  without  any  act  of  his  will,  in 
order  to  the  being  of  those  things  he  knows:  he  knows  possi- 
ble things  only  in  his  power;  he  knows  other  things  both  in 
his  power,  as  able  to  effect  them,  and  in  his  will,  as  determin- 
ing the  being  of  them.  Such  knowledge  we  must  grant  to  be 
in  God,  for  there  is  such  a  kind  of  knowledge  in  man;  for  man 
does  not  only  know  and  see  what  is  before  his  eyes  in  this 
world,  but  he  may  have  a  conception  of  many  more  worlds, 
and  many  more  creatures,  which  he  knows  are  possible  to  the 
power  of  God. 

(2.)  Secondly,  There  is  a  speculative  and  practical  know- 
ledge in  God. 

A  speculative  knowledge  is,  when  the  truth  of  a  thing  is 
known  without  a  respect  to  any  working  or  practical  operation. 
The  knowledge  of  things  possible  is  in  God  only  speculative; ' 
and  some  say  God's  knowledge  of  himself  is  only  speculative, 
because  there  is  nothing  for  God  to  work  in  himself.  And 
though  he  knows  himself,  yet  this  knowledge  of  himself  does 
not  terminate  there,  but  flows  into  a  love  of  himself,  and  de- 
light in  himself;  yet  this  love  of  himself,  and  delight  in  himself, 
are  not  enough  to  make  it  a  practical  knowledge,  because  it  is 
natural,  and  naturally  and  necessarily  flows  from  the  know- 
ledge of  himself  and  his  own  goodness:  he  cannot  but  love 

1  Suarez  de  Deo,  lib.  3.  cap.  4.  p.  138. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  j(;  } 

himself,  and  delight  in  himself,  upon  the  knowledge  of  himself. 
But  that  which  is  properly  practice,  is  where  (here  is  ;i  domi- 
nion over  the  action,  and  it  is  wrought  not  naturally  and  ne< 
sarily,  but  in  a  way  of  freedom  and  counsel.  As  when  we  see 
a  beautiful  llower  or  ether  thing,  there  arises  a  delight  in  the 
mind;  this  no  man  will  call  practice,  because  it  is  a  natural 
affection  of  the  will,  arising  from  the  virtue  of  the  object,  with- 
out any  consideration  of  the  understanding  in  a  practical  man- 
ner by  counselling,  commanding,  &c. 

A  practical  knowledge,  which  tends  to  operation  and  prac- 
tice, and  is  the  principle  of  working  about  things  that  are 
known  ;  as  the  knowledge  an  artificer  has  in  an  art  or  mystery. 
This  knowledge  is  in  God.  The  knowledge  he  has  of  the 
things  he  has  decreed,  is  such  a  kind  of  knowledge;  for  it  ter- 
minates in  the  act  of  creation,  which  is  not  a  natural  and  neces- 
sary act,  as  the  loving  himself  and  delighting  in  himself  is,  but 
wholly  free;  for  it  was  at  his  liberty  whether  he  would  create 
them  or  not:  this  is  called  discretion, "  He  hath  stretched  out 
the  heavens  by  his  discretion,"  Jer.  x.  12.  Such  also  is  his 
knowledge  of  the  things  he  has  created,  and  which  are  in  being, 
for  it  terminates  in  the  government  of  them  for  his  own  glori- 
ous ends.  It  is  by  this  knowledge  "  the  depths  are  broken  up, 
and  the  clouds  drop  down  the  dew,"  Prov.  iii.  20.  This  is 
a  knowledge  whereby  he  knows  the  essence,  qualities,  and 
properties  of  what  he  creates  and  governs  in  order  to  his  own 
glory,  and  the  common  good  of  the  world  over  which  he  pre- 
sides. So  that  speculative  knowledge  is  God's  knowledge  of 
himself  and  things  possible,  practical  knowledge  is  his  know- 
ledge of  his  creatures  and  things  governable;  yet  in  some  sort 
this  practical  knowledge  is  not  only  of  things  that  are  made, 
but  of  things  which  are  possible,  which  God  might  make, 
though  he  will  not;  for  as  he  knows  that  they  can  be  created, 
so  he  knows  how  they  are  to  be  created,  and  how  to  be 
governed,  though  he  never  will  create  them.  This  is  a  practi- 
cal knowledge;  for  it  is  not  requisite  to  constitute  a  knowledge 
practically,  actually  to  act,  but  that  the  knowledge  in  itself  be 
referable  to  action.1 

(3.)  There  is  a  knowledge  of  approbation,  as  well  as  appre- 
hension. This  the  Scripture  often  mentions:  words  of  under- 
standing are  used  to  signify  the  acts  of  affection.  This  know- 
ledge adds  to  the  simple  act  of  the  understanding,  the  compla- 
cency and  pleasure  of  the  will;  and  is  improperly  knowledge: 
because  it  belongs  to  the  will  and  not  to  the  understanding, 
only  it  is  radically  in  the  understanding,  because  affection  im- 
plies knowledge;  men  cannot  approve  of  that  which  they  are 
ignorant  of.     Thus  knowledge  is  taken,  Amos  iii.  2,  "You  only 

1  Snare*  dc  Deo,  1.  3.  c.  1.  p.  140. 
Vol.  I.— 5.0 


466  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

have  I  known  of  all  the  families  of  the  earth."  And  2  Tim.  ii. 
19,  "The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  his;"  that  is,  he  loves 
them,  he  does  not  only  know  them,  but  acknowledges  them  for 
his  own :  it  denotes  not  only  an  exact  understanding,  but  a  special 
care  of  them.  And  so  is  that  to  be  understood,  Gen.  i.  31. 
"  God  saw  every  thing  that  he  had  made,  and,  behold,  it  was 
very  good ;"  that  is  he  saw  it  with  an  eye  of  approbation,  as  well 
as  apprehension.  This  is  grounded  upon  God's  knowledge  of 
vision,  his  sight  of  his  creatures;  for  God  does  not  love  or  de- 
light in  any  thing  but  what  is  actually  in  being,  or  what  he 
has  decreed  to  bring  into  being.  On  the  contrary,  also  when 
God  does  not  approve,  he  is  said  not  to  know:  "I  know  you 
not,"  Matt.  xxv.  12;  and,  "I  never  knew  you,"  Matt.  vii.  23. 
He  does  not  approve  of  their  works:  it  is  not  an  ignorance  of 
understanding,  but  an  ignorance  of  will:  for  while  he  says  he 
never  knew  them,  he  testifies  that  he  did  know  them  in  ren- 
dering the  reason  of  his  disapproving  them — because  he  knows 
all  their  works.  So  he  knows  them  and  does  not  know  them, 
in  a  different  manner:  he  knows  them  so  as  to  understand 
them,  but  he  does  not  know  them  so  as  to  love  them. 

We  must  then  ascribe  a  universal  knowledge  to  God.  If  we 
deny  him  a  speculative  knowledge,  or  knowledge  of  intelli- 
gence, we  destroy  his  Deity,  we  make  him  ignorant  of  his  own 
power:  if  we  deny  him  practical  knowledge,  we  deny  ourselves 
to  be  his  creatures;  for  as  his  creatures,  we  are  the  fruits  of  this 
his  discretion  discovered  in  creation:  if  we  deny  his  knowledge 
of  vision,  we  deny  his  governing  dominion.  How  can  he  ex- 
ercise a  sovereign  and  uncontrollable  dominion,  that  is  igno- 
rant of  the  nature  and  qualities  of  the  things  he  is  to  govern  ? 
If  he  had  not  knowledge  he  could  make  no  revelation;  he  that 
knows  not,  cannot  dictate;  we  could  then  have  no  Scripture. 
To  deny  God  knowledge,  is  to  dash  out  the  Scripture,  and  de- 
molish the  Deity. 

God  is  described  in  Zech.  iii.  9,  with  seven  eyes,  to  show  his 
perfect  knowledge  of  all  things,  all  occurrences  in  the  world: 
and  the  cherubim,  or  whatsoever  is  meant  by  the  wings,  are 
described  to  be  full  of  eyes,  both  before  and  behind,  Ezek.  i.  18, 
round  about  them;  much  more  is  God  all  eye,  all  ear,  all  un- 
derstanding. The  sun  is  a  natural  image  of  God :  if  the  sun  had 
an  eye,  it  would  see;  if  it  had  an  understanding,  it  would  know 
all  visible  things ;  it  would  see  what  it  shines  upon,  and  un- 
derstand what  it  influences  in  the  most  obscure  bowels  of  the 
earth.  Does  God  excel  his  creature  the  sun  in  excellency  and 
beauty,  and  not  in  light  and  understanding?  Certainly,  more 
than  the  sun  excels  an  atom  or  grain  of  dust. 

We  may  yet  make  some  representation  of  this  knowledge  of 
God  by  a  lower  thing;  a  picture,  which  seems  to  look  upon 


ON  (jiOD'.S  KNOWLEDGE.  Hfi 

every  one,  though  there  be  never  so  great  a  multitude  in  the 
room  where  it  hangs;  do  man  can  cast  his  eye  upon  it,  but  it 
seems  to  behold  him  in  particular,  and  so  exactly  as  it"  there 
were  none  bul  him  upon  whom  the  eye  of  it  were  fixed;  and 
every  man  finds  the  same  cast  of  it.  Shall  art  frame  a  thing  of 
that  nature,  and  shall  not  the  (iod  of  art  and  all  knowledge  be 
much  more  in  reality  than  that  is  in  imagination?  Shall  not 
God  have  a  far  greater  capacity  to  behold  every  thing  in  the 
world,  which  is  infinitely  less  to  him  than  a  wide  room  to  a 
picture? 

2.  The  second  thing  is,  what  God  knows:  how  far  his  un- 
derstanding reaches. 

(I.)  God  knows  himself,  and  he  only  knows  himself.  This 
is  the  first  and  original  knowledge,  wherein  he  excels  all  crea- 
tures. No  man  does  exactly  know  himself;  much  less  does  he 
understand  the  full  nature  of  a  spirit;  much  less  still  the  nature 
and  perfections  of  God;  for  what  proportion  can  there  be  be- 
tween a  finite  faculty  and  an  infinite  object  ?  Herein  consists 
the  infinitencss  of  God's  knowledge,  that  he  knows  his  own 
essence,  that  he  knows  that  which  is  unknowable  to  any  else. 
It  does  not  so  much  consist  in  knowing  the  creature  which  he 
has  made,  as  in  knowing  himself  who  was  never  made.  It  is 
not  so  much  infinite,  because  he  knows  all  things  which  are  in 
the  world,  or  that  shall  be;  or  things  that  he  can  make,  because 
the  number  of  them  is  finite;  but  because  he  has  a  perfect  and 
comprehensive  knowledge  of  his  own  infinite  perfections.1 
Though  it  be  said  that  angels  see  his  face,  Matt,  xviii.  10,  that 
sight  denotes  rather  their  immediate  attendance  than  their  exact 
knowledge;  they  see  some  signs  of  his  presence  and  majesty, 
more  illustrious  and  express  than  ever  appeared  to  man  in  this 
life;  but  the  essence  of  God  is  invisible  to  them,  hid  from  them 
in  the  secret  place  of  eternity:  none  knows  God  but  himself, 
"  What  man  knoweth  the  things  of  a  man,  save  the  spirit  of 
man  which  is  in  him;  even  so  the  things  of  God  knoweth  no 
man,  but  the  Spirit  of  God,"  1  Cor.  ii.  11.  The  Spirit  of  God 
searches  the  deep  things  of  God;  searches,  that  is,  exactly 
knows,  thoroughly  understands,  as  those  who  have  their  eyes 
in  every  chink  and  crevice,  to  see  what  lies  hid  there:  the  word 
search,  notes  not  an  inquiry,  but  an  exact  knowledge,  such  as 
men  have  of  things  upon  a  diligent  scrutiny;  as  when  God  is 
said  to  search  the  heart  and  the  reins,  it  docs  not  signify  a  pre- 
cedent ignorance,  but  an  exact  knowledge  of  the  most  intimate 
corners  of  the  hearts  of  men.  As  the  conceptions  of  men  ar^ 
unknown  to  any  but  themselves;  so  the  depths  of  the  Divine 
essence,  perfections,  and  decrees,  are  unknown  to  any  but  to 

'  Moulin 


4(58  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

God  himself;  he  only  knows  what  he  is,  and  what  he  knows, 
what  he  can  do,  and  what  he  has  decreed  to  do. 

If  God  did  not  know  himself,  he  would  not  be  perfect.  It 
is  the  perfection  of  a  creature  to  know  itself,  much  more  a  per- 
fection belonging  to  God.  If  God  did  not  comprehend  himself, 
he  would  want  an  infinite  perfection,  and  so  would  cease  to  be 
God,  in  being  defective  in  that  which  intellectual  creatures  in 
some  measure  possess.  As  God  is  the  most  perfect  Being,  so 
he  must  have  the  most  perfect  understanding:  if  he  did  not 
understand  himself,  he  would  be  under  the  greatest  ignorance, 
because  he  would  be  ignorant  of  the  most  excellent  object. 
Ignorance  is  the  imperfection  of  the  understanding;  and  igno- 
rance of  oneself  is  a  greater  imperfection  than  ignorance  of 
things  without.  If  God  should  know  all  things  without  himself, 
and  not  know  himself,  he  would  not  have  the  most  perfect 
knowledge,  because  he  would  not  have  the  knowledge  of  the 
best  of  objects. 

Without  the  knowledge  of  himself,  he  could  not  be  blessed. 
Nothing  can  have  any  complacency  in  itself,  without  the  know- 
ledge of  itself.  Nothing  can  in  a  rational  manner  enjoy  itself, 
without  understanding  itself.  The  blessedness  of  God  consists 
not  in  the  knowledge  of  any  thing  without  him,  but  in  the 
knowledge  of  himself  and  his  own  excellency,  as  the  principle 
of  all  things.  If,  therefore,  he  did  noi  perfectly  know  himself 
and  his  own  happiness,  he  could  not  enjoy  happiness;  for  to  be, 
and  not  to  know  to  be,  is  as  if  a  thing  were  not.  He  is  "  God 
blessed  for  ever,"  Rom.  ix.  5,  and  therefore  for  ever  had  a 
knowledge  of  himself. 

Without  the  knowledge  of  himself  he  could  create  nothing. 
For  he  would  be  ignorant  of  his  own  power,  and  his  own  abi- 
lity; and  he  that  does  not  know  how  far  his  power  extends, 
could  not  act.  If  he  did  not  know  himself,  he  could  know  no- 
thing; and  he  that  knows  nothing,  can  do  nothing.  He  could 
not  know  an  effect  to  be  possible  to  him,  unless  he  knew  his 
own  power  as  a  cause. 

Without  the  knowledge  of  himself,  he  could  govern  nothing. 
He  could  not  without  the  knowledge  of  his  own  holiness  and 
righteousness,  prescribe  laws  to  men;  nor  without  a  knowledge 
of  his  own  nature,  order  himself  a  manner  of  worship  suitable 
to  it. 

All  worship  must  be  congruous  to  the  dignity  and  nature  of 
the  object  worshipped;  he  must  therefore  know  his  own 
authority  whereby  worship  was  to  be  enacted,  his  own  excel- 
lency to  which  worship  was  to  be  suited,  his  own  glory  to 
which  worship  was  to  be  directed.  If  he  did  not  know  himself, 
he  did  not  know  what  to  punish,  because  he  would  not  know 
what  was  contrary  to  himself.  Not  knowing  himself,  he  would 


ON   (.OD'S   KNOW  IJ'IH.K.  4(jQ 

not  know  what  was  a  contempt  of  him,  and  what  an  adoration 
of  him;  what  was  worthy  of  God,  and  what  was  unworthy  of 
him.     In  line,  he  could  not  know  other  things  unless  he  knew 

himself:  unless  he  knew  his  own  power, he  could  not  know  how 
he  created  things;  unless  he  knew  his  own  wisdom,  he  could 
not  know  the  beauty  of  his  works;  unless  he  knew  his  own 
glory,  he  could  not  know  the  end  of  his  works;  unless  he  knew 
Ins  own  holiness,  he  could  not  know  what  was  evil;  and  unless 
lie  knew  Ins  own  justice,  he  could  not  know  how  to  punish  the 
crimes  of  his  offending  creatures.     And  therefore, 

God  knows  himself,  because  his  knowledge  with  his  will  is  the 
cause  of  all  other  things  that  can  fall  under  his  cognizance.  He 
knows  himself  first,  before  he  can  know  any  other  thing,  that  is, 
first  according  to  our  conceptions;  for  indeed  God  knows  himself 
and  all  other  things  at  once:  he  is  the  first  truth,  and  therefore 
is  the  first  object  of  his  own  understanding.  There  is  nothing 
more  excellent  than  himself,  and  therefore  nothing  more  known 
to  him  than  himself.  As  he  is  all  knowledge,  so  he  has  in  him- 
self the  most  excellent  object  of  knowledge.  To  understand  is 
properly  to  know  oneself.  No  object  is  so  intelligible  to  God 
as  God  is  to  himself;  nor  so  intimately  and  immediately  joined 
with  his  understanding  as  himself;  for  his  understanding  is  his 
essence,  himself. 

He  knows  himself  by  his  own  essence.     He  knows  not  him- 
self and  his  own  power  hy  the  effect,  because  he  knows  himself 
from  eternity,  before  there  was  a   world,  or  any  effect  of  his 
power  extant.     It  is  not  a  knowledge  by  the  cause,  for  God  has 
no  cause;  nor  a  knowledge  of  himself  by  any  species,  or  any 
thing  from  without.      If  it  were  any  thing  from  without  himself, 
that  must  be  created  or  uncreated:   if  uncreated,  it  would  be 
God;  and  so  we  must  either  own  many  Gods,  or  own  it  to  be 
his  essence,  and  so  not  distinct  from  himself.      If  created,  then 
his  knowledge  of  himself  would  depend  upon  a  creature ;  he 
could  not  then  know  himself  from  eternity,  but  in  time,  because 
nothing  can  be  created  from  eternity,  but  in  time.     God  knows 
not  himself  by  any  faculty,  for  there  is  no  composition  in  God; 
he  is  not  made  up  of  parts,  hut  is  a  simple  being:  some  therefore 
have  called  God,   not  intellect  us.  understanding,  because  that 
savours  of  a  faculty;  but  intellectio,  intellection.     God  is  all  act 
in  the  knowledge  of  himself,  and  his  knowledge  of  other  things. 
God  therefore    knows    himself  perfectly,   comprehensively. 
Nothing  in  his  own  nature  is  concealed  from  him,  he  reflects 
upon  every  thing  that  he  is.1     There  is  a  positive  comprehen- 
sion: in  this  does  God  not  comprehend  himself;    for    what   is 
comprehended  has  bounds,  and  what  sum  is  comprehended  by 
itself  is  finite  to  itself.     And  there  is  a  negative  comprehension: 

i  Magalaneus. 


470  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

God  so  comprehends  himself;  nothing  in  his  own  nature  is  ob- 
scure to  him,  unknown  by  him.  For  there  is  as  great  a  perfec- 
tion in  the  understanding  of  God  to  know,  as  there  is  in  the 
Divine  nature  to  be  known.  The  understanding  of  God,  and 
the  nature  of  God,  are  both  infinite,  and  so  equal  to  one  another: 
his  understanding  is  equal  to  himself;  he  knows  himself  so  well, 
that  nothing  can  be  known  by  him  more  perfectly  than  himself  is 
known  to  himself.  He  knows  himself  in  the  highest  manner, 
because  nothing  is  proportioned  to  the  understanding  of  God 
as  himself:  he  knows  his  own  essence,  goodness,  power,  all  his 
perfections,  decrees,  intentions,  acts,  the  infinite  capacity  of  his 
own  understanding,  so  that  nothing  of  himself  is  in  the  dark  to 
himself.  And  in  this  respect  some  use  this  expression,  that  the 
infiniteness  of  God  is  in  a  manner  finite  to  himself,  because  it 
is  comprehended  by  himself. 

Thus  God  transcends  all  creatures;  thus  his  understanding  is 
truly  infinite,  because  nothing  but  himself  is  an  infinite  object 
for  it.  What  angels  may  understand  of  themselves  perfectly,  I 
know  not;  but  no  creature  in  the  world  understands  himself; 
man  understands  not  fully  the  excellency  and  parts  of  his  own 
nature.  Upon  God's  knowledge  of  himself  depends  the  com- 
fort of  his  people,  and  the  terror  of  the  wicked:  this  is  also  a 
clear  argumeut  for  his  knowledge  of  all  other  things  without 
himself;  he  that  knows  himself,  must  needs  know  all  other 
things,  which  are  less  than  himself,  and  which  were  made  by 
himself.  When  the  knowledge  of  his  own  immensity  and  infi- 
niteness is  not  an  object  too  difficult  for  him;  the  knowledge  of 
a  finite  and  limited  creature  in  all  his  actions,  thoughts,  circum- 
stances, cannot  be  too  hard  for  him.  Since  he  knows  himself 
who  is  infinite,  he  cannot  but  know  whatsoever  is  finite;  this  is 
the  foundation  of  all  his  other  knowledge;  the  knowledge  of 
every  thing  present,  past,  and  to  come,  is  far  less  than  the  know- 
ledge of  himself.  He  is  more  incomprehensible  in  his  own  na- 
ture, than  all  things  created,  or  that  can  be  created,  put  together 
can  be.  If  he  then  have  a  perfect  comprehensive  knowledge 
of  his  own  nature,  any  knowledge  of  all  other  things  is  less  than 
the  knowledge  of  himself:  this  ought  to  be  well  considered  by 
us,  as  the  fountain  whence  all  his  other  knowledge  flows. 

(2.)  Therefore  God  knows  all  other  things,  whether  they  be 
possible,  past,  present,  or  future. 

Whether  they  be  things  that  he  can  do,  but  will  never  do, 
or  whether  they  be  things  that  he  has  done,  but  are  not  now; 
things  that  are  now  in  being,  or  things  that  are  not  now  exist- 
ing, that  lie  in  the  womb  of  their  proper  and  immediate  causes;1 
if  his  understanding  be  infinite,  he  then  knows  all  things 
whatsoever  that  can  be  known,  else  his  understanding  would 

'  Pctiiv.  Thcol.  Dogm.  lib.  q.  257, 


ON  GOD'S    KNOWLElXiK. 


171 


have  bounds,  and  what  has  limits  is  not  infinite,  but  finite;  if 
he  be  ignorant  of  any  one  tiling  that  is  knowable,  that  is  a 
bound  to  him,  it  comes  with  an  exception,  a  "but;"  God 
knows  all  things  hut  this;  a  har  is  then  set  mi  his  knowledge. 
If  there  were  any  thing,  any  particular  circumstance  in  the 
whole  creation,  or  non-creation,  and  possible  to  be  known  by 
him,  and  yet  were  unknown  to  him,  he  could  not  be  said  to  be 
omniscient;  just  as  he  would  not  be  almighty  if  any  one  thing 
that  implied  not  a  repugnancy  to  his  nature,  did  transcend  his 
power. 

[1.]  First,  all  things  possible.  No  question  but  God  knows 
what  he  could  create  as  well  as  what  he  has  created;  what  he 
would  not  create,  as  well  as  what  he  resolved  to  create;  lie 
knew  what  he  would  not  do,  before  he  willed  to  do  it:  this  is 
the  next  thing  which  declares  the  iniiniteness  of  his  understand- 
ing. For  as  his  power  is  infinite,  and  can  create  innumerable 
worlds  and  creatures,  so  is  his  knowledge  infinite,  in  knowing 
innumerable  things  possible  to  his  power.  Possibles  are  infinite; 
that  is,  there  is  no  end  of  what  God  can  do,  and  therefore  no  end 
of  what  God  does  know,  otherwise  his  power  would  be  more 
infinite  than  his  knowledge.  If  he  knew  only  what  is  created, 
there  would  be  an  end  of  his  understanding,  because  all  crea- 
tures may  be  numbered,  but  possible  things  cannot  be  reckon- 
ed up  by  any  creature.  There  is  the  same  reason  of  this  in 
eternity;  when  never  so  many  numbers  of  years  are  run  out, 
there  is  still  more  to  come,  there  still  wants  an  end;  and  when 
millions  of  worlds  are  created,  there  is  no  more  an  end  of  God's 
power  than  of  eternity.  Thus  there  is  no  end  of  his  under- 
standing; that  is,  his  knowledge  is  not  terminated  by  any  thing. 

This  the  Scripture  gives  us  some  account  of.  God  knows 
things  that  are  not,  "  for  he  calls  things  that  are  not,  as  if  they 
were,"  Rom.  iv.  17.  He  calls  things  that  are  not,  as  if  they  were 
in  being:  what  he  calls  is  not  unknown  to  him.  If  he  knows 
things  that  are  not,  he  knows  things  that  may  never  be:  as  he 
knows  things  that  shall  be,  because  he  wills  them,  so  he  knows 
things  that  might  be,  because  he  is  able  to  effect  them.  He 
knew  that  the  inhabitants  of  Keilah  would  betray  David  to 
Saul,  if  he  remained  in  that  place,  I  Sam.  xxiii.  11.  He  knew 
what  they  would  do  upon  that  occasion,  though  it  was  never 
done:  as  he  knew  what  was  in  their  power  and  in  their  wills, 
so  he  must  needs  know  what  is  within  the  compass  of  his  own 
power:  as  he  can  permit  more  than  he  does  permit,  so  he  knows 
what  he  can  permit,  and  what  upon  that  permission  would  be 
done  by  his  creatures:  so  God  knew  the  possibility  of  the 
Tyrians'  repentance,  if  they  had  the  same  means,  heard  the 
same  truths,  and  beheld  the  same  miracles  which  were  offered 
to  the  ears,  and  presented  to  the  eyes  of  the  Jews,  Matt.  xi.  21. 


472  ON  G0D'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

This  must  needs  be  so;  because, 

Man  knows  things  that  are  possible  to  him,  though  he  will 
never  effect  them.  A  carpenter  knows  a  house  in  the  model 
he  has  of  it  in  his  head,  though  he  never  build  a  house  accord- 
ing to  that  model:  a  watchmaker  has  the  frame  of  a  watch  in 
his  mind,  which  he  will  never  work  with  his  instruments:  man 
knows  what  he  could  do,  though  he  never  intends  to  do  it.1  As 
the  understanding  of  man  has  a  virtue,  that  where  it  sees  one 
man  it  may  imagine  thousands  of  men  of  the  same  shape, 
stature,  form,  parts;  yea,  taller,  more  vigorous,  sprightly,  intel- 
ligent than  the  man  he  sees,  because  it  is  possible  such  a  num- 
ber may  be;  shall  not  the  understanding  of  God  much  more 
know  what  he  is  able  to  effect,  since  the  understanding  of  man 
can  know  what  he  is  never  able  to  produce,  yet  may  be  pro- 
duced by  God,  namely,  that  he  who  produced  this  man  which 
I  see,  can  produce  a  thousand  exactly  like  him?  If  the  Divine 
understanding  did  not  know  infinite  things,  but  were  confined 
to  a  certain  number,  it  may  be  demanded  whether  God  can 
understand  any  thing  further  than  that  number,  or  whether  he 
cannot?  If  he  can,  then  he  does  actually  understand  all  those 
things  which  he  has  a  power  to  understand:  otherwise  there 
would  be  an  increase  of  God's  knowledge,  if  it  were  actually 
now  and  not  before,  and  so  he  would  be  more  perfect  than  he 
was  before.  If  he  cannot  understand  them,  then  he  cannot 
understand  what  a  human  mind  can  understand;  for  our  un- 
derstandings can  multiply  numbers  in  infinitum;  and  there  is 
no  number  so  great,  but  a  man  can  still  add  to  it:  we  must  sup- 
pose the  Divine  understanding  more  excellent  in  knowledge. 
God  knows  all  that  a  man  can  imagine,  though  it  never  were, 
and  never  shall  be;  he  must  needs  know  whatsoever  is  in  the 
power  of  man  to  imagine  or  think,  because  God  concurs  to  the 
support  of  the  faculty  in  that  imagination:  and  though  it  may 
be  replied,  an  atheist  may  imagine  that  there  is  no  God,  a  man 
may  imagine  that  God  can  lie,  or  that  he  can  be  destroyed,  does 
God  know  therefore  that  he  is  not?  or  that  he  can  lie,  or  cease 
to  be?  No,  he  knows  he  cannot;  his  knowledge  extends  to 
things  possible,  not  to  things  impossible  to  himself;  he  knows 
it  as  imaginable  by  man,  not  as  possible  in  itself;  because  it  is 
utterly  impossible,  and  repugnant  to  the  nature  of  God  :2  since 
he  eminently  contains  in  himself  all  things  possible,  past,  pre- 
sent, and  to  come,  he  cannot  know  himself  without  knowing 
them. 

God  knowing  his  own  power,  knows  whatsoever  is  in  his 
power  to  effect.  If  he  knows  not  all  things  possible,  he  could 
not  know  the  extent  of  his  own  power,  and  so  would  not 
know  himself,  as  a  cause  sufficient  for  more  things  than  he  has 

1  Ficin.de  Immort.  lib.  2.  cap.  10.  2  Gamach. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  )7;> 

created.  How  can  he  comprehend  himself,  who  comprehends 
not  all  effluxes  of  things  possible  that  may  come  from  him  and 
be  wrought  by  him?  I  low  can  he  know  himself  as  a  cause,  if 
he  know  not  the  objects  and  works  which  lie  is  able  to  pro- 
duce?1 Since  the  power  of  God  extends  to  Dumberless  things, 
his  knowledge  also  extends  to  numberless  objects;  as  if  a  unit 
could  sec  the  numbers  it  could  produce,  it  would  see  infinite 
numbers;  for  a  unit  is,  as  it  were,  all  number.  God  knowing 
the  fruitfulness  of  his  own  virtue,  knows  a  numberless  multi- 
tude of  things  which  he  can  do,  more  than  have  been  done,  or 
shall  be  done  by  him;  he  therefore  knows  innumerable  worlds, 
innumerable  angels,  with  higher  perfections  than  any  of  them 
which  he  has  created  have;  so  that  if  the  world  should  last 
many  millions  of  years,  God  knows  that  he  can  every  day 
create  another  world  more  capacious  than  this;  and  having 
created  an  inconceivable  number,  he  knows  he  could  still  create 
more.  So  that  he  beholds  infinite  worlds,  infinite  numbers  of 
men  and  other  creatures  in  himself,  infinite  kinds  of  things,  in- 
finite species  and  individuals  under  those  kinds,  even  as  many 
as  he  can  create,  if  his  will  did  order  and  determine  it;  for  not 
being  ignorant  of  his  own  power,  he  cannot  be  ignorant  of  the 
effects  wherein  it  may  display  and  discover  itself.  A  compre- 
hensive knowledge  of  his  own  power  does  necessarily  include 
the  objects  of  that  power;  so  he  knows  whatsoever  he  could 
effect,  and  whatsoever  he  could  permit,  if  he  pleased  to  do  it. 

If  God  could  not  understand  more  than  he  has  created,  he 
could  not  create  more  than  he  has  created;  for  it  cannot  be 
conceived  how  he  can  create  any  thing  that  he  is  ignorant  of; 
what  he  does  not  know,  he  cannot  do:  he  must  know  also  the 
extent  of  his  own  goodness,  and  how  far  any  thing  is  capable  to 
partake  of  it:  so  much,  therefore,  as  any  detract  from  the  know- 
ledge of  God,  they  detract  from  his  power. 

It  is  further  evident  that  God  knows  all  possible  things,  be- 
cause he  knew  those  things  which  he  has  created  before  they 
were  created,  when  they  were  yet  in  a  possibility.  If  God 
knew  things  before  they  were  created,  he  knew  them  when 
they  were  in  a  possibility,  and  not  in  actual  reality.  It  is  ab- 
surd to  imagine  that  his  understanding  did  lackey  after  the 
creatures,  and  draw  knowledge  from  them  after  they  were 
created.  It  is  absurd  to  think  that  God  did  create  before  he 
knew  what  he  could  or  would  create.  If  he  knew  those  things 
he  did  create  when  they  were  possible,  he  must  know  all 
things  which  he  can  create,  and  therefore  all  things  that  are 
possible. 

To  conclude  this;  we  must  consider  that  this  knowledge  is 
of  another  kind  than  his  knowledge  of  things  that  are  or  shall 

1   Ficin.  de  Immort.  lib.  2.  cap.  10. 

Vol.  I.— 60 


474  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

be.  He  sees  possible  things  as  possible,  not  as  things  that  ever 
are  or  shall  be.  If  he  saw  them  as  existing  or  future,  and  they 
shall  never  be,  this  knowledge  would  be  false;  there  would  be 
a  deceit  in  it,  which  cannot  be.  He  knows  those  things  not  in 
themselves,  because  they  are  not,  nor  in  their  causes,  because 
they  shall  never  be:  he  knows  them  in  his  own  power,  not  in 
his  will.  He  understands  them,  as  able  to  produce  them,  not 
as  willing  to  effect  them.  Things  possible  he  knows  only  in 
his  power,  things  future  he  knows  both  in  his  power  and  his 
will,  as  he  is  both  able  and  determined  in  his  own  good  plea- 
sure to  give  being  to  them.  Those  that  shall  never  come  to 
pass,  he  knows  only  in  himself,  as  a  sufficient  cause;  those 
things  that  shall  come  into  being,  he  knows  in  himself  as  the 
efficient  cause,  and  also  in  their  immediate  second  causes. 

This  should  teach  us  to  spend  our  thoughts  in  the  admiration 
of  the  excellency  of  God,  and  the  Divine  knowledge;  "his 
understanding  is  infinite." 

[2.]  God  knows  all  things  past.  This  is  an  argument  used 
by  God  himself  to  elevate  his  excellency  above  all  the  common- 
ly adored  idols;  "Let  them  show  the  former  things  what  they 
be,  that  we  may  consider  them,  and  know  the  latter  end  of 
them,"  Isa.  xli.  22.  He  knows  them  as  if  they  were  now  pre- 
sent and  not  past ;  for  indeed  in  his  eternity  there  is  nothing 
past  or  future  to  his  knowledge.  This  is  called  remembrance 
in  Scripture,  as  when  God  remembered  Rachel's  prayer  for  a 
child,  Gen.  xxx.  22;  and  he  is  said  to  put  tears  into  his  bottle, 
and  write  them  in  his  book  of  accounts,  which  signifies  the  ex- 
act and  unerring  knowledge  in  God  of  the  minute  circumstances 
past  in  the  world  ;  and  this  knowledge  is  called  a  book  of  re- 
membrance, Mai.  iii.  16,  signifying  the  perpetual  presence  of 
things  past  before  him.  There  are  two  elegant  expressions 
signifying  the  certainty  and  perpetuity  of  God's  knowledge  of 
sins  past:  "My  transgression  is  sealed  up  in  a  bag,  and  thou 
sewest  up  my  iniquity,"  Job  xiv.  17.  A  metaphor  taken 
from  men  that  put  up  in  a  bag  the  money  they  would  charily 
keep,  tie  the  bag,  sew  up  the  holes,  and  bind  it  hard  that 
nothing  may  fall  out;  or  a  vessel  wherein  they  reserve  liquors, 
and  daub  it  with  pitch  and  glutinous  stuff,  that  nothing  may 
leak  out,  but  be  safely  kept  till  the  time  of  use.  Or  else, 
as  some  think,  from  the  bags  attorneys  carry  with  them,  full 
of  writings,  when  they  are  to  manage  a  cause  against  a  per- 
son. Thus  we  find  God  often  in  Scripture  calling  to  men's 
minds  their  past  actions,  upbraiding  them  with  their  ingratitude, 
wherein  he  testifies  his  remembrance  of  his  own  past  benefits, 
and  their  crimes.  His  knowledge  in  this  regard  has  something 
of  infinity  in  it,  since  though  the  sins  of  all  men  that  have  been 
in  the  world  are  finite  in  regard  of  number,  yet  when  the  sins 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  475 

of  one  man  in  thoughts,  words,  and  deeds,  are  numberless  in 
his  own  account,  and  perhaps  in  the  account  of  any  creature, 
and  the  sins  of  all  the  vast  numbers  of  men  that  have  been,  or 
shall  be,  are  much  more  numberless,  it  cannot  be  less  than  infi- 
nite knowledge  that  can  make  a  collection  of  them,  and  take  a 
survey  of  them  all  at  once. 

If  past  things  had  not  been  known  by  God,  how  could  Moses 
have  been  acquainted  with  the  original  of  things?  How  could 
he  have  declared  the  former  transactions,  wherein  all  histories 
are  silent  but  the  Scripture?  How  could  he  know  the  cause  of 
man's  present  misery  so  many  ages  after,  wherewith  all  philo- 
sophy was  unacquainted?  How  could  ho,  have  written  the 
order  of  the  creation,  the  particulars  of  the  sin  of  Adam,  the  cir- 
cumstances of  Cain's  murder,  the  private  speech  of  Lamech  to 
his  wives,  if  God  had  not  revealed  them?  And  how  could  a 
revelation  be  made,  if  things  past  were  forgotten  by  him?  Do 
we  not  remember  many  things  done  among  men,  as  well  as  by 
ourselves,  and  reserve  the  forms  of  divers  things  in  our  minds, 
which  rise  as  occasions  are  presented  to  draw  them  forth?  And 
shall  not  God  much  more,  who  hath  no  cloud  of  darkness  upon 
his  understanding?  A  man  that  makes  a  curious  picture,  has 
the  form  of  it  iu  his  mind  before  he  made  it;  and  if  the  fire 
burn  it,  the  form  of  it  in  his  mind  is  not  destroyed  by  the  fire, 
but  retained  in  it.  God's  memory  is  no  less  perfect  than  his 
understanding.  If  he  did  not  know  things  past,  he  could  not 
be  a  righteous  Governor,  or  exercise  any  judicial  act  in  a  right- 
eous manner:  he  could  not  dispense  rewards  and  punishments 
according  to  his  promises  and  threateuings,  if  things  that  were 
past  could  be  forgotten  by  him ;  lie  could  not  require  that 
which  is  past,  Eccl.  iii.  15,  if  lie  did  not  remember  that  which 
is  past. 

And  though  God  be  said  to  forget  in  Scripture,  and  not  to 
know  his  people,  and  his  people  pray  to  him  to  remember  them, 
as  if  he  had  forgotten  them,  Psal.  cxix.  49,  this  is  improperly 
ascribed  to  God.1  As  God  is  said  to  repent,  when  he  changes 
things  according  to  his  counsel  beyond  the  expectation  of  men  ; 
so  he  is  said  to  forget,  when  he  defers  the  making  good  his  pro- 
mise to  the  godly,  or  his  threatenings  to  the  wicked:  this  is  not  a 
defect  of  memory  belonging  to  his  mind,  but  an  act  of  his  will. 
When  he  is  said  to  remember  his  covenant,  it  is  to  will  grace 
according  to  his  covenant;  when  he  is  said  to  forget  his  cove- 
nant, it  is  to  intercept  the  influences  of  it,  whereby  to  punish 
the  sin  of  his  people;  and  when  he  is  said  not  to  know  his  peo- 
ple, it  is  not  an  absolute  forgetfulnessof  them,  but  withdrawing 
from  them  the  testimonies  of  his  kindness,  and  clouding  the 
signs  of  his  favour.     So  God  in  pardoning  is  said  to  forget  sin, 

1  Oradward. 


476  0N  G0D'S   KNOWLEDGE. 

not  that  he  ceases  to  know  it,  but  ceases  to  punish  it:  it  is  not 
to  be  meant  of  a  simple  forgetfulness,  or  a  lapse  of  his  memory, 
but  of  a  judicial  forgetfulness;  so  when  his  people  in  Scripture 
pray,  Lord,  remember  thy  word  unto  thy  servant;  no  more  is 
to  be  understood,  but,  Lord,  fulfil  thy  word  and  promise  to  thy 
servant. 

[3.]  He  knows  things  present.  "All  things  are  naked  and 
opened  unto  the  eyes  of  him  with  whom  we  have  to  do,"  Heb. 
iv.  13.  This  is  grounded  upon  the  knowledge  of  himself;  it  is 
not  so  difficult  to  know  all  creatures  exactly,  as  to  know  him- 
self, because  they  are  finite,  but  himself  is  infinite  :  he  knows 
his  own  power,  and  therefore  every  thing  through  which  his 
omnipotence  is  diffused,  all  the  acts  and  objects  of  it;  not  the 
least  thing  that  is  the  birth  of  his  power  can  be  concealed  from 
him:  he  knows  his  own  goodness,  and  therefore  every  object 
upon  which  the  warm  beams  of  his  goodness  strike;  he  there- 
fore knows  distinctly  the  properties  of  every  creature,  because 
every  property  in  them  is  a  ray  of  his  goodness  ;  he  is  not  only 
the  efficient,  but  the  exemplary  cause:  therefore  as  he  knows 
all  that  his  power  has  wrought,  as  he  is  the  efficient,  so  he 
knows  them  in  himself  as  the  pattern,  as  a  carpenter  can  give 
an  account  of  every  part  and  passage  in  a  house  he  has  built, 
by  consulting  the  model  in  his  own  mind,  whereby  he  built  it. 
He  looked  upon  all  things  after  he  had  made  them,  and  pro- 
nounced them  good,  Gen.  i.  31,  full  of  a  natural  goodness  he 
had  endowed  them  with;  he  did  notignorantly  pronounce  them 
so,  and  call  them  good  whether  he  knew  them  or  not;  and 
therefore  he  knows  them  in  particular,  as  he  knew  them  all  in 
their  first  presence.  Is  there  any  reason  he  should  be  ignorant 
of  every  thing  now  present  in  the  world,  or  that  any  thing  that 
derives  an  existence  from  him  as  a  free  cause,  should  be  con- 
cealed from  him?  If  he  did  not  know  things  present  in  their 
particularities,  many  things  would  be  known  by  man,  yea  by 
beasts,  which  the  infinite  God  were  ignorant  of;  and  if  he  did 
not  know  all  things  present,  but.  only  some,  it  is  possible  for  the 
most  blessed  God  to  be  deceived  and  be  miserable.  Ignorance 
is  a  calamity  to  the  understanding:  he  could  not  prescribe  laws 
to  his  creatures,  unless  he  knew  their  natures,  to  which  those 
laws  were  to  be  suited;  no,  nor  natural  ordinances  to  the  sun, 
moon,  and  heavenly  bodies,  and  inanimate  creatures,  unless  he 
knew  the  vigour  and  virtue  in  them,  to  execute  those  ordi- 
nances; for  to  prescribe  laws  above  the  nature  of  things,  is  in- 
consistent with  the  wisdom  of  government:  he  must  know  how 
far  they  were  able  to  obey;  whether  the  laws  were  suited  to 
their  ability;  and  for  his  rational  creatures,  whether  the  punish- 
ments annexed  to  the  law  were  proper,  and  suited  to  the  trans- 
gression of  the  creature. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  477 

He  knows  all  creatures  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  the 
least  as  well  as  the  greatest.     He  knows  the  ravens  and  their 

young  ones,  Job  xwviu.  11;  the  drops  of  rain  and  dew  which 
be  lias  begotten,  Job*  xxxviii.  2S;  every  bird  in  the  air,  as  well 
as  any  man  does  what  he  has  in  a  cage  at  home:  "  I  know  all  the 
fowls  of  the  mountains,  and  the  wild  beasts  of  the  field,"  Psal. 
1.  11;  which  some  read  creeping  things.  The  clouds  are  num- 
bered in  his  wisdom,  Job  xxxviii.  M.  Every  worm  in  the 
earth,  every  drop  of  rain  that  falls  upon  the  ground,  the  flakes 
of  snow,  and  the  knots  of  hail,  the  sands  upon  the  sea-shore,  the 
hairs  upon  the  head;  it  is  no  more  absurd  to  imagine  that  God 
knows  them,  than  that  God  made  them;  they  are  all  the  eil'ects 
of  his  power,  as  well  as  the  stars,  which  he  calls  by  their  names, 
as  well  as  the  most  glorious  angel  and  blessed  spirit:  he  knows 
them  as  well  as  if  there  were  none  but  them  in  particular  for 
him  to  know:  the  least  things  were  framed  by  his  art  as  well  as 
the  greatest;  the  least  things  partake  of  his  goodness  as  well  as 
the  greatest;  he  knows  his  own  arts,  and  his  own  goodness,  and 
therefore  all  the  stamps  and  impressions  of  them  upon  all  his 
creatures:  he  knows  the  immediate  causes  of  the  least,  and 
therefore  the  effects  of  those  causes.  Since  his  knowledge  is 
infinite,  it  must  extend  to  those  things  which  are  at  the  greatest 
distance  from  him,  to  those  which  approach  nearest  to  not  be- 
ing; since  he  did  not  want  power  to  create,  he  cannot  want 
understanding  to  know  every  thing  he  has  created,  the  disposi- 
tions, qualities,  and  virtues  of  the  minutest  creature. 

Nor  is  the  understanding  of  God  debased,  nor  suffers  a  dimi- 
nution, by  the  knowledge  of  the  vilest  and  most  inconsiderable 
things.  Is  it  not  an  imperfection  to  be  ignorant  of  the  nature  of 
any  thing?  and  can  God  have  such  a  defect  in  his  most  perfect 
understanding?  Is  the  understanding  of  man  of  an  impure! 
alloy  by  knowing  the  nature  of  the  rankest  poisons?  by  under- 
standing a  fly,  or  a  small  insect,  or  by  considering  the  deformity 
of  a  toad?  Is  it  not  generally  counted  a  note  of  a  dignified  mind, 
to  be  able  to  discourse  of  the  nature  of  them?  Was  Solomon, 
who  knew  all  from  the  cedar  to  the  hyssop,  debased  by  so  rich 
a  present  of  wisdom  from  his  Creator?  Is  any  glass  defiled  by 
presenting  a  deformed  image?  Is  there  any  thing  more  vile 
than  the  "  imaginations,  which  are  only  evil,  and  continually?" 
Does  not  the  mind  of  man  descend  to  the  mud  of  the  earth,  play 
the  adulterer  or  idolater  with  mean  objects,  suck  in  the  most 
unclean  things?  yet  God  knows  these  in  all  their  circum- 
stances, in  every  appearance,  inside  and  outside.  Is  there  any 
thing  viler  than  some  thoughts  of  men,  than  some  actions  of 
men?  their  unclean  beds,  and  gluttonous  vomiting,  and  Lucife- 
rian  pride?  yet  do  not  these  fall  under  the  eye  of  God,  in  all 
their  nakedness?   The  second  Person's  taking  human  nature. 


478  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

though  it  obscured,  yet  it  did  not  disparage  the  Deity,  or  bring 
any  disgrace  to  it.  Is  gold  the  worse  for  being  formed  into  the 
image  of  a  fly  ?  does  it  not  still  retain  the  nobleness  of  the  metal  ? 
When  men  are  despised  for  descending  to  the  knowledge  of 
mean  and  vile  things,  it  is  because  they  neglect  the  knowledge 
of  the  greater,  and  sin  in  their  inquiries  after  lesser  things,  with 
a  neglect  of  that  which  concerns  more  the  honour  of  God  and 
the  happiness  of  themselves;  to  be  ambitious  of  such  a  know- 
ledge, and  careless  of  that  of  more  concern,  is  criminal  and  con- 
temptible. But  God  knows  the  greatest  as  well  as  least:  mean 
things  are  not  known  by  him  to  exclude  the  knowledge  of  the 
greater;  nor  are  vile  things  governed  by  him  to  exclude  the  or- 
der of  the  better.  The  deformity  of  objects  known  by  God 
does  not  deform  him  nor  defile  him;  he  does  not  view  them 
without  himself,  but  within  himself,  wherein  all  things  in  their 
ideas  are  beautiful  and  comely.  Our  knowledge  of  a  deformed 
thing,  is  not  a  deforming  of  our  understanding,  but  is  beautiful 
in  the  knowledge,  though  it  be  not  in  the  object;  nor  is  there 
any  fear  that  the  understanding  of  God  should  become  material 
by  knowing  material  things,  any  more  than  our  understandings 
lose  their  spirituality  by  knowing  the  nature  of  bodies.  It  is  to 
be  observed,  therefore,  that  only  those  senses  of  men,  as  seeing, 
hearing,  smelling,  which  have  those  qualities  for  their  objects 
that  come  nearest  the  nature  of  spiritual  things,  as  light,  sounds, 
fragrant  odours,  are  ascribed  to  God  in  Scripture;  not  touching 
or  tasting,  which  are  senses  that  are  not  exercised  without  a 
more  immediate  commerce  with  gross  matter;  and  the  reason 
may  be,  because  we  should  have  no  gross  thoughts  of  God,  as 
if  he  were  a  body,  and  made  of  matter,  like  the  things  he 
knows. 

As  he  knows  all  creatures,  so  God  knows  all  the  actions  of 
creatures.  He  counts  in  particular  all  the  ways  of  men.  "Doth 
not  he  see  all  my  ways,  and  count  all  my  steps?"  Job  xxxi.  4. 
He  tells  their  wanderings,  as  if  one  by  one,  Psal.  lvi.  8.  "  His 
eyes  are  upon  all  the  ways  of  man,  and  he  seeth  all  his  goings," 
Job  xxxiv.  21;  a  metaphor  taken  from  men,  when  they  look 
wistfully,  with  fixed  eyes,  upon  a  thing,  to  view  it  in  every  cir- 
cumstance, whence  it  comes,  whither  it  goes,  to  observe  every 
little  motion  of  it.  God's  eye  is  not  a  wandering  but  a  fixed 
eye,  and  the  ways  of  man  are  not  only  before  his  eyes,  but  he 
does  exactly  ponder  them,  Pro  v.  v.  21;  as  one  that  will  not  be 
ignorant  of  the  least  mite  in  them,  but  weigh  and  examine 
them  by  the  standard  of  his  law:  he  may  as  well  know  the 
motions  of  our  members  as  the  hairs  of  our  heads:  the  smallest 
actions  before  they  be,  whether  civil,  natural,  or  religious,  fall 
under  his  cognizance:  what  meaner  than  a  man  carrying  a 
pitcher?  yet  our  Saviour  foretells  it,  Luke  xvii.  10.  God  knows 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  479 

not  only  what  men  do,  but  what  they  would  have  done  had  he 
not  restrained  them;  what  Abimelech  would  have  done  to 
Sarah,  had  not  God  put  a  bar  in  his  way,  Gen.  xx.  G;  what  a 
man,  that  is  taken  away  in  his  youth,  would  have  done,  had 
he  lived  to  a  riper  age:  yea,  he  knows  the  most  secret  words 
as  well  as  actions;  the  words  spoken  by  the  king  of  Syria  in 
his  bed-chamber,  were  revealed  to  Elisha,  2  Kings  vi.  12.  And 
indeed  how  can  any  action  of  man  be  concealed  from  God? 
Can  we  view  the  various  actions  of  a  heap  of  ants  or  a  hive  of 
bees  in  a  glass,  without  turning  our  eyes?  and  shall  not  God 
behold  the  actions  of  all  men  in  the  world,  which  are  less  than 
bees  or  ants  in  his  sight,  and  more  visible  to  him  than  an  ant- 
hill or  bee-hive  can  be  to  the  acutest  eye  of  man? 

As  God  knows  all  the  actions  of  creatures,  so  he  knows  all 
the  thoughts  of  creatures.  The  thoughts  are  the  most  closeted 
acts  of  man,  hid  from  men  and  angels,  unless  disclosed  by  some 
outward  expressions;  but  God  descends  into  the  depths  and 
abysses  of  the  soul,  discerns  the  most  inward  contrivances; 
nothing  is  impenetrable  to  him;  the  sun  does  not  so  much  en- 
lighten the  earth  as  God  understands  the  heart;  all  thoughts 
are  as  visible  to  him  as  flies  and  motes  enclosed  in  a  body  of 
transparent  crystal.  This  man  naturally  allows  to  God.  Men 
often  speak  to  God  by  the  motions  of  their  minds  and  secret 
ejaculations,  which  they  would  not  do,  if  it  were  not  naturally 
implanted  in  them  that  God  knows  all  their  inward  motions; 
the  Scripture  is  plain  and  positive  in  this,  he  tries  the  heart  and 
the  reins,  Psal.  vii.  9,  (as  men  by  the  use  of  fire  discern  the 
drossy  and  purer  parts  of  metals,)  the  secret  intentions  and 
aims,  the  most  lurking  affections  seated  in  the  reins.  He  knows 
that  which  no  man,  no  angel  is  able  to  know;  which  a  man 
himself  knows  not,  nor  makes  any  particular  reflection  upon; 
yea,  he  weighs  the  spirit,  Prov.  xvi.  2,  he  exactly  numbers  all 
the  devices  and  inclinations  of  men,  as  men  do  every  piece  of 
coin  they  tell  out  of  a  heap.  He  discerns  the  thoughts  and  in- 
tents of  the  heart,  Ileb.  iv.  12;  all  that  is  in  the  mind,  all  that 
is  in  the  affections,  every  stirring  and  purpose,  so  that  no  one 
thought  can  be  withheld  from  him,  Job  xlii.  2;  "yea,  hell 
and  destruction  are  before  the  Lord:  how  much  more  then  the 
hearts  of  the  children  of  men!"  Prov.  xv.  11:  he  works  all 
things  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and  brings  forth  all  things 
out  of  that  treasure,  say  some:  but  more  naturally  God  knows 
the  whole  state  of  the  dead,  all  the  receptacles  and  graves  of 
their  bodies,  all  the  bodies  of  men  consumed  by  the  earth,  or 
devoured  by  living  creatures;  things  that  seem  to  be  out  of  all 
being;  he  knows  the  thoughts  of  the  devils  and  damned  crea- 
tures, whom  he  has  cast  out  of  his  care  for  ever,  into  the  arms 
of  his  justice,  never  more  to  cast  a  delightful  glance  towards 


480  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

them;  not  a  secret  in  any  soul  in  hell  (which  he  has  no  need 
to  know,  because  he  shall  not  judge  them  by  any  of  the 
thoughts  they  now  have,  since  they  were  condemned  to  punish- 
ment) is  hid  from  him:  much  more  is  he  acquainted  with  the 
thoughts  of  living  men,  the  counsels  of  whose  hearts  are  yet 
to  be  manifested,  in  order  to  their  trial  and  censure ;  yea,  he 
knows  them  before  they  spring  up  into  actual  being.  "Thou 
understandest  my  thoughts  afar  off,"  Psal.  cxxxix.  2 ;  my 
thoughts,  that  is,  every  thought,  though  innumerable  thoughts 
pass  through  me  in  a  day,  and  that  in  the  source  and  fountain, 
when  it  is  yet  in  the  womb,  before  it  is  our  thought :  if  he 
knows  them  before  their  existence,  before  they  can  be  properly 
called  ours;  much  more  does  he  know  them  when  they  actu- 
ally spring  up  in  us:  he  knows  the  tendency  of  them — where 
the  bird  will  light  when  it  is  in  flight;  he  knows  them  exactly; 
he  is  therefore  called  a  discerner  or  criticiser  of  the  heart,  Heb. 
iv.  12,  as  a  critic  discerns  every  letter,  point,  and  stop.  He  is 
more  intimate  with  us  than  our  souls  with  our  bodies,  and  has 
more  the  possession  of  us  than  we  have  of  ourselves ;  he 
knows  them  by  an  inspection  into  the  heart,  not  by  the  media- 
tion of  second  causes,  by  the  looks  or  gestures  of  men,  as  men 
may  discern  the  thoughts  of  one  another. 

God  discerns  all  good  motions  of  the  mind  and  will.  These 
he  puts  into  men,  and  God  needs  must  know  his  own  act.  He 
knew  the  son  of  Jeroboam  to  have  some  good  thing  in  him 
towards  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  1  Kings  xiv.  13,  and  the  in- 
tegrity of  David  and  Hezekiah;  the  freest  motions  of  the  will 
and  affections  to  him,  "  Lord,  thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee," 
said  Peter,  John  xxi.  17.  Love  can  be  no  more  restrained 
than  the  will  itself  can.  A  man  may  make  another  to  grieve 
and  desire,  but  none  can  force  another  to  love. 

God  discerns  all  the  evil  motions  of  the  mind  and  will;  every 
imagination  of  the  heart,  Gen.  vi.  5 ;  the  vanity  of  men's 
thoughts,  Psal.  xciv.  11;  their  inward  darkness  and  deceitful 
disguises.  No  wonder  that  God  who  fashioned  the  heart, 
should  understand  the  motions  of  it:  he  "looketh  from  heaven, 
he  beholdeth  all  the  sons  of  men:  he  fashioneth  their  hearts 
alike;  he  considereth  all  their  works,"  Psal.  xxxiii.  13.  15. 
Does  any  man  make  a  watch,  and  yet  be  ignorant  of  its  motion? 
Did  God  fling  away  the  key  to  this  secret  cabinet,  when  he 
framed  it,  and  put  off  the  power  of  unlocking  it  when  he 
pleased?  He  did  not  surely  frame  it  in  such  a  posture  as  that 
any  thing  in  it  should  be  hid  from  his  eye;  he  did  not  fashion 
it  to  be  privileged  from  his  government:  which  would  follow, 
if  he  were  ignorant  of  what  was  minted  and  coined  in  it. 

He  could  not  be  a  judge  to  punish  men,  if  the  inward  frames 
and  principles  of  men's  actions  were  concealed  from  him :  an 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  4§J 

outward  action  may  glitter  to  an  outward  eye,  yet  the  secret 
spring  be  a  desire  of  applause,  and  not  the  fear  and  love  of  Hod. 
If  the  inward  frames  of  the  heart  did  lie  covered  from  him  in 
the  secret  recesses  of  the  heart,  those  plausible  acts,  which  in 
regard  of  their  principles  would  merit  ;i  punishment,  would 
meet  with  a  reward;  and  God  should  bestow  happiness  where 
he  had  denounced  misery.  As  without  the  knowledge  of  what 
is  just,  lie  could  not  be  a  wise  lawgiver;  so  without  the  know- 
ledge of  what  is  inwardly  committed,  he  could  not  be  a  righteous 
judge:  acts  that  are  rotten  in  the  spring,  might  be  judged  good 
by  the  fair  colour  and  appearance. 

This  is  the  glory  of  God  at  the  last  day,  to  manifest  the 
secrets  of  all  hearts,  1  Cor.  iv.  5:  and  the  prophet  Jeremiah 
links  the  power  of  judging  and  the  prerogative  of  trying  the 
hearts  together;  "But,  0  Lord  of  Hosts,  that  judgest  righte- 
ously, that  triest  the  reins  and  the  heart,"  Jer.  xi.  20:  and,  "  I 
the  Lord  search  the  heart,  I  try  the  reins;"  to  what  end?  "  even 
to  give  every  man  according  to  his  ways,  and  according  to  the 
fruit  of  his  doings,"  Jer.  xvii.  10.  And  indeed  his  binding  up 
the  whole  law  with  that  command  of  not  coveting,  evidences 
that  he  will  judge  men  by  the  inward  affections  and  frames  of 
their  hearts.  Again,  God  sustains  the  mind  of  man  in  every 
act  of  thinking;  in  him  we  have  not  only  the  principle  of  life, 
but  every  motion,  the  motion  of  our  minds  as  well  as  of  our 
members:  "In  him  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being," 
Acts  xvii.  28.  Since  he  supports  the  vigour  of  the  faculty  in 
every  act,  can  he  be  ignorant  of  those  acts  which  spring  from 
the  faculty,  to  which  he  does  at  that  instant  communicate  power 
and  ability? 

Now  this  knowledge  of  the  thoughts  of  men  is, 
An  incommunicable  property,  belonging  only  to  the  Divine 
understanding.  Creatures  indeed  may  know  the  thoughts  of 
others  by  Divine  revelation,  but  not  by  themselves;  no  crea- 
ture has  a  key  immediately  to  open  the  minds  of  men,  and  see 
all  that  lodges  there;  no  creature  can  fathom  the  heart  by  the 
line  of  created  knowledge. '  Devils  may  have  a  conjectural 
knowledge,  and  may  guess  at  them,  by  the  acquaintance  they 
have  with  the  disposition  and  constitution  of  men,  and  the 
images  they  behold  in  their  fancies;  and  by  some  marks  which 
an  inward  imagination  may  stamp  upon  the  brain,  blood,  ani- 
mal spirits,  face,  &c.  But  the  knowing  the  thoughts  merely  as 
thought,  without  any  impression  by  it,  is  a  royalty  God  appro- 
priates to  himself,  as  the  main  secret  of  his  government,  and  a 
perfection  declarative  of  his  Deity,  as  much  as  any  else:  "  The 
heart"  of  man  "  is  desperately  wicked;  who  can  know  it?" 

1  Daillc,  Serm.  part  1.  p.  230. 

Vol.  I.— 61 


482  oN  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

Yes,  there  is  one,  and  but  one;  "  I  the  Lord  search  the  heart, 
I  try  the  reins,"  Jer.  xvii.  9,  10.  "  Man  looketh  on  the  out- 
ward appearance,  but  the  Lord  looketh  on  the  heart,"  1  Sam. 
xvi.  7;  where  God  is  distinguished  by  this  perfection  from  all 
men  whatsoever.  Others  may  know  by  revelation,  as  Elisha 
did  what  was  in  Gehazi's  heart,  2  Kings  v.  26;  but  God 
knows  a  man  more  than  any  man  knows  himself.  What  per- 
son upon  earth  understands  the  windings  and  turnings  of  his 
own  heart,  what  reserves  it  will  have,  what  contrivances,  what 
inclinations  ?  all  which  God  knows  exactly. 

But  God  acquires  no  new  knowledge  of  the  thoughts  and 
heart,  by  the  discovery  of  them  in  the  actions.  He  would 
then  be  but  equal  in  this  part  of  knowledge  to  his  creatures: 
no  man  or  angel  but  may  thus  arrive  to  the  knowledge  of 
them.  God  were  then  excluded  from  an  absolute  dominion 
over  the  prime  work  of  his  lower  creation;  he  would  have 
made  a  creature  superior  in  this  respect  to  himself,  upon  whose 
will  to  discover,  his  knowledge  of  their  inward  intentions 
should  depend;  and  therefore  when  God  is  said  to  search  the 
heart,  we  must  not  understand  it  as  if  God  were  ignorant 
before,  and  was  fain  to  make  an  exact  scrutiny  and  inquiry, 
before  he  attained  what  he  desired  to  know;  but  God  conde- 
scends to  our  capacity  in  the  expression  of  his  own  knowledge, 
signifying  that  his  knowledge  is  as  complete  as  any  man's 
knowledge  can  be,  of  the  designs  of  others,  after  he  has  sifted 
them  by  a  strict  and  thorough  examination,  and  wrung  out  a 
discovery  of  their  intentions;  that  he  knows  them  as  perfectly 
as  if  he  had  put  them  upon  the  rack,  and  forced  them  to  make 
a  discovery  of  their  secret  plottings.  Nor  must  we  understand 
that  in  Gen.  xxii.  12,  where  God  says,  after  Abraham  had 
stretched  out  his  hand  to  sacrifice  his  son,  "Now  I  know  that 
thou  fearest  God,"  as  though  God  was  ignorant  of  Abraham's 
gracious  disposition  to  him.  Did  Abraham's  drawing  his  knife 
furnish  God  with  a  new  knowledge?  No;  God  knew  Abra- 
ham's pious  inclinations  before;  "  I  know  him,  that  he  will 
command  his  children — after  him,"  &c.  Gen.  xviii.  19.  Know- 
ledge is  sometimes  taken  for  approbation;  then  the  sense  will 
be,  Now  I  approve  this  fact  as  a  testimony  of  thy  fear  of  me; 
since  thy  affection  to  thy  Isaac  is  extinguished  by  the  more 
powerful  flame  of  affection  to  my  will  and  command;  I  now 
accept  thee,  and  count  thee  a  meet  subjecfof  my  choicest  bene- 
fits: or,  Now  I  know,  that  is,  I  have  made  known  and  mani- 
fested the  faith  of  Abraham  to  himself  and  to  the  world.  Thus 
Paul  uses  the  word  "know,"  1  Cor.  ii.  2;  I  have  determined 
to  know  nothing,  that  is,  to  declare  and  teach  nothing,  to  make 
known  nothing  but  Christ  crucified.  Or  else,  Now  I  know, 
that  is,  I  have  an  evidence  and  experiment  in  this  noble  fact, 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE,  JQ3 

that  thou  fearest  me.  God  often  condescends  to  our  capacity 
in  speaking  of  himself  after  the  manner  of  men,  as  if  he  had 
(as  men  do)  known  the  inward  affections  of  others  by  their 
outward  actions. 

God  knows  all  the  evils  and  sins  of  creatures. — 
God  knows  all  sin.  This  follows  upon  the  other.  If  he 
knows  all  the  actions  and  thoughts  of  creatures,  he  knows  also 
all  the  sinfulness  in  those  acts  and  thoughts.  This  Zophai  in- 
fers from  God's  punishing  men:  "  For  he  knoweth  vain  men: 
he  seeth  wickedness  also,"  Job  xi.  11;  he  knows  every  man, 
and  sees  the  wickedness  of  every  man;  he  looks  down  from 
heaven,  and  beholds  not  only  the  filthy  persons,  but  what  is 
filthy  in  them,  Psal.  xiv.  2,  3;  all  nations  in  the  world,  and 
every  man  of  every  nation,  none  of  their  iniquity  is  hid  from 
his  eyes;  he  searches  Jerusalem  with  candles,  Zeph.  i.  12. 
God  follows  sinners  step  by  step  with  his  eye;  and  will  not 
leave  searching  out  till  he  has  taken  them;  a  metaphor  taken 
from  one  that  searches  all  chinks  with  a  candle,  that  nothing 
can  be  hid  from  him.  He  knows  it  distinctly  in  all  the  parts 
of  it,  how  an  adulterer  rises  out  of  his  bed  to  commit  unclean* 
ness,  what  contrivances  he  had,  what  steps  he  took,  every  cir- 
cumstance in  the  whole  progress;  not  only  evil  in  the  bulk,  but 
every  one  of  the  blacker  spots  upon  it,  which  may  most  aggra- 
vate it.  If  he  did  not  know  evil,  how  could  he  permit  it,  order 
it,  punish  it, or  pardon  it?  Doth  he  permit  he  knows  not  what? 
order  to  his  own  holy  ends  what  he  is  ignorant  of?  punish  or 
pardon  that  which  he  is  uncertain  whether  it  be  a  crime  or  no? 
Cleanse  me,  says  David,  from  my  secret  faults,  Psal.  xix.  12, 
secret  in  regard  of  others,  secretin  regard  of  himself:  how  could 
God  cleanse  him  from  that  whereof  he  was  ignorant?  lie 
knows  sins  before  they  arc  committed,  much  more  when  they 
are  in  act.  He  foreknew  the  idolatry  and  apostasy  of  the  Jews; 
what  gods  they  would  serve,  in  what  measure  they  would  pro- 
voke him,  and  violate  his  covenant,  Deut.  xxxi.  20,  21:  he 
knew  Judas'  sin  long  before  Judas'  actual  existence,  foretelling 
it  in  the  psalms;  and  Christ  predicts  it  before  he  acted  it.  He 
sees  sins  future  in  his  own  permitting  will;  he  sees  sins  present 
in  his  own  supporting  act.  As  he  knows  things  possible  to 
himself,  because  he  knows  his  own  power;  so  he  knows  things 
practicable  by  the  creature,  because  he  knows  the  power  and 
principles  of  the  creature.1  This  sentiment  of  God  is  naturally 
written  in  the  fears  of  sinners,  upon  lightning,  thunder,  or  some 
prodigious  operation  of  God  in  the  world:  what  is  tin;  hmguage 
of  them,  but  that  he  sees  their  deeds,  hears  their  words,  knows 
the  inward  sinfulness  of  their  hearts;  that  he  does  not  only  be- 

1  Fotherby  Atheoinastite,  p.  132. 


484  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

hold  them  as  a  mere  spectator,  but  considers  them  as  a  just 
Judge?  And  the  poets  say,  that  the  sins  of  men  leaped  into 
heaven,  and  were  written  in  parchments  of  Jupiter,1  Scelus  in 
terrain  geritur,  in  ccelo  scribitur:  Sin  is  acted  on  earth,  and 
recorded  in  heaven.  God  indeed  does  not  behold  evil  with  the 
approving  eye ;  he  knows  it  not  with  a  practical  knowledge  to 
be  the  author  of  it,  but  with  a  speculative  knowledge,  so  as  to 
understand  the  sinfulness  of  it;  or  a  knowledge  simplicis  intel- 
ligently, '•'  of  simple  intelligence,"  as  he  permits  sins,  not  posi- 
tively wills  them;  he  knows  them  not  with  a  knowledge  of 
assent  to  them,  but  dissent  from  them.  Evil  pertains  to  a  dis- 
senting act  of  the  mind,  and  an  aversive  act  of  the  will,  and 
what  though  evil,  formally  taken,  has  no  distinct  conception, 
because  it  is  a  privation;  a  defect  has  no  being,  and  all  know- 
ledge is  by  the  apprehension  of  some  being;  would  not  this 
lie  as  strongly  against  our  own  knowledge  of  sin?  Sin  is  a 
privation  of  the  rectitude  due  to  an  act;  and  who  doubts  man's 
knowledge  of  sin?  by  his  knowing  the  act,  he  knows  the  defi- 
ciency of  the  act;  the  subject  of  evil  has  a  being,  and  so  has  a 
conception  in  the  mind;  that  which  has  no  being  cannot  be 
known  by  itself,  or  in  itself,  but  will  it  follow  that  it  cannot  be 
known  by  its  contrary?  as  we  know  darkness  to  be  a  privation 
of  light,  and  folly  to  be  a  privation  of  wisdom.  God  knows 
all  good  by  himself,  because  he  is  the  sovereign  good ;  is  it 
strange,  then,  that  he  should  know  all  evil,  since  all  evil  is  in 
some  natural  good? 

But  the  manner  of  God's  knowing  evil  is  not  so  easily 
known.  And,  indeed,  as  we  cannot  comprehend  the  essence 
of  God,  though  it  is  easily  intelligible  that  there  is  such  a  being; 
so  we  can  as  little  comprehend  the  manner  of  God's  knowledge, 
though  we  cannot  but  conclude  him  to  be  an  intelligent  being, 
a  pure  understanding,  knowing  all  things.  As  God  has  a  higher 
manner  of  being  than  his  creatures,  so  he  has  another  and 
higher  manner  of  knowing;  and  we  can  as  little  comprehend 
the  maimer  of  his  knowing,  as  we  can  the  manner  of  his  being. 
But  as  to  the  manner. 

Does  not  God  know  his  own  law,  and  shall  he  not  know  how 
much  any  action  comes  short  of  his  rule?  He  cannot  know 
his  own  rule  without  knowing  all  the  deviations  from  it.  He 
knows  his  own  holiness,  and  shall  he  not  see  how  any  action 
is  contrary  to  the  holiness  of  his  own  nature?  Does  not  God 
know  every  thing  that  is  true?  and  is  it  not  true  that  this  or 
that  was  evil?  and  shall  God  be  ignorant  of  any  truth?  How 
does  God  know  that  he  cannot  lie,  but  by  knowing  his  own 
veracity?     How  does  God  know  that  he  cannot  die,  but  by 

1  Cross.  Anthol.  dec.  1.  cap  393.  p.  101. 


ON  GOD'S  knowlkih.i:. 


is;, 


knowing  his  own  immutability?  And  by  knowing  those,  be 
knows  what  a  lie  is,  he  knows  what  death  is;  so  it"  sin  never 
had  been,  if  no  creature  had  ever  been,  God  would  have  known 
what  sin  was,  because  he  knows  his  own  holiness;  because  be 
knew  what  law  was  fit  to  be  appointed  to  his  creatures  if  he 
should  create  them,  and  thai  that  law  might  be  transgressed  by 
them.  God  knows  all  good,  all  goodness  in  himself;  he  there- 
fore has  a  foundation  in  himself  to  know  all  that  comes  short 
of  that  goodness,  that  is  opposite  to  that  holiness:  as  if  light 
were  capable  of  understanding,  it  would  know  darkness  only 
by  knowing  itself;  by  knowing  itself,  it  would  know  what  is 
contrary  to  itself.  God  knows  all  created  goodness  which  he 
has  planted  in  the  creature;  he  knows  then  all  defects  from  bis 
goodness,  what  perfection  an  act  is  deprived  of;  what  is  oppo- 
site to  that  goodness,  and  that  is  evil.  As  we  know  sickness 
by  health,  discord  by  harmony,  blindness  by  sight,  because  it  is 
a  privation  of  sight;  whosoever  knows  one  contrary  knows  the 
other;  God  knows  unrighteousness  by  the  idea  which  he  has  of 
righteousness,  and  sees  an  act  deprived  of  that  rectitude  and 
goodness  which  ought  to  be  in  it;  lie  knows  evil  because  he 
knows  the  causes  whence  evil  proceeds.1  A  painter  knows  a 
picture  of  his  own  framing;  and  if  any  one  dashes  any  base 
colour  upon  it,  shall  not  he  also  know  that?  God  by  his  hand 
painted  all  creatures,  impressed  upon  man  the  fair  stamp  and 
colour  of  his  own  image;  the  devils  defile  it,  man  daubs  it; 
does  not  God,  that  knows  his  own  work,  know  how  this  piece 
is  become  different  from  his  work?  Does  not  God,  that  knows 
his  creatures'  goodness,  which  himself  was  the  fountain  of, 
know  the  change  of  this  goodness?  Yea,  he  knew  before,  that 
the  devil  would  sow  tares  where  he  had  sown  wheat;  and 
therefore  that  controversy  of  some  in  the  schools,  whether  God 
knew  evil  by  its  opposition  to  created  or  uncreated  goodness,  is 
needless.  We  may  say  God  knows  sin  as  it  is  opposite  to  cre- 
ated goodness,  yet  he  knows  it  radically  by  his  own  goodness, 
because  he  knows  the  goodness  he  lias  communicated  to  the 
creature  by  his  own  essential  goodness  in  himself.  To  conclude 
this  head; 

The  knowledge  of  sin  does  not  bespot  the  holiness  of  God's 
nature;  for  the  bare  knowledge  of  a  crime  does  not  infect  the 
mind  of  man  with  the  filth  and  pollution  of  that  crime.  For 
then  every  man  that  knows  an  act  of  murder  committed  by 
another,  would  by  that  bare  knowledge  be  tainted  with  his  sin; 
yea,  and  a  judge  that  condemns  a  malefactor,  may  as  well  con- 
demn himself,  if  this  were  so.  The  knowledge  of  sin  infects 
not  the  understanding  that  knows  them,  but  only  the  will  thai 

i  Cuaan  p.  345. 


486  0N  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

approves  them.     It  is  no  discredit  to  us  to  know  evil,  in  order 
to  pass  a  right  judgment  upon  it;  so  neither  can  it  be  to  God. 

[4.]  God  knows  all  future  things,  all  things  to  come.  The 
differences  of  time  cannot  hinder  a  knowledge  of  all  things  by 
him,  who  is  before  time,  above  time,  that  is  not  measured  by 
hours,  or  days,  or  years.  If  God  did  not  know  them,  the  hin- 
derance  must  be  in  himself,  or  in  the' things  themselves,  because 
they  are  things  to  come.  Not  in  himself:  if  it  did,  it  must  arise 
from  some  impotency  in  his  own  nature,  and  so  we  render  him 
weak;  or  from  an  unwillingness  to  know,  and  so  we  render 
him  lazy,  and  an  enemy  to  his  own  perfection;  for  simply  con- 
sidered, the  knowledge  of  more  things  is  a  greater  perfection 
than  the  knowledge  of  a  few;  and  if  the  knowledge  of  a  thing 
includes  something  of  perfection,  the  ignorance  of  a  thing  in- 
cludes something  of  imperfection.  The  knowledge  of  future 
things  is  a  greater  perfection  than  not  to  know  them,  and  is 
accounted  among  men  a  great  part  of  wisdom,  which  they  call 
foresight ;  it  is  then  surely  a  greater  perfection  in  God  to  know 
future  things  than  to  be  ignorant  of  them.  And  would  God 
rather  have  something  of  imperfection  than  be  possessor  of  all 
perfection?  Nor  does  the  hinderance  lie  in  the  things  them- 
selves, because  their  futurition  depends  upon  his  will;  for  as 
nothing  can  actually  be  without  his  will,  giving  it  existence  ;  so 
nothing  can  be  future  without  his  will  designing  the  futurity  of 
it.  Certainly  if  God  knows  all  things  possible,  which  he  will 
not  do,  he  must  know  all  things  future,  which  he  is  not  only 
able,  but  resolved  to  do,  or  resolved  to  permit.  God's  perfect 
knowledge  of  himself,  that  is,  of  his  own  infinite  power  and 
concluding  will,  necessarily  includes  a  foreknowledge  of  what 
he  is  able  to  do,  and  what  he  will  do. 

Again,  if  God  does  not  know  future  things,  there  was  a  time 
when  God  was  ignorant  of  most  things  in  the  world.  Before 
the  deluge  he  was  more  ignorant  than  after;  the  more  things 
were  done  in  the  world,  the  more  knowledge  did  accrue  to 
God,  and  so  the  more  perfection.  Then  the  understanding  of 
God  was  not  perfect  from  eternity,  but  in  time;  nay,  is  not  per- 
fect yet,  if  he  be  ignorant  of  those  things  which  are  still  to 
come  to  pass;  he  must  tarry  for  a  perfection  he  wants,  till  those 
futurities  come  to  be  in  act,  till  those  things  which  are  to  come 
are  to  be  future,  and  begin  to  be  present.  Either  God  knows 
them  or  desires  to  know  them;  if  he  desires  to  know  them  and 
does  not,  there  is  something  wanting  to  him:  all  desire  speaks 
an  absence  of  the  object  desired,  and  a  sentiment  of  want  in 
the  person  desiring.  If  he  does  not  desire  to  know  them,  nay, 
if  he  does  not  actually  know  them,  it  destroys  all  providence, 
all  his  government  of  affairs;  for  his  providence  has  a  concate- 
nation of  means  with  a  prospect  of  something  that  is  future: 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  437 

as  in  Joseph's  case,  who  was  put  into  the  pit,  and  sold  to  the 
Egyptians  in  order  to  his  future  advancement,  and  the  preser- 
vation both  of  his  father  and  his  envious  brethren.  If  God 
did  not  know  all  the  future  inclinations  and  actions  of  men, 
something  might  have  been  done  by  the  will  of  Potiphar,  or 
by  the  free-will  of  Pharaoh,  whereby  Joseph  might  have  been 
cut  short  of  his  advancement,  and  so  God  have  been  interrupt- 
ed in  the  track  and  method  of  his  designed  providences.  He 
that  has  decreed  to  govern  man  for  that  end  lie  has  designed 
him,  knows  all  the  means  before,  whereby  he  will  govern  him, 
and  therefore  has  a  distinct  and  certain  knowledge  of  all  things; 
for  a  confused  knowledge  is  an  imperfection  in  government.  It 
is  in  this  the  infiniteness  of  his  understanding  is  more  seen  than 
in  knowing  things  past  or  present;  his  eyes  are  as  a  flame  of 
fire,  Rev.  i.  14,  in  regard  of  the  penetrating  virtue  of  them  into 
tilings  impenetrable  by  any  else. 

To  make  it  further  appear  that  God  knows  all  things  future, 
consider, 

Every  thing  which  is  the  object  of  God's  knowledge  with- 
out himself,  was  once  only  future.  There  was  a  moment  when 
nothing  was  in  being  but  himself;  he  knew  nothing  actually 
past,  because  nothing  was  past;  nothing  actually  present,  be- 
cause nothing  had  any  existence  but  himself;  therefore  only 
what  was  future  :  and  why  not  every  thing  that  is  future  now, 
as  well  as  only  what  was  future  and  to  come  to  pass  just  at  the 
beginning  of  the  creation?  God  indeed  knows  every  thing  as 
present,  but  the  things  themselves  known  by  him  were  not  pre- 
sent, but  future  :  the  whole  creation  was  once  future,  or  else  it 
was  from  eternity;  if  it  begun  in  time,  it  was  once  future  in 
itself,  else  it  could  never  have  begun  to  be.  Did  not  God  know 
what  would  be  created  by  him,  before  it  was  created  by  him?' 
Did  he  create  he  knew  not  what,  and  knew  not  before  what  he 
should  create?  Was  he  ignorant  before  he  acted,  and  in  his  act- 
ing, what  his  operation  would  tend  to?  Or  did  he  not  know  the 
nature  of  things  and  the  ends  of  them,  till  he  had  produced 
them,  and  saw  them  in  being  ?  Creatures  then  did  not  arise 
from  his  knowledge,  but  his  knowledge  from  them;  he  did  not 
then  will  that  his  creatures  should  be,  or  he  had  then  willed 
what  he  knew  not,  and  knew  not  what  he  willed.  They  there- 
fore must  be  known  before  they  were  made,  and  not  known 
because  they  were  made;  he  knew  them  to  make  them,  and  he 
did  not  make  them  to  know  them.  By  the  same  reason  that 
he  knew  what  creatures  should  be  before  they  were,  he  knows 
still  what  creatures  shall  be  before  they  are;2  for  all  things  that 
are,  were  in  God,  not  really  in  their  own  nature,  but  in  him  as 
a  cause ;  so  the  earth  and  heavens  were  in  him,  as  a  model  is 

1  Petavius,  changed.  J  Rrsdward.  lib.  3.  cap.  1 1. 


488  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

in  the  mind  of  a  workman,  which  is  in  his  mind  and  soul  be- 
fore it  be  brought  forth  into  outward  act. 

Moreover,  the  predictions  of  future  things  evidence  this. 
There  is  not  a  prophecy  of  any  thing  to  come,  but  is  a  spark 
of  his  foreknowledge,  and  bears  witness  to  the  truth  of  this 
assertion,  in  the  punctual  accomplishment  of  it;  this  is  a  thing 
challenged  by  God,  as  his  own  peculiar,  wherein  he  surmounts 
all  the  idols  that  man's  inventions  have  deified  in  the  world. 
"  Let  them  bring  forth  (speaking  of  the  idols)  and  show  us 
what  shall  happen — or  declare  us  things  for  to  come  :  show 
the  things  that  are  to  come  hereafter,  that  we  may  know  that 
ye  are  gods,"  Isa.  xli.  22,  23.  Such  a  foreknowledge  of  things 
to  come,  is  here  ascribed  to  God  by  God  himself,  as  a  distinc- 
tion of  him  from  all  false  gods;  such  a  knowledge,  that  if  any 
could  prove  that  they  were  possessors  of,  he  would  acknow- 
ledge them  gods  as  well  as  himself;  "that  we  may  know  that 
ye  are  gods."  He  puts  his  Deity  to  stand  or  fall  upon  this  ac- 
count, and  this  should  be  the  point  which  should  decide  the 
controversy,  whether  he  or  the  heathen  idols  were  the  true 
God;  the  dispute  is  managed  by  this  medium.  He  that  knows 
things  to  come,  is  God;  I  know  things  to  come,  ergo,  I  am 
God;  the  idols  know  not  things  to  come,  therefore  they  are  not 
gods:  God  submits  the  being  of  his  Deity  to  this  trial.  If 
God  knows  things  to  come  no  more  than  the  heathen  idols, 
which  were  either  devils  or  men,  he  would  be  in  his  own  ac- 
count no  more  a  God  than  devils  or  men,  no  more  a  God 
than  the  pagan  idols  he  does  scoff  at  for  this  defect.  If  the 
heathen  idols  were  to  be  stripped  of  their  deity  for  want  of  this 
foreknowledge  of  things  to  come,  would  not  the  true  God  also 
fall  from  the  same  excellency,  if  he  were  defective  in  know- 
ledge? He  v/ould  in  his  own  judgment  no  more  deserve  the 
title  and  character  of  a  God  than  they.  How  could  he  reproach 
them  for  that,  if  it  were  wanting  in  himself?  It  cannot  be  un- 
derstood of  future  things  in  their  causes,  when  the  effects  neces- 
sarily arise  from  such  causes,  as  light  from  the  sun,  and  heat 
from  the  fire:  many  of  these  men  know — more  of  them,  angels 
and  devils  know,  if  God  therefore  had  not  a  higher  and  further 
knowledge  than  this,  he  would  not  by  this  be  proved  to  be  God 
any  more  than  angels  and  devils,  who  know  necessary  effects 
in  their  causes.  The  devils  indeed  did  predict  some  things  in 
the  heathen  oracles;  but  God  is  differenced  from  them  here  by 
the  infiniteness  of  his  knowledge,  in  being  able  to  predict  things 
to  come  that  they  knew  not,  or  things  in  their  particularities, 
things  that  depended  on  the  liberty  of  man's  will,  which  the 
devils  could  lay  no  claim  to  a  certain  knowledge  of.  Were  it 
only  a  conjectural  knowledge  that  is  here  meant,  the  devils 
might  answer,  they  can  conjecture,  and  so  their  deity  were  as 


ON  UOD\S  KNOWLEDGE.  4§Q 

good  as  God's;  for  though  God  might  know  more  things,  and 
conjecture  nearer  to  what  would  be,  yet  still  it  would  be  but 
conjectural,  and  therefore  not  a  higher  kind  of  knowledge  than 
what  the  devils  might  challenge.  How  much  then  is  God  be- 
holden to  the  Sociniana  for  denying  the  knowledge  of  all  future 
things  to  him,  upon  which  here  he  puts  the  trial  of  his  Deity! 
God  asserts  his  knowledge  of  things  to  come,  as  a  manifest  evi- 
dence of  his  Godhead;  those  that  deny  therefore  the  argument 
that  proves  it,  deny  the  conclusion  too;  for  this  will  necessarily 
follow,  that  if  he  be  God  because  he  knows  future  things,  then 
he  that  does  not  know  future  things  is  not  God;  and  if  God 
knows  not  future  things  but  only  by  conjecture,  then  there  is 
no  God;  because  a  certain  knowledge,  so  as  infallibly  to  pre- 
dict things  to  come,  is  an  inseparable  perfection  ol"  the  Deity. 
It  was  therefore  well  said  by  Austin,  that  it  was  as  high  a  mad- 
ness to  deny  God  to  be,  as  to  deny  him  the  foreknowledge  of 
things  to  come. 

The  whole  prophetic  part  of  Scripture  declares  this  perfection 
of  God;  every  prophet's  candle  was  lighted  at  this  torch; 
they  could  not  have  this  foreknowledge  of  themselves.  Why 
might  not  many  other  men  have  the  same  insight,  if  it  were  by 
nature?  It  must  be  from  some  superior  agent;  and  all  nations 
owned  prophecy  as  a  beam  from  God,  a  fruit  of  Divine  illumi- 
nation. Prophecy  must  be  totally  expunged  if  this  be  denied; 
for  the  subjects  of  prophecy  are  things  future,  and  no  man  is 
properly  a  prophet,  but  in  prediction  ;  now  prediction  is  nothing 
but  foretelling,  and  things  foretold  are  not  yet  come;  and  the 
foretelling  of  them,  supposes  them  not  to  be  yet,  but  that  they 
shall  be  in  time;  several  such  predictions  we  have  in  Scripture 
the  event  whereof  has  been  certain.  The  years  of  famine  in 
Egypt  foretold  that  God  would  order  second  causes  for  bringing 
that  judgment  upon  them;  the  captivity  of  his  people  in  Baby- 
lon, the  calling  of  the  gentiles,  the  rejection  of  the  Jews  are  pre- 
dicted. Daniel's  revelation  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  dream,  that 
prince  refers  to  God  as  the  revealer  of  secrets,  Dan.  ii.  4  7.  By 
the  same  reason  that  he  knows  one  thing  future  by  himself,  and 
by  the  infiniteness  of  his  knowledge  before  any  causes  of  them 
appear,  he  docs  know  all  things  future. 

Again,  some  future  things  are  known  by  men,  and  we  must 
allow  God  a  greater  knowledge  than  any  creature.  Future 
things  in  their  causes  may  be  known  by  angels  and  men  (as  I 
said  before ;)  whosoever  knows  necessary  causes  and  the  effi- 
cacy of  them,  may  foretell  the  effects;  and  when  he  sees  the 
meeting  and  concurrence  of  several  causes  together,  he  may 
presage  what  the  consequent  effect  will  be  of  such  a  concur- 
rence. So  physicians  foretell  the  progress  of  a  disease,  the  in 
crease  or  diminution  of  it,  by  natural  signs:  and  astronomers 
Vol.  I.— 6? 


490  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

foretell  eclipses  by  their  observation  of  the  motion  of  heavenly 
bodies,  many  years  before  they  happen; '  can  tbey  be  hid  from 
God,  with  whom  are  the  reasons  of  all  things?2  An  expert 
gardener,  by  knowing  the  root  in  the  depth  of  winter,  can  tell 
what  flowers  and  what  fruit  it  will  bear,  and  the  month  when 
they  will  peep  out  their  heads;  and  shall  not  God  much  more 
that  knows  the  principles  of  all  his  creatures,  and  is  exactly 
privy  to  all  their  natures,  and  qualities,  know  what  they  will  be, 
and  what  operations  shall  be  from  those  principles?  Now  if 
God  did  not  know  things  only  in  their  causes,  his  knowledge 
would  not  be  more  excellent  than  the  knowledge  of  angels  and 
men,  though  he  might  know  more  than  they,  of  the  things  that 
will  come  to  pass,  from  every  cause  singly,  and  from  the  con- 
currence of  many.  Now  as  God  is  more  excellent  in  being 
than  his  creature,  so  he  is  more  excellent  in  the  objects  of  his 
knowledge  and  ihe  manner  of  his  knowledge:  well  then,  shall 
a  certain  knowledge  of  something  future,  and  a  conjectural 
knowledge  of  many  things,  be  found  among  men:  and  shall 
a  determinate  and  infallible  knowledge  of  things  to  come,  be 
found  no  where,  in  no  being?  If  the  conjecture  of  future  things 
savours  of  ignorance,  and  God  knows  them  only  by  conjecture, 
there  is  then  no  such  thing  in  being  as  a  perfect  intelligent  being, 
and  so  no  God. 

We  may  add,  God  knows  his  own  decree  and  will,  and 
therefore  must  needs  know  all  future  things.  If  any  thing  be 
future,  or  to  come  to  pass,  it  must  be  from  itself,  or  from  God: 
not  from  itself,  then  it  would  be  independent  and  absolute:  if 
it  has  its  futurity  from  God,  then  God  must  know  what  he 
has  decreed  to  come  to  pass ;  those  things  that  are  future  in 
necessary  causes,  God  must  know,  because  he  willed  them  to 
be  causes  of  such  effects  ;  he  therefore  knows  them,  because  he 
knows  what  he  willed.  The  knowledge  of  God  cannot  arise 
from  the  things  themselves,  for  then  the  knowledge  of  God 
would  have  a  cause  without  him ;  and  knowledge,  which  is  an 
eminent  perfection,  would  be  conferred  upon  him  by  his  crea- 
tures. But  as  God  sees  things  possible  in  the  glass  of  his  own 
power,  so  he  sees  things  future  in  the  glass  of  his  own  will;  in 
his  effecting  will,  if  he  has  decreed  to  produce  them  ;  in  his 
permitting  will,  as  he  has  decreed  to  suffer  them  and  dispose  of 
them;  nothing  can  pass  out  of  the  rank  of  things  merely  possi- 
ble into  the  order  of  things  future,  before  some  act  of  God's 
will  has  passed  for  its  futurition. 3 

It  is  not  from  the  infinitiveness  of  his  own  nature,  simply 
considered,  that  God  knows  things  to  be  future;  for  as  things 
are  not  future  because  God  is  infinite,  (for  then  all  possible 
things  should  be  future,)  so  neither  is  any  thing  known  to  be 

i  fnsanus.  2  Fuller's  Pisgah,  1.  2.  p.  281.  3Chequell. 


ON  GOD'S   KNOWLEDGE. 


V.)l 


future  only  because  God  is  infinite,  but  because  God  lias 
decreed  it;  his  declaration  of  tilings  to  come  is  founded  upon 
his  appointment  of  tiling  to  come.  '  In  Isa.  \\w.  7,  it  is  said, 
''And  who,  as  I,  shall  call,  and  shall  declare  it — since  I  ap- 
pointed the  ancient  people,  and  the  things  thai  arc  coming?"1 
Nothing  is  created  or  ordered  in  the  world,  hut  what  God 
decreed  to  he  created  and  ordered.  God  knows  his  own 
decree,  and  therefore  all  things  which  he  has  decreed  to  exist. 
in  time;  not  the  minutest  part  of  the  world  could  have  existed 
without  his  will,  not  an  action  can  be  done  without  his  will: 
as  life  the  principle,  so  motion  the  fruit  of  that  life,  is  by  and 
from  God;  as  he  decreed  life  to  this  or  that  thing,  so  he  decreed 
motion  as  the  effect  of  life,  and  decreed  to  exert  his  power  in 
concurring  with  them,  for  producing  etlects  natural  from  such 
causes;  for  without  such  a  concourse  they  could  not  have  acted 
any  thing,  or  produced  any  thing.  And  therefore  as  for  natu- 
ral things,  which  we  call  necessary  causes,  God  foreseeing 
them  all  particularly  in  his  own  decree,  foresaw  also  all  effects 
which  must  necessarily  flow  from  them,  because  such  causes 
cannot  but  act  when  they  are  furnished  with  all  things  neces- 
sary for  action.  He  knows  his  own  decrees,  and  therefore 
necessarily  knows  what  he  has  decreed;  or  else  we  must  say 
things  come  to  pass  whether  God  will  or  no;  or,  that  he  wills 
he  knows  not  what;  but  this  cannot  be,  for  "known  unto  God 
are  all  his  works  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,"  Acts  xv. 
18.  Now  this  necessarily  flows  from  that  principle  first  laid 
down,  that  God  knows  himself,  since  nothing  is  future  without 
God's  will:  if  God  did  not  know  future  things,  he  would  not 
know  his  own  will;  for  as  things  possible  could  not  be  known 
by  him,  unless  he  knew  the  fulness  of  his  own  power;  so 
things  future  coidd  not  be  known  by  understanding,  unless  he 
knew  the  resolves  of  his  own  will. 

Thus  the  knowledge  of  God  differs  from  the  knowledge  of 
men:3  God's  knowledge  of  his  works  precedes  his  works, 
man's  knowledge  of  God's  works  follows  his  works;  just  as  an 
artificer's  knowledge  of  a  watch,  instrument,  or  engine,  which 
he  would  make,  is  before  his  making  of  it:  he  knows  the 
motions  of  it,  and  the  reason  of  those  motions  before  it  is 
made,  because  he  knows  what  he  has  determined  to  work;  he 
knows  not  those  motions  from  the  consideration  of  them  after 
they  were  made,  as  the  spectator  does,  who  by  viewing  the 
instrument  after  it  is  made,  gains  a  knowledge  from  the  sight 
and  consideration  of  it,  till  he  understands  the  reason  of  the 
whole.     So  we  know  things  from  the  consideration  of  them 

1  Coccci.  Sum.  Thcol.  p.  50. 
Guna..  in  Again,  part  1 .  q.  9  1-  i  ap.  3,  p.  124. 
■  Maimonid.  More  Ncvorh.  part  3.  cap. SI.  p.  393,394. 


492  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

after  we  see  them  in  being,  and  therefore  we  know  not  future 
things.  But  God's  knowledge  does  not  arise  from  things 
because  they  are,  but  because  he  wants  them  to  be;  and  there- 
fore he  knows  every  thing  that  shall  be,  because  it  cannot  be 
without  his  will,  as  the  Creator  and  maintainor  of  all  things: 
knowing  his  own  substance,  he  knows  all  his  works. 

To  conclude  this;  if  God  did  not  know  all  future  things  he 
would  be  mutable  in  his  knowledge. 

If  he  did  not  know  all  things  that  ever  were  or  are  to  be, 
there  would  be,  upon  the  appearance  of  every  new  object,  an 
addition  of  light  to  his  understanding,  and  therefore  such  a 
change  in  him,  as  every  new  knowledge  causes  in  the  mind  of 
a  man,  or  as  the  sun  works  in  the  world  upon  its  rising  every 
morning,  scattering  the  darkness  that  was  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth.  If  he  did  not  know  them  before  they  came,  he  would 
gain  a  knowledge  by  them  when  they  came  to  pass,  which  he 
had  not  before  they  were  effected;  his  knowledge  would  be 
new  according  to  the  newness  of  the  objects,  and  multiplied 
according  to  the  multitude  of  the  objects.  If  God  did  not  know 
things  to  come  as  perfectly  as  he  knew  things  present  and 
past,  but  knew  those  certainly,  and  the  others  doubtfully  and 
conjecturally,  he  would  suffer  some  change,  and  acquire  some 
perfection  in  his  knowledge,  when  those  future  things  should 
cease  to  be  future,  and  become  present;  for  he  would  know  it 
more  perfectly  when  it  was  present  than  he  did  when  it  was 
future,  and  so  there  would  be  a  change  from  imperfection  to  a 
perfection:  but  God  is  every  way  immutable. 

Besides,  that  perfection  would  not  arise  from  the  nature  of 
God,  but  from  the  existence  and  presence  of  the  thing;  but  who 
will  affirm  that  God  acquires  any  perfection  of  knowledge  from 
his  creatures,  any  more  than  he  does  of  being?  He  would  not 
then  have  had  that  knowledge,  and  consequently  that  perfection 
from  eternity,  as  he  had  when  he  created  the  world;  and  will 
not  have  a  full  perfection  of  the  knowledge  of  his  creature  till 
the  end  of  the  world,  nor  of  immortal  souls,  which  will  certainly 
act  as  well  as  live  to  eternity:  and  so  God  never  was  nor  ever 
will  be  perfect  in  knowledge;  for  when  you  have  conceived 
millions  of  years,  wherein  angels  and  souls  live  and  act,  there 
is  still  more  coming  than  you  can  conceive,  wherein  they  will 
act.  And  if  God  be  always  changing  to  eternity,  from  igno- 
rance to  knowledge,  as  those  acts  come  to  be  exerted  by  his 
creatures,  he  will  not  be  perfect  in  knowledge,  no,  not  to  eter- 
nity, but  will  always  be  changing  from  one  degree  of  knowledge 
to  another:  a  very  unworthy  conceit  to  entertain  of  the  most 
blessed,  perfect,  and  infinite  God! 

Hence  then  it  follows,  that 

God  foreknows  all  his  creatures.     All  kinds  which  he  deter- 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 


49IJ 


mined  to  make,  all  particulars  that  should  spring  out  of  every 
species,  the  time  when  they  should  come  forth  of  the  womb,  the 
manner  how;  "In  thy  book  all  my  members  were  written," 
Psal,  exxxix.  16.     Members  is  not  in   the   Hetfrew;  whence 

some  refer  all,  to  all  living  creatures  whatsoever,  and  all  the 
parts  of  them,  which  God  did  foresee;  he  knew  the  numbers  of 
creatures  wiih  all  their  parts,. they  were  written  in  the  book  of 
his  foreknowledge;  the  duration  of  them,  how  long  they  shall 
remain  in  being,  and  act  upon  the  stage;  he  knows  their  strength, 
the  links  of  one  cause  with  another,  and  what  will  follow  in  all 
their  circumstances,  and  the  series  and  combination  of  effects 
with  their  causes. 

The  duration  of  every  thing  is  foreknown,  because  determin- 
ed ;  "  Seeing  his  days  are  determined,  the  number  of  his  months 
are  with  thee,  thou  hast  appointed  his  bounds  that  he  cannot 
pass,'1  Job  xiv.  5:  bounds  are  fixed,  beyond  which  none  shall 
reach:  he  speaks  of  days  and  months,  not  of  years,  to  give  us 
notice  of  God's  particular  foreknowledge  of  every  thing,  of 
every  day,  month,  year,  hour,  of  a  man's  life. 

All  the  acts  of  his  creatures  are  foreknown  by  him.  All 
natural  acts,  because  he  knows  their  causes:  voluntary  acts  I 
shall  speak  of  afterwards. 

This  foreknowledge  was  certain.  For  it  is  an  unworthy  no- 
tion of  God,  to  ascribe  to  him  a  conjectual  knowledge;  if  there 
were  only  a  conjectural  knowledge,  he  could  but  conjecturally 
foretell  any  thing;  and  then  it  is  possible  the  events  of  things 
might  be  contrary  to  his  predictions.  It  would  appear  then 
that  God  were  deceived  and  mistaken,  and  then  there  could  be 
no  rule  of  trying  things  whether  they  were  from  God  or  no;  for 
the  rule  God  sets  down  to  discern  his  words  from  the  words  of 
false  prophets,  is  the  event  and  certain  accomplishment  of  what 
is  predicted.  To  that  question,  How  shall  we  know  whether 
God  has  spoken  or  no?  he  answers,  that  if  the  thing  does  not 
come  to  pass,  the  Lord  has  not  spoken,  Deut.  xviii.  21.  If  his 
knowledge  of  future  things  were  not  certain,  there  were  insta- 
bility in  this  rule,  it  would  fall  to  the  ground.  We  never  yet 
find  God  deceived  in  any  prediction,  but  the  event  did  answer 
his  fore-revelation;  his  foreknowledge  therefore  is  certain  and 
infallible.  We  cannot  make  God  uncertain  in  his  knowledge, 
but  we  must  conceive  him  fluctuating  and  wavering  in  his  will; 
but  if  his  will  be  not  yea  and  nay,  but  yea,  his  knowledge  is 
certain,  because  he  does  certainly  will  and  resolve. 

This  foreknowledge  was  from  ei 'entity.  Seeing  he  knows 
things  possible  in  his  power,  and  things  future  in  his  will,  if  his 
power  and  resolves  were  from  eternity,  his  knowledge  must  be 
so  too;  or  else  we  must  make  him  ignorant  of  his  own  power 
and  ignorant  of  his  own  will  from  eternity,  and  consequently 


494  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

not  from  eternity  blessed  and  perfect.  His  knowledge  of  possi- 
ble things  must  run  parallel  with  his  power,  and  his  knowledge 
of  future  things  run  parallel  with  his  will.  If  he  willed  from 
eternity,  he  knew  from  eternity  what  he  willed;  but  that  he  did 
will  from  eternity  we  must  grant,  unless  we  would  render  him 
changeable,  and  conceive  him  to  be  made  in  time  of  not  willing, 
willing.  The  knowledge  God  has  in  time,  was  always  one  and 
the  same,  because  his  understanding  is  his  proper  essence,  as 
perfect  as  his  essence,  and  of  an  immutable  nature. 

And  indeed  the  actual  existence  of  a  thing  is  not  simply  ne- 
cessary to  its  being  perfectly  known; •  we  may  see  a  thing  that 
is  past  out  of  being,  when  it  does  not  actually  exist ;  and  a  car- 
penter may  know  the  house  he  is  to  build,  before  it  be  built,  by 
the  model  of  it  in  his  own  mind;  much  more,  we  may  conceive 
the  same  of  God,  whose  decrees  were  before  the  foundation  of 
the  world ; 2  and  to  be  before  time  was,  and  to  be  from  eternity, 
has  no  difference.  As  God  in  his  being  exceeds  all  beginning 
of  time,  so  does  his  knowledge  all  motions  of  time. 

God  foreknows  all  things  as  present  with  him  from  eter- 
nity. As  he  knows  mutable  things  with  an  immutable  and  firm 
knowledge,  so  he  knows  future  things  with  a  present  know- 
ledge:3 not  that  the  things  which  are  produced  in  time,  were 
actually  and  really  present  with  him  in  their  own  being  from 
eternity;  for  then  they  could  not  be  produced  in  time:  had  they  a 
real  existence,  then  they  would  not  be  creatures,  but  God ;  and 
had  they  actual  being,  then  they  could  not  be  future,  for  future 
speaks  a  thing  to  come  that  is  not  yet.  If  things  had  been 
actually  present  with  him,  and  yet  future,  they  had  been  made 
before  they  were  made,  and  had  a  being  before  they  had  a 
being;  but  they  were  all  present  to  his  knowledge,  as  if  they 
were  in  actual  being,  because  the  reason  of  all  things  that  were 
to  be  made  was  present  with  him. 

The  reason  of  the  will  of  God  that  they  shall  be,  was  equally 
eternal  with  him,  wherein  he  saw  what,  and  when,  and  how 
he  would  create  things,  how  he  would  govern  them,  to  what 
ends  he  would  direct  them.4  Thus  all  things  are  present  to 
God's  knowledge,  though  in  their  own  nature  they  may  be  past 
or  future,  not  in  esse  reali,  "in  real  existence,"  but  in  esse  in- 
teliigibili,  "to  the  understanding,"  objectively;  not  actually 
present; 5  for  as  the  unchangeableness  and  infiniteness  of  God's 
knowledge  of  changeable  and  finite  things,  does  not  make  the 
things  he  knows  immutable  and  infinite,  so  neither  does  the 
eternity  of  his  knowledge  make  them  actually  present  with, 
him  from  eternity;  but  all  things  are  present  to  his  understand- 

i  Gamach.  in  Aquin.  part  1.  q.  14.  c.  3.  p.  124.         2  Eph.  i.  5,  and  in  other  places- 

3  Gerhard  Exeges.  ch.  8.  de  Deo,  sect.  13.  p.  303. 

4  Bradward.  1.  3.  c.  14.  •  Hornbcck. 


O.N  (iOD'S  KNUWLHlK.i; 


195 


in?,  because  he  has  at  once  a  view  of  all  successions  of  times  ; 
and  liis  knowledge  of  future  things  is  as  perfecl  as  of  present 
things,  or  what  is  past  ■  it  is  nol  a  certain  knowledge  of  present 
things,  and  an  uncertain  knowledge  of  future ;  hut  his  know- 
ledge of  one  is  as  certain  and  unerring  as  his  knowledge  of  the 
other;'  as  a  man  that  beholds  a  circle  with  several  lines  from 
tin!  centre,  beholds  the  lines  as  they  are  joined  in  the  centre, 
beholds  them  also  as  they  are  distant  and  severed  from  one  an- 
other, beholds  them  in  their  extent  and  in  their  point  all  at  once, 
though  they  may  have  a  great  distance  from  one  another.  He 
saw,  from  the  beginning  of  time  to  the  last  minute  of  it,  all 
things  coming  out  of  their  causes,  inarching  in  their  order  ac- 
cording to  his  own  appointment;  as  a  man  may  see  a  multi- 
tude of  ants,  some  creeping  one  way,  some  another,  employed 
in  several  businesses  for  their  winter  provision.  The  eye  of 
God  at  once  runs  through  the  whole  circle  of  time;  as  the  eye 
of  man  upon  a  tower  sees  all  the  passengers  at  once,  though 
some  be  past,  some  under  the  tower,  some  coming  at  a  further 
distance:  God,  says  Job,  "  looketh  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and 
seeth  under  the  whole  heaven,"  Job  xxviii.  24.  The  know- 
ledge of  God  is  expressed  by  sight  in  Scripture,  and  futurity  to 
God  is  the  same  thing  as  distance  to  us:  we  can  with  a  per- 
spective glass  make  things  that  are  afar  off  appear  as  if  they 
were  near;  and  the  sun,  so  many  thousand  miles  distant  from 
us,  to  appear  as  if  it  were  at  the  end  of  the  glass.  Why  should 
then  future  things  be  at  so  great  a  distance  from  God's  know- 
ledge, when  things  so  far  from  us  may  be  made  to  approach  so 
near  to  us  ? 

God  considers  all  things  in  his  own  simple  knowledge,  as  if 
they  were  now  acted;  and  therefore  some  have  chosen  to  call 
the  knowledge  of  things  to  come,  not  prescience  or  foreknow- 
ledge, but  knowledge  because  God  sees  all  things  in  one  instant, 
scientid  nunquam  dcficienlis  ins/an  ti:c.z  Upon  this  account 
things  that  are  to  come,  are  set  down  in  Scripture  as  present, 
and  sometimes  as  past :  "  Unto  us  a  child  is  born,"  Isa.  ix.  6, 
though  not  yet  born  ;  so  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  "  He  hath 
borne  our  griefs — he  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions — he 
was  taken  from  prison,"  Isa.  liii.  4,  &c,  not,  shall  be;  and, 
"They  part  my  garments  among  them,"  PsaL  xxii.  18,  as  if  it 
were  present:  all  to  express  the  certainty  of  God's  foreknow- 
ledge, as  if  things  were  actually  present  before  him. 

This  is  proper  to  (lot/,  anil  incommtmicabie  to  any  crea- 
ture. Nothing  but  what  is  eternal  can  know  all  things  that  arc 
to  come.  Suppose  a  creature  might  know  things  that  are  to 
come,  after  he  is  in  being;  he  cannot  know  things  simply  as 
future,  because  there  were  things  future  before  he  was  in  being. 

1  Pusfio  Fidoi,  part  I-  ch.  I!'.  2  Bwt.  ConBolat  lib.  5,  pros.  (I. 


490  0N  GOI>'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

The  devils  know  not  men's  hearts,  therefore  cannot  foretell  their 
actions  with  any  certainty;  they  may  indeed  have  a  knowledge 
of  some  things  to  come,  but  it  is  only  conjectural,  and  often  mis- 
taken; as  the  devil  was  in  his  predictions  among  the  heathen, 
and  in  his  presage  of  Job's  cursing  God  to  his  face  upon  his 
pressing  calamities,  Job.  i.  11.  Sometimes  indeed  they  have  a 
certain  knowledge  of  something  future  by  the  revelation  of  God, 
when  he  uses  them  as  instruments  of  his  vengeance,  or  for  the 
trial  of  his  people;  as  in  the  case  of  Job,  when  he  gave  him  a 
commission  to  strip  him  of  his  goods;  or  as  the  angels  have,  when 
he  uses  them  as  instruments  of  the  deliverance  of  his  people. 

Though  this  be  certain,  that  God  foreknows  all  things  and 
actions;  yet  the  manner  of  his  knowing  all  things  before 
they  come,  is  not  so  easily  resolved.  We  must  not,  therefore, 
deny  this  perfection  in  God,  because  we  understand  not  the  man- 
ner how  he  has  the  knowledge  of  all  things:  it  were  unworthy 
for  us  to  own  no  more  of  God  than  we  can  perfectly  conceive  of 
him;  we  should  then  own  no  more  of  him  than  that  he  does 
exist.  "  Canst  thou,"  says  Job,  "  by  searching  find  out  God; 
canst  thou  find  out  the  Almighty  unto  perfection?"  Job  xi.  7. 
Do  we  not  see  things  unknown  to  inferior  creatures  to  be  known 
to  ourselves?  Irrational  creatures  do  not  apprehend  the  nature 
of  a  man,  nor  what  we  conceive  of  them  when  we  look  upon 
them;  nor  do  we  know  what  they  fancy  of  us  when  they  look 
wistfully  upon  us;  for  aught  I  know,  we  understand  as  little  the 
manner  of  their  imaginations,  as  they  do  of  ours:  and  shall  we 
ascribe  a  darkness  in  God  as  to  future  things,  because  we  are 
ignorant  of  them,  and  of  the  manner  how  he  should  know 
them?1  Shall  we  doubt  whether  God  does  certainly  know  those 
things  which  we  only  conjecture?  As  our  power  is  not  the 
measure  of  the  power  of  God,  so  neither  is  our  knowledge  the 
judge  of  the  knowledge  of  God,  no  better  nor  so  well  as  an  irra- 
tional nature  can  be  the  judge  of  our  reason.  Do  we  perfectly 
know  the  manner  how  we  know?  Shall  we  therefore  deny  that 
we  know  any  thing?  We  know  we  have  such  a  faculty  which 
we  call  understanding,  but  does  any  man  certainly  know  what 
it  is?  And  because  he  does  not,  shall  he  deny  that  which  is 
plain  and  evident  to  him?  Because  we  cannot  ascertain  our- 
selves of  the  causes  of  the  ebbing  and  flowing  of  the  sea,  of  the 
manner  how  minerals  are  engendered  in  the  earth,  shall  we 
therefore  deny  that  which  our  eyes  convince  us  of? 

And  this  will  be  a  preparation  to  the  last  thing. 

[5.]  God  knows  all  future  contingencies,  that  is,  Gqd  knows 
all  things  that  shall  accidentally  happen,  or,  as  we  say,  by 
chance;  and  he  knows  all  the  free  motions  of  men's  wills  that 
shall  be  to  the  end  of  the  world. 

1  Ficinus  in  Procl.  cap.  ID. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLED<;i;  497 

If  all  things  be  open  to  him,  Heb.  iv.  13,  then  all  contingen- 
cies are,  for  they  are  in  the  number  of  things;  and  as,  according 
to  Christ's  speech,  those  things  that  are  impossible  to  man,  are 
possible  to  God;  so  those  things  which  am  unknown  to  man, 
are  known  to  God;  because  of  the  infinite  fulness  and  perfection 
of  the  Divine  understanding. 

Let  us  see  what  a  contingent  is. 

That  is  contingent  which  we  commonly  call  accidental,  as 
when  a  tile  falls  suddenly  upon  a  man's  head  as  he  is  walking 
in  the  street;  or,  when  one  letting  off  a  musket  at  random,  shoots 
another  he  did  not  intend  to  hit:  such  was  that  arrow  whereby 
Ahab  was  killed,  shot  by  a  soldier  at  a  venture,  1  Kings  xxii. 
34;  this  some  call  a  mixed  contingent,  made  up  partly  of  neces- 
sity, and  partly  of  accident;  it  is  necessary  the  bullet,  when  sent 
out  of  the  gun,  or  arrow  out  of  the  bow,  should  11  y  and  light 
some  where,  but  it  is  an  accident  that  it  hits  this  or  that  man, 
that  was  never  intended  by  the  archer.  Other  things,  as  volun- 
tary actions,  are  purely  contingents,  and  have  nothing  of  neces- 
sity in  them;  all  free  actions  that  depend  upon  the  will  of  man, 
whether  to  do,  or  not  to  do,  are  of  this  nature,  because  they  de- 
pend not  upon  a  necessary  cause,  as  burning  does  upon  the  fire, 
moistening  upon  water,  or  as  descent  or  falling  down  is  neces- 
sary to  a  heavy  body,  for  those  cannot  in  their  own  nature  do 
otherwise;  but  the  other  actions  depend  upon  a  free  agent,  able 
to  turn  to  this  or  that  point,  and  determine  himself  as  he  pleases. 

Now  we  must  know,  that  what  is  accidental  in  regard  of  the 
creature,  is  not  so  in  regard  of  God;  the  manner  of  Ahab's 
death  was  accidental,  in  regard  of  the  hand  by  which  he  was 
slain,  but  not  in  regard  of  God  who  foretold  his  death,  and 
foreknew  the  shot,  and  directed  the  arrow.  God  was  not 
uncertain  before  of  the  manner  of  his  fall,  nor  hovered  over 
the  battle  to  watch  for  an  opportunity  to  accomplish  his  own 
prediction.  What  may  be  or  not  be,  in  regard  of  us,  is  certain 
in  regard  of  God;  to  imagine  that  what  is  accidental  to  us,  is 
so  to  God,  is  to  measure  God  by  our  short  line.  How  many 
events  following  upon  the  results  of  princes  in  their  counsels, 
seem  to  persons  ignorant  of  those  counsels  to  be  a  hap  hazard, 
yet  were  not  contingencies  to  the  prince  and  his  assistants,  but 
foreseen  by  him  as  certainly  to  issue  so  as  they  do,  which  they 
knew  before  would  be  the  fruit  of  such  causes  and  instruments 
they  would  knit  together!  That  may  be  necessary  in  regard 
of  God's  foreknowledge,  which  is  merely  accidental  in  regard 
of  the  natural  disposition  of  the  immediate  causes  which  do 
actually  produce  it;  contingent  in  its  own  nature,  and  in  regard 
of  us,  but  fixed  in  the  knowledge  of  God.  One  illustrates  it 
by  this  similitude:  a  master  sends  two  servants  to  one  and  the 
same  place,  two  several  ways,  unknown  to  one  another;  they 
Vol.  I.— 63 


498  0N  G0I>'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

meet  at  the  place  which  their  master  had  appointed  them; 
their  meeting  is  accidental  to  them,  one  knows  not  of  the  other, 
but  it  was  foreseen  by  the  master  that  they  should  so  meet, 
and  that  in  regard  of  them  it  would  seem  a  mere  accident,  till 
they  came  to  explain  the  business  to  one  another.  Both  the 
necessity  of  their  meeting  in  regard  to  their  master's  order,  and 
the  accidentalness  of  it  in  regard  of  themselves,  were  in  both 
their  circumstances  foreknown  by  the  master  that  employed 
them.  J 

For  the  clearing  of  this,  take  it  in  this  method. 

//  is  an  unworthy  conceit  of  God  in  any  to  exclude  him 
from  the  knowledge  of  these  things. 

For  it  will  be  a  strange  contracting  of  him,  to  allow  him  no 
greater  a  knowledge  than  we  have  ourselves.  Contingencies 
are  known  to  us  when  they  come  into  act,  and  pass  from  futu- 
rity to  reality;  and  when  they  are  present  to  us,  we  can  order 
our  affairs  accordingly.  Shall  we  allow  God  no  greater  a 
measure  of  knowledge  than  we  have,  and  make  him  as  blind 
as  ourselves,  not  to  see  things  of  that  nature  before  they  come 
to  pass?  Shall  God  know  them  no  more,  shall  we  imagine 
God  knows  no  otherwise  than  we  know?  and  that  he  does, 
like  us,  stand  gazing  with  admiration  at  events?  Man  can 
conjecture  many  things:  is  it  fit  to  ascribe  the  same  uncer- 
tainty to  God,  as  though  he,  as  well  as  we,  could  have  no 
assurance  till  the  issue  appear  in  the  view  of  all?  If  God  does 
not  certainly  foreknow  them,  he  does  but  conjecture  them;  but 
a  conjectural  knowledge  is  by  no  means  to  be  fastened  on 
God;  for  that  is  not  knowledge,  but  guess,  and  destroys  a 
Deity  by  making  him  subject  to  mistake;  for  he  that  only 
guesseth,  may  guess  wrong:  so  that  this  is  to  make  God  like 
ourselves,  and  strip  him  of  a  universally  acknowledged  perfec- 
tion of  omniscience.  "  A  conjectural  knowledge,"  saith  one, 
"is  as  unworthy  of  God,  as  the  creature  is  unworthy  of  om- 
niscience."2 It  is  certain  man  hath  a  liberty  to  act  many 
things  this  or  that  way  as  he  pleases;  to  walk  to  this  or  that 
quarter,  to  speak  or  not  to  speak,  to  do  this  or  that  thing  or  not 
to  do  it;  which  way  a  man  will  certainly  determine  himself,  is 
unknown  before  to  any  creature,  yea  often  at  the  present  to 
himself,  for  he  may  be  in  suspense;  but  shall  we  imagine  this 
future  determination  of  himself  is  concealed  from  God  ?  Those 
that  deny  God's  foreknowledge  in  such  cases,  must  either  say, 
that  God  hath  an  opinion  that  a  man  will  resolve  rather  this 
way  than  that;  but  then  if  a  man  by  his  liberty  determine 
himself  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  God,  is  not  God  then  de- 
ceived; and  what  rational  creature  can  own  him  for  a  God 
that  can  be  deceived  in  any  thing?     Or  else  they  must  say  that 

'  Zanch.  2  Scrivener. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  499 

God  is  at  uncertainty,  and  suspends  his  opinion  without  deter- 
mining it  any  way:  then  he  cannot  know  free  acts  till  iliey  are 
done;  he  would  then  depend  upon  the  creature  for  his  infor- 
mation; his  knowledge  would  be  every  instant  increased,  ;is 
things,  he  knew  not  before,  came  into  act;  and  since  there  are 
every  minute  an  innumerable  multitude  of  various  imagina- 
tions in  the  minds  of  men,  there  would  be  every  minute  an 
accession  of  new  knowledge  to  God,  which  he  had  not  before. 
Besides,  this  knowledge  would  be  mutable  according  to  the 
wavering  and  weathercock  resolutions  of  men,  one  while 
standing  to  this  point,  another  while  to  that,  if  he  depended 
upon  the  creature's  determination  for  his  knowledge. 

Again,  if  the  free  acts  of  men  were  unknown  before  to  God, 
no  man  can  see  how  there  can  be  any  government  of  the  world 
by  him.  Such  contingencies  may  happen,  and  such  resolves 
of  men's  free  wills  unknown  to  God,  as  may  perplex  his  affairs, 
and  put  him  upon  new  counsels  and  methods  for  attaining  those 
ends  which  he  settled  at  the  first  creation  of  things.  If  things 
happen  which  God  knows  not  of  before,  this  must  be  the  con- 
sequence; where  there  is  no  foresight  there  is  no  providence; 
things  may  happen  so  sudden,  if  God  be  ignorant  of  them,  that 
they  may  give  a  check  to  his  intentions  and  scheme  of  govern- 
ment, and  put  him  upon  changing  the  model  of  it.  How  often 
does  a  small  intervening  circumstance,  unforeseen  by  man,  dash 
in  pieces  a  long  meditated  and  well  formed  design!  To  govern 
necessary  causes,  as  sun  and  stars,  whose  effects  are  natural 
and  constant  in  themselves,  is  easy  to  be  imagined:  but  how 
to  govern  the  world,  that  consists  of  so  many  men  of  free  will 
able  to  determine  themselves  to  this  or  that,  and  which  have 
no  constancy  in  themselves,  as  the  sun  and  stars  have,  cannot 
be  imagined,  unless  we  will  allow  in  God  as  great  a  certainty 
of  foreknowledge  of  the  designs  and  actions  of  men,  as  there 
is  inconstancy  in  their  resolves.  God  must  be  altering  the  me- 
thods of  his  government  every  day,  every  hour,  every  minute, 
according  to  the  determinations  of  men,  which  are  so  various 
and  changeable  in  the  whole  compass  of  the  world  in  the  space 
of  one  minute;  he  must  wait  to  see  what  the  counsels  of  men 
will  be,  before  he  could  settle  his  own  methods  of  government! 
and  so  must  govern  the  world  according  to  their  mutability,  and 
not  according  to  any  certainty  in  himself,  lint  his  counsel  is 
stable  in  the  midst  of  multitudes  of  free  devices  in  the  heart  of 
man,  Prov.  xix.  21;  and  knowing  them  all  before,  orders  them 
to  be  subservient  to  his  own  stable  counsel.  If  be  cannot  know 
what  to-morrow  will  bring  forth  in  the  mind  of  a  man,  how 
can  he  certainly  settle  his  own  determination  of  governing 
him?  His  decrees  and  resolves  must  be  temporal,  and  arise  pro 
re  natn.  w  as  occasion   r^quir^s,"  and   he  must  always  be  in 


500  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

counsel  what  he  should  do  upon  every  change  of  men's  minds. 
This  is  an  unworthy  conceit  of  the  infinite  Majesty  of  heaven, 
to  make  his  government  depend  upon  the  resolves  of  men,  ra- 
ther than  their  resolves  upon  the  design  of  God. 

It  is  therefore  certain  that  God  does  foreknow  the  free  and 
voluntary  acts  of  men.  How  could  he  else  order  his  people  to 
ask  of  him  things  to  come,  in  order  to  their  deliverance,  such 
things  as  depended  upon  the  will  of  man,  if  he  foreknew  not 
the  motions  of  their  will?  Isa.  xlv.  11. 

He  knows  actions  good  or  indifferent  depending  upon  the 
liberty  of  man's  will,  as  much  as  any  whatsoever.  Several  of 
these  he  has  foretold;  not  only  a  person  to  build  up  Jerusalem 
was  predicted  by  him,  but  the  name  of  that  person,  Cyrus,  Isa. 
xliv.  28.  What  is  more  contingent,  or  is  more  the  effect  of  the 
liberty  of  man's  will,  than  the  names  of  their  children?  Was 
not  the  destruction  of  the  Babylonish  empire  foretold,  which 
Cyrus  undertook,  not  by  any  compulsion,  but  by  a  free  inclina- 
tion and  resolve  of  his  own  will?  And  was  not  the  dismission 
of  the  Jews  into  their  own  country  a  voluntary  act  in  that  con- 
queror? If  you  consider  the  liberty  of  man's  will,  might  not 
Cyrus  as  well  have  continued  their  yoke  as  have  struck  off  their 
chains,  and  kept  them  captive  as  well  as  dismissed  them?  Had 
it  not  been  for  his  own  interest,  rather  to  have  strengthened 
the  fetters  of  so  turbulent  a  people,  who  being  tenacious  of 
their  religion  and  laws,  different  from  that  professed  by  the 
whole  world,  were  like  to  make  disturbances  more  when  they 
were  linked  in  a  body  in  their  own  country,  than  when  they 
were  transplanted  and  scattered  into  the  several  parts  of  his 
empire?  It  was  in  the  power  of  Cyrus  (take  him  as  a  man)  to 
choose  one  or  the  other;  his  interest  invited  him  to  continue 
their  captivity,  rather  than  grant  their  deliverance;  yet  God 
knew  that  he  would  willingly  do  this  rather  than  the  other;  he 
knew  this  which  depended  upon  the  will  of  Cyrus;  and  why 
may  not  an  infinite  God  foreknow  the  free  acts  of  all  men,  as 
well  as  of  one?  If  the  liberty  of  Cyrus's  will  was  no  hindrance 
to  God's  certain  and  infallible  foreknowledge  of  it,  how  can  the 
contingency  of  any  other  thing  be  a  hindrance  to  him?  For 
there  is  the  same  reason  of  one  and  all;  and  his  government 
extends  to  every  village,  every  family,  every  person,  as  well  as 
to  kingdoms  and  nations.! 

So  God  foretold  by  his  prophet,  not  only  the  destruction  of 
Jeroboam's  altar,  but  the  name  of  the  person  that  should  be 
the  instrument  of  it,  1  Kings  xiii.  2;  and  this  about  three  hun- 
dred years  before  Josiah's  birth.  It  is  a  wonder  that  none  of 
the  pious  kings  of  Judah,  in  detestation  of  idolatry,  and  hopes 
to  recover  again  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  had  in  all  that  space 
named  one  of  their  sons  by  that  name  of  Josiah,  in  hopes  that 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  ;)( >  j 

that  prophesy  sliould  he  accomplished  hy  him;  or  that  Manas- 
seh  only  should  do  this,  who  was  the  greatest  imitator  of  Jero- 
boam's idolatry  among  all  the  Jewish  kings,  and  indeed  went 
beyond  them;  and  had  no  mind  to  destroy  in  another  kingdom 
what  he  propagated  in  his  own.  What  is  freer  than  the  impo- 
sition of  a  name?  yet  this  God  foreknew-;  and  this  Josiah  was 
Manasseh's  son,  2  Kings  xxi.  'Jti.  Was  there  any  thing  more 
voluntary  than  for  Pharaoh  to  honour  the  butler  by  restoring 
him  to  his  place,  and  punish  the  baker  by  hanging  him  on  a 
gibbet?  yet  this  was  foretold,  Gen.  xl.  8.  And  were  not  all 
the  voluntary  acts  of  men,  which  were  the  means  of  Joseph's 
advancement,  foreknown  by  God,  as  well  as  his  exaltation, 
which  was  the  end  he  aimed  at  by  those  means?  Many  of  these 
may  be  reckoned  up. 

Can  all  the  free  acts  of  man  surmount  the  infinite  capacity 
of  the  Divine  understanding?  If  God  singles  out  one  voluntary 
action  in  man  as  contingent  as  any,  and  lying  among  a  vast 
number  of  other  designs  and  resolutions,  both  antecedent  and 
subsequent;  why  should  he  not  know  the  whole  mass  of  men's 
thoughts  and  actions,  and  pierce  into  all  that  the  liberty  of  man's 
will  can  effect?  Why  should  he  not  know  every  grain,  as  well 
as  one  that  lies  in  the  midst  of  many  of  the  same  kind? 

And  since  the  Scripture  gives  so  large  an  account  of  contin- 
gents, predicted  by  God,  no  man  can  certainly  prove  that  any 
thing  is  unforeknown  to  him.  It  is  as  reasonable  to  think  he 
knows  every  contingent,  as  that  he  knows  some  that  lie  as 
much  hid  from  the  eye  of  any  creature,  since  there  is  no  more 
difficulty  to  an  infinite  understanding  to  know  all,  than  to  know 
some.'  Indeed  if  we  deny  God's  foreknowledge  of  the  volun- 
tary actions  of  men,  we  must  strike  ourselves  off  from  the  belief 
of  Scripture  predictions,  that  yet  remain  unaccomplished,  and 
will  be  brought  about  by  the  voluntary  engagements  of  men, 
as  the  ruin  of  antichrist,  for  instance.  If  God  foreknows  not 
the  secret  motions  of  man's  will,  how  can  he  foretell  them?  If 
we  strip  him  of  this  perfection  of  prescience,  why  should  we 
believe  a  word  of  Scripture  predictions?  All  the  credit  of  the 
word  of  God  is  torn  up  by  the  roots.  If  God  were  uncertain  of 
such  events,  how  can  we  reconcile  God's  declaration  of  them 
to  his  truth,  and  his  demanding  our  belief  of  them  to  his  good- 
ness? Were  it  good  and  righteous  in  God  to  urge  us  to  the 
belief  of  that  he  were  uncertain  of  himself?  How  could  he  be 
true  in  predicting  things  he  were  not  sure  of?  or  good,  in  re- 
quiring credit  to  be  given  to  that  which  might  be  false?     This 

1  The  Stoics  that  thought  their  souls  to  be  some  particle  of  God  ( '  ArtoirtMtj- 
/uara,  "  pieces  pulled  off  from  him,")  did  conclude  from  thence  that  lie  knew  all 
the  motions  of  their  souls  as  his  own  mover,  as  things  coherent  with  him. — Arrian 
Epictet.  lib.  1.  chap.  14,  p.  60. 


502  0N  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

would  necessarily  follow,  if  God  did  not  foreknow  the  motions 
of  men's  wills,  whereby  many  of  his  predictions  were  fulfilled, 
and  some  remain  yet  to  be  accomplished. 

God  also  equally  foreknows  the  voluntary  sinful  motions 
of  ?nen,s  wills. 

He  has  foretold  several  of  them.  Were  not  all  the  minute 
sinful  circumstances  about  the  death  of  our  blessed  Redeemer, 
as  the  piercing  him,  giving  him  gall  to  drink,  foretold,  as  well 
as  the  not  breaking  his  bones,  and  parting  his  garments?  What 
were  those  but  the  free  actions  of  men,  which  they  did  willingly 
without  any  constraint?  And  those  foretold  by  David,  Isaiah, 
and  other  prophets,  some  above  a  thousand,  some  eight  hun- 
dred, and  some  more,  some  fewer  years,  before  they  came  to 
pass:  and  events  punctually  answered  the  prophecies.  Many 
sinful  acts  of  men,  which  depended  upon  their  free-will,  have 
been  foretold:  the  Egyptians'  voluntary  oppressing  Israel,  Gen. 
xv.  13;  Pharaoh's  hardening  his  heart  against  the  voice  of 
Moses,  Exod.  iii.  19;  that  Isaiah's  message  would  be  in  vain 
to  the  people,  Isa.  vi.  9;  that  the  Israelites  would  be  rebellious 
after  Moses'  death,  and  turn  idolaters,  Deut.  xxxi.  1G;  Judas' 
betraying  of  our  Saviour,  a  voluntary  action,  John  vi.  ult.  He 
was  not  forced  to  do  what  he  did,  for  he  had  some  kind  of  re- 
pentance for  it;  and  not  violence,  but  voluntariness  falls  under 
repentance. 

The  truth  of  God  has  depended  upon  this  foresight.  Let  us 
consider  that  declaration  in  Gen.  v.  16,  but  "  the  fourth  genera- 
tion, they  shall  come  hither  again;"  that  is,  the  posterity  of 
Abraham  shall  come  into  Canaan;  "for  the  iniquity  of  the 
Amorites  is  not  yet  full."  l  God  makes  a  promise  to  Abraham, 
of  giving  his  posterity  the  land  of  Canaan,  not  presently,  but  in 
the  fourth  generation.  If  the  truth  of  God  be  infallible  in  the 
performance  of  his  promise,  his  understanding  is  as  infallible 
in  the  foresight  of  the  Amorites'  sin ;  the  fulness  of  their  iniquity 
was  to  precede  the  Israelites'  possession.  Did  the  truth  of  God 
depend  upon  an  uncertainty?  Did  he  make  the  promise  hand 
over  head  (as  we  say?)  How  could  he  with  any  wisdom  and 
truth  assure  Israel  of  the  possession  of  the  land  in  the  fourth 
generation,  if  he  had  not  been  sure  that  the  Amorites  would 
fill  up  the  measure  of  their  iniquities  by  that  time?  If  Abraham 
had  been  a  Socinian,  to  deny  God's  knowledge  of  the  free  acts 
of  men,  had  he  not  had  a  fine  excuse  for  unbelief?  What 
would  his  reply  have  been  to  God?  Alas,  Lord,  this  is  not  a 
promise  to  be  relied  upon,  the  Amorites'  iniquity  depends  upon 
the  acts  of  their  free  will,  and  such  thou  canst  have  no  know- 
ledge of;  thou  canst  see  no  more  than  a  likelihood  of  their  ini- 
quity being  full,  and  therefore  there  is  but  a  likelihood  of  thy 

i  Vid.  Rivet,  in  loc.  exerci.  86.  p.  329. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  5Q3 

performing  thy  promise,  and  not  a  certainty.  Would  not  this 
be  judged  not  only  a  saucy,  but  a  blasphemous  answer?  And 
upon  these  principles  tin-  truth  of  the  most  faithful  God  had 
been  dashed  to  uncertainty  and  a  peradventure. 

God  provided  a  remedy  for  man's  Bin,  and  therefore  foresaw 
the  entrance  of  it  into  the  world  by  the  full  of  Adam.  He  had 
a  decree  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  to  manifest  his 
wisdom  in  the  gospel  by  Jesus  Christ,  an  eternal  purpose  in 
Jesus  Christ,  Eph.  iii.  11.  And  a  decree  of  election  passed 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world;  a  separation  of  some  to 
redemption,  and  forgiveness  of  sin  in  the  blood  of  Christ,  in 
whom  they  were  from  eternity  chosen,  as  well  as  in  time  ac- 
cepted in  Christ,  Eph.  i.  4.  6,  7;  which  is  called  a  purpose  in 
himself,  ver.  9.  Had  not  sin  entered,  there  had  been  no  occa- 
sion for  the  death  of  the  Son  of  God,  it  being  every  where  in 
Scripture  laid  upon  that  score;  a  decree  for  the  shedding  of 
blood,  supposed  a  decree  for  the  permission  of  sin,  and  a  cer- 
tain foreknowledge  of  God  that  it  would  be  committed  by  man. 
An  uncertainty  of  foreknowledge,  and  a  fixedness  of  purpose, 
are  not  consistent  in  a  wise  man,  much  less  in  the  only  wise 
God.  God's  purpose  to  manifest  his  wisdom  to  men  and 
angels  in  this  way,  might  have  been  defeated,  had  God  had 
only  a  conjectural  foreknowledge  of  the  fall  of  man;  and  all 
those  solemn  purposes  of  displaying  his  perfections  in  those 
methods  had  been  to  no  purpose;1  the  provision  of  a  remedy 
supposed  a  certainty  of  the  disease.  If  a  sparrow  fall  not  to 
the  ground  without  the  will  of  God,  how  much  less  could  such 
a  deplorable  ruin  fall  upon  mankind,  without  God's  will  per- 
mitting it,  and  his  knowledge  foreseeing  it! 

It  is  not  hard  to  conceive  how  God  might  foreknow  it:2  he 
indeed  dpcreed  to  create  man  in  an  excellent  state;  the  good- 
ness of  God  could  not  but  furnish  him  with  a  power  to  stand; 
yet  in  his  wisdom  he  might  foresee,  that  the  devil  would  be 
envious  of  man's  happiness,  and  would  out  of  envy  attempt 
his  subversion.  As  God  knew  of  what  temper  the  faculties 
were  he  had  endued  man  with,  and  how  far  they  were  able  to 
endure  the  assaults  of  a  temptation;  so  he  also  foreknew  the 
grand  subtlety  of  Satan,  how  he  would  lay  his  mine,  and  to 
what  point  he  would  drive  his  temptation;  how  he  would  pro- 
pose and  manage  it,  and  direct  his  battery  against  the  sensitive 
appetite,  and  assault  the  weakest  part  of  the  fort.  Might  he 
not  foresee  that  the  eilicacy  of  the  temptation  would  exceed 
the  measure  of  the  resistance?  Cannot  God  know  how  far  the 
malice  of  Satan  would  extend,  what  shots  he  would  according 
to  his  nature  use,  how  high  he  would  charge  his  temptation 
without  his   powerful  restraint,  as   well  as  an  engineer  judge 

•  Mares,  cont.  Volkel.  lib.  1.  cup.  24.  p.  343.        !  Amy  raid,  do  Prtcdestin.  cap.  6- 


504  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

how  many  shots  of  a  cannon  will  make  a  breach  in  a  town, 
and  how  many  casks  of  powder  will  blow  up  a  fortress,  who 
never  yet  built  the  one  nor  founded  the  other?  We  may  easily 
conclude  God  could  not  be  deceived  in  the  judgment  of  the 
issue  and  event,  since  he  knew  how  far  lie  would  let  Satan 
loose,  how  far  he  would  permit  man  to  act;  and  since  he  dives 
to  the  bottom  of  the  nature  of  all  things,  he  foresaw  that  Adam 
was  endued  with  an  ability  to  stand,  as  he  foresaw  that  Ben- 
hadad  might  naturally  recover  of  his  disease;  but  he  foresaw 
also  that  Adam  would  sink  under  the  allurements  of  the  temp- 
tation, as  he  foresaw  that  Hazael  would  not  let  Benhadad  live, 
2  Kings  viii.  10. 

Now  since  the  whole  race  of  mankind  lies  in  corruption,  and 
is  subject  to  the  power  of  the  devil,  1  John  iii.  8;  may  not  God, 
that  knows  the  corruption  in  every  man's  nature,  and  the  force 
of  every  man's  spirit,  and  what  every  particular  nature  will 
incline  him  to  upon  such  objects  proposed  to  him,  and  what  the 
reasons  of  the  temptation  will  be,  know  also  the  issues?  Is 
there  any  difficulty  in  God's  foreknowing  this,  since  man 
knowing  the  nature  of  one  he  is  well  acquainted  with,  can 
conclude  what  sentiments  he  will  have,  and  how  he  will  be- 
have himself  upon  presenting  this  or  that  object  to  him? 

If  a  man  that  understands  the  disposition  of  his  child,  or  ser- 
vant, knows  before  what  he  will  do  upon  such  an  occasion; 
may  not  God  much  more,  who  knows  the  inclinations  of  all 
his  creatures  and  from  eternity,  run  with  his  eyes  over  all  the 
works  he  intended?  Our  wills  are  in  the  number  of  causes; 
and  since  God  knows  our  wills,  as  causes,  better  than  we  do 
ourselves,  why  should  he  be  ignorant  of  the  effects. 

God  determines  to  give  grace  to  such  a  man ;  not  to  give  it 
to  another,  but  leave  him  to  himself,  and  suffer  such  temptations 
to  assault  him:. now  God  knowing  the  corruption  of  man  in  the 
whole  mass,  and  in  every  part  of  it,  is  it  not  easy  for  him  to 
foreknow  what  the  future  actions  of  the  will  will  be,  when  the 
tinder  and  fire  meet  together,  and  how  such  a  man  will  deter- 
mine himself  both  as  to  the  substance  and  manner  of  the  action? 
Is  it  not  easy  for  him  to  know,  how  a  corrupted  temper  and  a 
temptation  will  suit?  God  is  exactly  privy  to  all  the  gall  in  the 
hearts  of  men,  and  what  principles  they  will  have,  before  they 
have  a  being.  He  knows  their  thoughts  afar  off,  Psal.  cxxxix. 
2,  as  far  off  as  eternity,  as  some  explain  the  words;  and  thoughts 
are  as  voluntary  as  any  thing:  he  knows  the  power  and  inclina- 
tions of  men  in  the  order  of  second  causes;  he  understands  the 
corruption  of  men,  as  well  as  the  poison  of  dragons,  and  the 
venom  of  asps;  this  is  laid  up  in  store  with  him,  and  sealed 
among  his  treasures,  Deut.  xxxii.  33,  34;  among  the  treasures 
of  his  foreknowledge,  say  some. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLED(.l.  5Q5 

What  was  the  cruelty  of  Hazael,  but  a  free  act?  yet  God 
knew  the  frame  of  his  heart,  and  what  acts  of  murder  and  op- 
pression would  spring  from  that  bitter  fountain,  before  Hazael 
bad  conceived  them  in  himself,  2  Kings  viii.  12.  As  a  man  that 
knows  the  mineral  through  which  waters  pass,  may  know  u  hal 
relish  they  will  have  before  ihey  appear  above  the  earth;  so 
our  Saviour  knew  how  Peter  would  deny  him;  he  knew  what 
quantity  of  powder  would  serve  for  such  a  battery;  in  what 
measure  he  Would  let  loose  Satan,  how  far  he  would  leave  the 
reins  in  Peter's  hands,  and  then  the  issue  might  easily  he  known. 
And  so  in  every  act  of  man,  God  knows  in  his  own  will  what 
measure  of  grace  lie  will  give,  to  determine  the  will  to  good, 
and  what  measure  of  grace  he  will  withdraw  from  such  a  per- 
son, or  not  give  to  him,  and  consequently,  how  far  such  a  per- 
son will  fall  or  not.  God  knows  the  inclinations  of  the  creature ; 
he  knows  his  own  permissions,  what  degrees  of  grace  he  will 
either  allow  him  or  keep  from  him,  according  to  which  will  be 
the  degree  of  his  sin.  This  may  in  some  measure  help  our 
conceptions  in  this,  though,  as  was  said  before,  the  manner  of 
God's  foreknowledge  is  not  so  easily  explicable. 

To  conclude  this  part  of  the  subject;  God's  foreknowledge  of 
man's  voluntary  actions  does  not  necessitate  the  will  of  man. 
The  foreknowledge  of  God  is  not  deceived,  nor  the  liberty  of 
man's  will  diminished.  I  shall  not  trouble  you  with  any  school 
distinctions,  but  be  as  plain  as  I  can,  laying  down  several  pro- 
positions in  this  case. 

//  is  certain  all  necessity  does  not  take  away  liberty.  In- 
deed a  compulsive  necessity  takes  away  liberty;  but  a  necessity 
of  immutability  removes  not  liberty  from  God ;  why  should  then 
a  necessity  of  infallibility  in  God  remove  liberty  from  the  crea- 
ture? God  did  necessarily  create  the  world,  because  he  decreed 
it;  yet  freely  because  his  will  from  eternity  stood  to  it;  he  freely 
decreed  it,  and  freely  created  it:  as  the  apostle  says  in  regard  of 
God's  decrees,  "who  hath  been  his  counsellor?"  Rom.  xi.  34; 
so  in  regard  of  his  actions  I  may  say,  who  has  been  his  compel- 
ler?  he  freely  decreed,  and  he  freely  created.  Jesus  Christ  neces 
sarily  took  our  flesh,  because  he  had  covenanted  with  God  so 
to  do;  yet  he  acted  freely  and  voluntarily  according  t<>  that 
covenant,  otherwise  his  death  had  not  been  efficacious  for  us. 
A  good  man  does  naturally,  neeessarily  love  his  children,  yet 
voluntarily.  It  is  part  of  the  happiness  of  the  blessed,  to  love 
God  unchangeably,  yet  freely,  for  it  would  not  be  their  happi- 
ness if  it  were  done  by  compulsion.  What  is  done  by  lone, 
cannot  he  called  felicity,  because  there  is  no  delighl  or  compla- 
cency in  it:  and  though  the  blessed  love  God  freely.  ye(  if  there 
were  a  possibility  of  change,  it  would  not  he  their  happiness; 
their  blessedness  would  he  damped  by  their  fear  of  falling  from 
Vol.   I.— 64 


506  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

this  love,  and  consequently  from  their  nearness  to  God,  in  whom 
their  happiness  consists  :  God  foreknows  that  they  will  love  him 
for  ever;  but  are  they  therefore  compelled  forever  to  love  him? 
If  there  were  such  a  kind  of  constraint,  heaven  would  be  ren- 
dered burdensome  to  them,  and  so  no  heaven. 

Again,  God's  foreknowledge  of  what  he  will  do,  does  not  ne- 
cessitate him  to  do;  he  foreknew  that  he  would  create  a  world, 
yet  he  freely  created  a  world.  God's  foreknowledge  does  not 
necessitate  himself;  why  should  it  necessitate  us  more  than 
himself?  We  may  instance  in  ourselves:  when  we  will  a  thing, 
we  necessarily  use  our  faculty  of  will;  and  when  we  freely  will 
any  thing,  it  is  necessary  that  we  freely  will;  but  this  necessity 
does  not  exclude  but  include  liberty:  or,  more  plainly,  when  a 
man  writes  or  speaks,  whilst  he  writes  or  speaks,  those  actions 
are  necessary,  because  to  speak  and  be  silent,  to  write  and  not 
to  write  at  the  same  time,  are  impossible;  yet  our  writing  or 
speaking  does  not  lake  away  the  power  not  to  write  or  to  be 
silent  at  that  time  if  a  man  would  be  so;  for  he  might  have 
chosen  whether  he  would  have  spoken  or  written.  So  there  is  a 
necessity  of  such  actions  of  man  which  God  foresees;  that  is,  a 
necessity  of  infallibility,  because  God  cannot  be  deceived;  but 
not  a  coactive  necessity,  as  if  man  were  compelled  by  God  to  act 
thus  or  thus. 

No  man  can  say  in  any  of  his  voluntary  actions  that  he 
ever  found  any  force  upon  him.  When  any  of  us  have  done 
any  thing  according  to  our  wills,  can  we  say  we  could  not  have 
done  the  contrary  to  it?  Were  we  determined  to  it  in  our  own 
intrinsic  nature,  or  did  we  not  determine  ourselves  ?  Did  we 
not  act  either  according  to  our  reason,  or  according  to  outward 
allurements?  did  we  find  any  thing  without  us  or  within  us, 
that  did  force  our  wills  to  the  embracing  this  or  that?  What- 
ever action  you  do,  you  do  it  because  yon  judge  it  fit  to  be  done ; 
or  because  you  will  do  it.  What  though  God  foresaw  that  you 
would  do  so,  and  that  you  would  do  this  or  that,  did  you  feel 
any  force  upon  you  ?  did  you  not  act  according  to  your  nature? 
God  foresees  that  you  will  eat  or  walk  at  such  a  time;  do  you 
find  any  thing  that  moves  you  to  eat,  but  your  own  appe- 
tite? or  to  walk,  but  your  own  reason  and  will  ?  If  prescience 
had  imposed  any  necessity  upon  man,  should  he  not  pro- 
bably have  found  some  kind  of  plea  from  it  in  the  mouth  of 
Adam  ?  He  knew  as  much  as  any  man  ever  since  knew  of 
the  nature  of  God,  as  discoverable  in  creation;  he  could  not 
in  innocence  fancy  an  ignorant  God,  a  God  that  knew  nothing 
of  future  things;  he  could  not  be  so  ignorant  of  his  own 
action,  but  he  must  have  perceived  a  force  upon  his  will,  had 
there  been  any;  had  he  thought  that  God's  prescience  im- 
posed any  necessity  upon  him,  he  would  not.  have  omitted  the 


,»\  cods  KNOWLEDGE.  507 

plea,  especially  when  he  was  so  daring  as  to  charge  the  provi- 
dence of  God  in  the  gift  of  the  woman  to  him,  to  be  the  cause 
of  his  crime,  Gen.  iii.  12.  How  came  his  posterity  to  invent 
new  charges  against  Godj  which  their  father  Adam  never 
thought  of,  who  had  more  knowledge  than  all  of  them?  He 
could  find  no  cause  of  his  sin  but  the  liberty  of  his  own  will; 
he  charges  it  not  upon  any  necessity  from  the  devil,  or  any 
necessity  from  God;  nor  does  he  allege  the  gift  of  the  woman 
as  a  necessary  cause  of  his  sin,  but  an  occasion  of  it,  by  giving 
the  fruit  to  him.  Judas  know  that  our  Saviour  did  foreknow 
his  treachery,  for  he  had  told  him  of  it  in  the  hearing  of  his  dis- 
ciples, John  xiii.  21.  26 ;  yet  he  never  charged  the  necessity  of 
his  crime  upon  the  foreknowledge  of  his  Master.  If  Judas  had 
not  done  it  freely,  he  had  had  no  reason  to  repent  of  it;  his  repen- 
tance justifies  Christ  from  imposing  any  necessity  upon  him  by 
that  foreknowledge.  No  man  acts  any  thing,  but  he  can  give 
an  account  of  the  motives  of  his  action  ;  he  cannot  father  it  upon 
a  blind  necessity;  the  will  cannot  be  compelled,  for  then  it 
would  cease  to  be  will.  God  does  not  root  up  the  foundations 
of  nature,  or  change  the  order  of  it,  and  make  men  unable  to 
act  like  men,  that  is,  as  free  agents.  God  foreknows  the  actions 
of  irrational  creatures,  this  concludes  no  violence  upon  their 
nature;  for  we  find  their  actions  to  be  according  to  their 
nature,  and  spontaneous. 

God's  foreknowledge  is  not  {simply  considered)  the  cause 
of  any  thing.  It  puts  nothing  into  things,  but  only  beholds 
them  as  present,  and  arising  from  their  proper  causes.  The 
knowledge  of  God  is  not  the  principle  of  things,  or  the  cause  of 
their  existence,  but  directive  of  the  action:  nothing  is  because 
God  knows  it,  but  because  God  wills  it,  either  positively  or 
permissively.  God  knows  all  things  possible,  yet  because  God 
knows  them  they  are  not  brought  into  actual  existence,  but 
remain  still  only  as  things  possible :  knowledge  only  appre- 
hends a  thing,  but  acts  nothing;  it  is  the  rule  of  acting,  but  not 
the  cause  of  acting:  the  will  is  the  immediate  principle,  and  the 
power  the  immediate  cause.  To  know  a  thing  is  not  to  do  a 
thing,  for  then  we  may  be  said  to  do  every  thing  that  we  know  ; 
but  every  man  knows  those  things  which  he  never  did,  and 
never  will  do.  Knowledge  in  itself  is  an  apprehension  of  a 
thing,  and  is  not  the  cause  of  it.  A  spectator  of  a  thing  is  not 
the  cause  of  that  thing  which  he  sees,  that  is,  he  is  not  the 
cause  of  it  as  he  beholds  it:  we  see  a  man  write,  we  know  be- 
fore that  he  will  write  at  such  a  time;  but  this  foreknowledge 
is  not  the  cause  of  his  writing.  We  see  a  man  walk',  hut  our 
vision  of  him  brings  no  necessity  of  walking  upon  him:  he  was 
free  to  walk  or  not  to  walk.1  We  foreknow  that  death  will 
1  Rawlej  of  the  World,  lib,  1.  cap.  1     ect  13 


508  0N  GOD'S   KNOWLEDGE. 

seize  upon  all  men,  we  foreknow  that  the  seasons  of  the  year 
will  succeed  one  another;  yet  is  not  our  foreknowledge  the 
cause  of  this  succession  of  spring  after  winter,  or  of  the  death 
of  all  men,  or  any  man.  We  se.e  one  man  fighting  with  ano- 
ther; our  sight  is  not  the  cause  of  that  contest,  hut  some  quarrel 
among  themselves  exciting  their  own  passions.  As  the  know- 
ledge of  present  things  imposes  no  necessity  upon  them  while 
they  are  acting  and  present;  so  the  knowledge  of  future  things 
imposes  no  necessity  upon  them  while  they  are  coming.  We 
are  certain  there  will  be  men  in  the  world  to-morrow,  and  that 
the  sen  will  ebb  and  flow;  but  is  this  knowledge  of  ours  the 
cause  that  those  things  will  be  so?  I  know  that  the  sun  will 
rise  to-morrow,  it  is  true  that  it  shall  rise;  but  it  is  not  true 
that  my  foreknowledge  makes  it  to  rise.  If  a  physician  prog- 
nosticates upon  seeing  the  intemperances  and  debaucheries  of 
men,  that  they  will  fall  into  such  a  distemper,  is  his  prognosti- 
cation any  cause  of  their  disease,  or  of  the  sharpness  of  any 
.  symptoms  attending  it?  The  prophet  foretold  the  cruelty  of 
Hazael  before  he  committed  it;  but  who  will  say,  that  the 
prophet  was  the  cause  of  his  commission  of  that  evil?  And 
thus  the  foreknowledge  of  God  takes  not  away  the  liberty  of 
man's  will,  no  more  than  a  foreknowledge  that  we  have  of 
any  man's  actions  takes  away  his  liberty.  We  may  upon  our 
knowledge  of  the  temper  of  a  man.  certainly  foreknow,  that  if 
he  fall  into  such  company,  and  get  among  his  cups,  he  will  be 
drunk;  but  is  this  foreknowledge  the  cause  that  he  is  drunk? 
no,  the  cause  is  the  liberty  of  his  own  will,  and  not  resisting 
the  temptation.  God  purposes  to  leave  such  a  man  to  himself 
and  his  own  ways;  and  man  being  so  left,  God  foreknows 
what  will  be  done  by  him  according  to  that  corrupt  nature 
which  is  in  him:  though  the  decree  of  God  of  leaving  a  man 
to  the  liberty  of  his  own  will  be  certain,  yet  the  liberty  of 
man's  will  as  thus  left,  is  the  cause  of  all  the  extravagances  he 
does  commit.  Suppose  Adam  had  stood,  would  not  God  cer- 
tainly have  foreseen  that  he  would  have  stood?  yet  it  would 
have  been  concluded  that  Adam  had  stood,  not  by  any  neces- 
sity of  God's  foreknowledge,  but  by  the  liberty  of  his  own  will. 
Why  should  then  the  foreknowledge  of  God  add  more  necessity 
to  his  falling  than  to  his  standing?  And  though  it  be  said 
sometimes  in  Scripture,  that  such  a  thing  was  done  that  the 
Scripture  might  be  fulfilled,  as  John  xii.  38.  1  "That  the  say- 
ings of  Esaias  the  prophet  might  be  fulfilled — Lord,  who  hath 
believed  our  report?"  the  word  That,  does  not  infer  that  the 
prediction  of  the  prophet  was  the  cause  of  the  Jews'  unbelief, 
but  infers  this,  that  the  prediction  was  manifested  to  be  true 
by  their  unbelief,  and  the  event  answered  the  prediction:  this 

1  Rivet,  in  Isa.  liii.  1.  p  16. 


OH  GOD'S   K\<>\\  LEDGE. 


..on 


prediction  was  not  the  cause  of  their  sin,  but  their  foreseen  sin 
was  tin'  cause  of  ibis  prediction.     And  so  the  particle  that  is 

taken.  Psal.  li.  6.     "Against  tl ,  th nljr,  have  I  sinned — 

that  thou  mightest  be  justified,"  &c;  the  justifying  God  was 
not  the  end  and  the  intent  of  the  sin,  but  the  event  of  it  upon 
his  acknowledgment. 

foreknows  things  because  they  will  come  to  puss;  but 
things  are  not  future  because  God  knows  them.     Foreknow- 

ge  pre-supposeth  the  object  which  is  foreknown;  a  thing 
that  is  to  conn:  to  pass  is  the  object  of  the  Divine  knowledge, 
but  not  the  cause  of  the  act  of  Divine  knowledge;  and  though 
the  foreknowledge  of  God  does  in  eternity  precede  the  actual 
presence  of  a  thing  which  is  foreseen  as  future,  yet  the  future 
thing,  in  regard  of  its  futurity,  is  as  eternal  as  the  foreknow- 
ledge of  God;  as  the  voice  is  uttered  before  it  be  beard,  and  a 
thing  is  visible  before  it  be  seen,  and  a  thing  knowable  before 
it  be  known.  But  how  comes  it  to  be  knowable  to  God?  It 
must  be  answered,  either  in  the  power  of  God  as  a  thing  pos- 
sible, or  in  the  will  of  God  as  a  thing  future;  he  first  willed, 
and  then  knew  what  he  walled;  he  knew  what  he  willed  to 
affect,  and  he  knew  what  he  willed  to  permit:  as  he  willed  the 
death  of  Christ  by  a  determinate  counsel,  and  willed  the  per- 
mission of  the  Jews'  sin,  and  the  ordering  of  the  malice  of  their 
nature  to  that  end,  Acts  ii.  23.  God  decrees  to  make  a  rational 
creature,  and  to  govern  him  by  a  law;  God  decrees  not  to 
hinder  this  rational  creature  from  transgressing  his  law;  and 
God  foresees  that  what  he  would  not  hinder  would  come  to 
pass.  Man  did  not  sin  because  God  foresaw  him;  but  God 
foresaw  him  to  sin  because  man  would  sin.  If  Adam  and 
other  men  would  have  acted  otherwise,  God  would  have  fore- 
known that  they  would  have  acted  well.  God  foresaw  our 
actions  because  they  would  so  come  to  pass  by  the  motion  of 
our  free  will,  which  he  would  permit,  which  he  would  concur 
with,  which  he  would  order  to  his  own  holy  and  glorious  ends, 
for  the  manifestation  of  the  perfection  of  his  nature.  If  I  see  a 
man  lie  in  a  sink,  no  necessity  is  inferred  upon  him  from  my 
sight  to  lie  in  that  filthy  place;  but  there  is  a  necessity  inferred 
by  him  that  lies  there,  that  I  should  see  him  in  that  condition 
if  I  pass  by,  and  cast  my  eye  that  way. 

God  did  not  only  foreknow  oar  actions,  but  the  manner  of 
our  actions.  That  is,  he  did  not  only  know  that  we  would  do 
such  actions,  but  that  we  would  do  them  freely;  he  foresaw 
that  the  will  wo  nld  freely  determine  itself  to  this  or  that:  the 
knowledge  of  God  takes  not  away  the  nature  of  things;  though 
God  knows  possible  things,  yet  they  remain  in  the  nature  of 
possibility;  and  though  God  knows  contingent  things,  yet  they 


51()  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

remain  in  the  nature  of  contingencies;  and  though  God  knows 
free  agents,  yet  they  remain  in  the  nature  of  liberty.  God  did 
not  foreknow  the  actions  of  man,  as  necessary,  but  as  free;  so 
that  liberty  is  rather  established  by  this  foreknowledge,  than 
removed:  God  did  not  foreknow  that  Adam  had  not  a  power 
to  stand,  or  that  any  man  has  not  a  power  to  omit  such  a  sin- 
ful action,  but  that  he  would  not  omit  it.  Man  has  a  power  to 
do  otherwise  than  that  which  God  foreknows  he  will  do:  Adam 
was  not  determined  by  any  inward  necessity  to  fall,  nor  any 
man  by  any  inward  necessity  to  commit  this  or  that  particular 
sin;  but  God  foresaw  that  he  would  fall,  and  fall  freely;  for  he 
saw  the  whole  circle  of  means  and  causes  whereby  such  and 
such  actions  should  be  produced;  and  can  be  no  more  ignorant 
of  the  motions  of  our  wills,  and  the  manner  of  them,  than  an 
artificer  can^be  ignorant  of  the  motions  of  his  watch,  and  how 
far  the  spring  will  let  down  the  string  in  the  space  of  an  hour: 
he  sees  all  causes  leading  to  such  events  in  their  whole  order, 
and,  how  the  free  will  of  man  will  comply  with  this,  or  refuse 
that;  he  changes  not  the  manner  of  the  creature's  operation, 
whatsoever  it  be. 

But  what  if  the  foreknowledge  of  God,  and  the  liberty  of 
the  will,  cannot  be  fully  reconciled  by  man?  shall  we  there- 
fore deny  a  perfection  in  God  to  support  a  liberty  in  our- 
selves? Shall  we  rather  fasten  ignorance  upon  God,  and  accuse 
him  of  blindness,  to  maintain  our  liberty?  That  God  does  fore- 
know every  thing,  and  yet  that  there  is  liberty  in  the  rational 
creature,  are  both  certain;  but  how  fully  to  reconcile  them  may 
surmount  the  understanding  of  man.  Some  truths  the  disciples 
were  not  capable  of  bearing  in  the  days  of  Christ;  and  several 
truths  our  understandings  cannot  reach  as  long  as  the  world 
does  last;  yet  in  the  mean  time  we  must,  on  the  one  hand,  take 
heed  of  conceiving  God  ignorant,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  of 
imagining  the  creature  necessitated;  the  one  will  render  God 
imperfect,  and  the  other  will  seem  to  render  him  unjust,  in 
punishing  man  for  that  sin  which  he  could  not  avoid,  but  was 
brought  into  by  a  fatal  necessity.  God  is  sufficient  to  render  a 
reason  of  his  own  proceedings,  and  clear  up  all  at  the  day  of 
judgment;  it  is  a  part  of  man's  curiosity,  since  the  fall,  to  be 
prying  into  God's  secrets,  things  too  high  for  him;  whereby  he 
singes  his  own  wings,  and  confounds  his  own  understanding. 
It  is  a  cursed  affectation  that  runs  in  the  blood  of  Adam's  pos- 
terity, to  know  as  God,  though  our  first  father  smarted  and 
ruined  his  posterity  in  that  attempt:  the  ways  and  knowledge 
of  God  are  as  much  above  our  thoughts  and  conceptions  as  the 
heavens  are  above  the  earth,  Isa.  lv.  9,  and  so  sublime,  that  we 
cannot  comprehend  them  in  their  true  and  just  greatness;  his 


ON  (iOU'S  KNOWLEDGE  ,|  | 

designs  are  so  mysterious,  and  the  ways  of  his  conduct  so  pro- 
found, that  it  is  not  possible  to  dive  into  them.'  The  force  of 
our  understandings  is  below  his  infinite  wisdom,  and  therefore 
we  should  adore  him  with  an  humble  astonishment,  and  cry  out 
with  the  apostle,  "0  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wis- 
dom and  knowledge  of  Clod!  how  unsearchable  are  his  judg- 
ments, and  his  ways  past  finding  out!"  Rom.  xi.  33.  When- 
ever we  meet  with  depths  that  we  cannot  fathom,  let  us 
remember  that  he  is  God,  and  we  his  creatures;  and  not  be 
guilty  of  so  great  extravagance  as  to  think  that  a  subject  can 
pierce  into  all  the  secrets  of  a  prince,  or  a  work  understand  all 
the  operations  of  the  artificer.  Let  us  only  resolve  not  to  fasten 
any  thing  on  God  that  is  unworthy  of  the  perfection  of  his 
nature,  and  dishonourable  to  the  glory  of  his  majesty;  nor 
imagine  that  we  can  ever  step  out  of  the  rank  of  creatures  to 
the  glory  of  the  Deity,  to  understand  fully  every  thing  in  his 
nature. 

So  much  for  the  second  general — What  God  knows. 

3.  The  next  is,  How  God  knows  all  things?  As  it  is  neces- 
sary we  should  conceive  God  to  be  an  understanding  Being, 
else  he  could  not  be  God,  so  we  must  conceive  his  understand- 
ing to  be  infinitely  more  pure  and  perfect  than  ours  in  the  act 
of  it,  else  we  liken  him  to  ourselves,  and  debase  him  as  low  as 
his  footstool.2  As  among  creatures  there  are  degrees  of  being 
and  perfection ;  plants  above  earth  and  sand,  because  they  have 
a  power  of  growth;  beasts  above  plants,  because  to  their  power 
of  growth  there  is  an  addition  of  excellency  of  sense;  rational 
creatures  above  beasts,  because  to  sense  there  is  added  the  dig- 
nity of  reason,  and  the  understanding  of  man  is  more  noble  than 
all  the  vegetative  power  of  plants,  or  the  sensitive  power  of 
beasts;  God  therefore  must  be  infinitely  more  excellent  in  his 
understanding,  and  therefore  in  the  manner  of  it.  As  man  dif- 
fers from  a  beast  in  regard  of  his  knowledge,  so  does  God  also 
from  man,  in  regard  of  his  knowledge.  As  God  therefore  is, 
in  being  and  perfection,  infinitely  more  above  a  man  than  a 
man  is  above  a  beast,  the  manner  of  his  knowledge  must  be 
infinitely  more  above  a  man's  knowledge,  than  the  knowledge 
of  a  man  is  above  that  of  a  beast:  our  understandings  can  clasp 
an  object  in  a  moment,  that  is  at  a  great  distance  from  our 
sense;  our  eye  by  one  elevated  motion  can  view  the  heavens: 
the  manner  of  God's  understanding  must  he  inconceivably 
above  our  glimmerings:  as  the  manner  of  his  being  is  infinitely 
more  perfect  than  all  beings,  so  must  the  manner  of  his  under- 
Standing  l>e  infinitely  more  perfect  than  all  created  understand- 
ings.   Indeed  the  manner  of  God's  knowledge  can  no  more  be 

'  DaiDe,  Melang.  part  1.  p.  71:}.  725.      "  Maxim.  Tyriua  Dissert  1.  p.9,  10. 


512  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

known  by  ns,  than  his  essence  can  be  known  by  us;1  and  the 
the  same  incapacity  in  man  which  renders  him  unable  to  com- 
prehend the  being  of  God,  renders  him  as  unable  to  compre- 
hend the  manner  of  God's  understanding.  As  there  is  a  vast 
distance  between  the  essence  of  God  and  our  beings,  so  there 
is  between  the  thoughts  of  God  and  our  thoughts;  the  heavens 
are  not  so  much  higher  than  the  earth,  as  the  thoughts  of  God 
are  above  the  thoughts  of  men,  yea,  and  of  the  highest  angel, 
Isa.  lv.  S,  9.  Yet  though  we  know  not  the  manner  of  God's 
knowledge,  we  know  that  he  knows;  as,  though  we  know  not 
the  infiniteness  of  God,  yet  we  know  that  he  is  infinite.  Il  is 
God's  sole  prerogative  to  know  himself,  what  he  is;  and  it  is 
equally  his  prerogative  to  know  how  he  knows;  the  manner 
of  God's  knowledge  therefore  must  be  considered  by  us,  as 
free  from  those  imperfections  our  knowledge  is  encumbered 
with. 

In  general,  God  does  necessarily  know  all  things;  he  is  ne- 
cessarily omnipresent,  because  of  the  immensity  of  his  essence; 
so  he  is  necessarily  omniscient,  because  of  the  infiniteness  of 
his  understanding.  It  is  no  more  at  the  liberty  of  his  will, 
whether  he  will  know  things,  than  whether  he  will  be  able  to 
create  all  things;  it  is  no  more  at  the  liberty  of  his  will,  whether 
he  will  be  omniscient,  than  whether  he  will  be  holy:  he  can  as 
little  be  ignorant  as  he  can  be  impure;  he  knows  not  all  things 
because  he  will  know  them,  but  because  it  is  essential  to  his 
nature  to  know  them. 

In  particular, 

(1.)  God  knows  by  his  own  essence;  that  is,  he  sees  the 
nature  of  things  in  the  ideas  of  his  own  mind,  and  the  events 
of  things  in  the  decrees  of  his  own  will:  he  knows  them  not 
by  viewing  the  things,  but  by  viewing  himself;  his  own  essence 
is  the  mirror  and  book,  wherein  he  beholds  all  things  that  he 
does  ordain,  dispose,  and  execute:  and  so  he  knows  all  things 
in  the  first  and  original  cause,  which  is  no  other  than  his  own 
essence  willing,  and  his  own  essence  executing  what  he  wills; 
he  knows  them  in  his  power,  as  the  physical  principle,  in  his 
will,  as  the  moral  principle  of  things,  as  some  speak. 

He  borrows  not  the  knowledge  of  creatures  from  the  crea- 
tures, nor  depends  upon  them  for  means  of  understanding,  as 
we  poor  worms  do,  who  are  beholden  to  the  objects  abroad  to 
assist  us  with  images  of  things,  and  to  our  senses  to  convey 
them  into  our  minds.  God  would  then  acquire  a  perfection 
from  those  things  which  are  below  himself,  and  an  excellency 
from  those  things  that  are  vile;  his  knowledge  would  not  pre- 
cede the  being  of  the  creatures,  but  the  creatures  would  be 
before  the  act  of  his  knowledge.     If  he  understood  by  images 

i  Maimonides  More  Nevochin.  part.  3.  c.  20.  p.  391,  393,  393. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  5jg 

drawn  from  the  creatures,  as  we  do,  there  would  be  something 
in  God  which  is  not  God,  namely,  the  images  of  things  drawn 
from  outward  objects.  God  would  then  depend  upon  creatures 
for  that  which  is  more  noble  than  a  bare  being;  for  to  be 
understanding1,  is  more  excellent  than  barely  to  be.  Hesides, 
if  God's  knowledge  of  his  creatures  were  derived  from  the 
creatures  by  the  impression  of  any  thing  upon  him,  as  there  is 
upon  us,  he  could  not  know  from  eternity,  because  from  eter- 
nity there  was  no  actual  existence  of  any  thing  but  himself; 
and  therefore  there  could  not  be  any  images  shot  out  from  any 
thing,  because  there  was  not  any  tiling  in  being  but  God:  as 
there  is  no  principle  of  being  to  any  thing  but  by  his  essence; 
so  there  is  no  principle  of  the  knowledge  of  any  thing  by  him- 
self but  his  essence.  If  the  knowledge  of  God  were  distinct 
from  his  essence,  his  knowledge  were  not  eternal,  because 
there  is  nothing  eternal  but  his  essence. 

His  understanding  is  not  a  faculty  in  him  as  it  is  in  us,  but 
the  same  with  his  essence,  because  of  the  simplicity  of  his 
nature;  God  is  not  made  up  of  various  parts,  one  distinct  from 
another,  as  we  are,  and  therefore  docs  not  understand  by  a 
part  of  himself,  but  by  himself;  so  that  to  be  and  to  understand 
is  the  same  with  God:  his  essence  is  not  one  thing,  and  the 
power  whereby  he  understands,  another;  he  would  then  be 
compounded,  and  not  be  the  most  simple  being.  This  also  is 
necessary  for  the  perfection  of  God;  for  the  more  perfect  and 
noble  the  way  and  manner  of  knowing  is,  the  more  perfect  and 
noble  is  the  knowledge.  The  perfection  of  knowledge  depends 
upon  the  excellency  of  the  medium  whereby  we  know.  As  a 
knowledge  by  reason  is  a  more  noble  way  of  knowing  than 
knowledge  by  sense;  so  it  is  more  excellent  for  God  to  know 
by  his  essence,  than  by  any  thing  without  him,  any  tiling  mix- 
ed with  him:  the  first  would  render  him  dependent,  and  the 
other  would  demolish  his  simplicity. 

Again,  the  natures  of  all  things  are  contained  in  God;  not 
formally,  for  then  the  nature  of  the  creatures  would  be  God; 
but  eminently:  "  Me  that  planted  the  ear,  shall  he  not  hear? 
he  that  formed  the  eye,  shall  he  not  see?"  Psal.  xciv.  D.  He 
has  in  himself  eminently  the  beauty,  perfection,  life,  and  vigour 
of  all  creatures;  he  created  nothing  contrary  to  himself,  but 
every  thing  with  some  footsteps  of  himself  in  them;  he  could 
not  have  pronounced  them  good,  as  he  did,  had  there  been  any 
thing  in  them  contrary  to  his  own  goodness;  and  therefore,  as 
his  essence  primarily  represents  itself,  so  it  represents  the  crea- 
tures, and  makes  them  known  to  him.1  As  the  essence  of  God 
is  eminently  all  things,  so  by  understanding  his  essence,  he 
eminently  understands  all  things.     And  therefore  he  has  not 

1  Dionys. 

Vol.  I.— 95 


514  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

one  knowledge  of  himself,  and  another  knowledge  of  the  crea- 
tures; but  by  knowing  himself,  as  the  original  and  exemplary 
cause  of  all  things,  he  cannot  be  ignorant  of  any  creature  which 
he  is  the  cause  of;  so  that  he  knows  all  things,  not  by  an  un- 
derstanding of  them,  but  by  an  understanding  of  himself;  by 
understanding  his  own  power  as  the  efficient  of  them,  his  own 
will  as  the  orderer  of  them,  his  own  goodness  as  the  adorner 
and  beautifier  of  them,  his  own  wisdom  as  the  disposer  of  them, 
and  his  own  holiness,  to  which  many  of  their  actions  are  con- 
trary. 

As  he  sees  all  things  possible  in  his  own  power,  because  he 
is  able  to  produce  them,  so  he  sees  all  things  future  in  his  own 
will;  decreeing  to  effect  them,  if  they  be  good;  or  decreeing  to 
permit  them,  if  they  be  evil.1  In  this  glass  he  sees  what  he 
will  give  being  to,  and  what  he  will  sutler  to  fall  into  a  defi- 
ciency, without  looking  gut  of  himself,  or  borrowing  know- 
ledge from  his  creatures;  he  knows  all  things  in  himself.  And 
thus  his  knowledge  is  more  noble  and  of  a  higher  elevation 
than  ours,  or  the  knowledge  of  any  creature  can  be;  he  knows 
all  things  by  one  comprehension  of  the  causes  in  himself. 

(2.)  God  knows  all  things  by  one  act  of  intuition.  This  the 
schools  call  an  intuitive  knowledge.  This  follows  upon  the 
other;  for  if  he  know  by  his  own  essence,  he  knows  all  things 
by  one  act;  there  would  be  otherwise  a  division  in  his  essence, 
a  first  and  a  last,  a  nearness  and  a  distance.  As  what  he  made, 
he  made  by  one  word;  so  what  he  sees,  he  pierces  into  by  one 
glance  from  eternity  to  eternity.  As  he  wills  all  things  by  one 
act  of  his  will,  so  he  knows  all  things  by  one  act  of  his  under- 
standing: he  knows  not  some  things  discursively  from  other 
things,  nor  knows  one  thing  successively  after  another.  As  by 
one  act  he  imparts  essence  to  things,  so  by  one  act  he  knows 
the  nature  of  things. 

[1.]  He  does  not  know  by  discourse,  as  we  do.  That  is,  by 
deducing  one  thing  from  another,  and  from  common  notions 
drawing  out  other  rational  conclusions,  and  arguing  one  thing 
from  another,  and  springing  up  various  consequences  from 
some  principle  assented  to:  but  God  stands  in  no  need  of  rea- 
sonings; the  making  inferences  and  abstracting  things,  would 
be  stains  in  the  infinite  perfection  of  God;  here  would  be  a 
mixture  of  knowledge  and  ignorance;  while  he  knew  the  prin- 
ciple, he  would  not  know  the  consequence  and  conclusion,  till 
he  had  actually  deduced  it;  one  thing  would  be  known  after 
another,  and  so  he  would  have  an  ignorance,  and  then  a  know- 
ledge; and  there  would  be  different  conceptions  in  God,  and 
knowledge  would  be  multiplied  according  to  the  multitude  of 
objects,  as  it  is  in  human  understandings.     But  God  knows  all 

1  Kendal  against  Goodwin  of  Foreknowledge. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  5J5 

things  before  they  did  exist,  and  never  was  ignorant  of  them: 
u  Known  unto  God  are  all  his  works  from  the  beginning  of  the 
world,"  Acts  xv.  IS.  lie  therefore  knows  them  all  a!  mice; 
the  knowledge  of  one  thin::  was  not  before  another,  nor  depen- 
ded upon  another,  as  it  does  in  the  way  of  human  reasoning. 
Though,  indeed,  some  make  a  virtual  discourse  in  God;  that 
is,  though  God  has  a  simple  knowledge,  yet  it  virtually  con- 
tains a  discourse  by  the  flowing  of  one  knowledge  from  an- 
Other;  as  from  the  knowledge  of  his  own  power,  he  knows 
what  things  are  possible  to  be  made  by  him;  and  from  the 
knowledge  of  himself,  he  passes  to  the  knowledge  of  the  crea- 
tures; but  this  is  only  according  to  our  conception,  and  because 
of  our  weakness  they  are  apprehended  as  two  distinct  acts  in 
God,  one  of  which  is  the  reason  of  another,  as  we  say  that  one 
attribute  is  the  reason  of  another;  as  his  mercy  may  be  said  to 
be  the  reason  of  his  patience,  and  his  omnipresence  to  be  the 
reason  of  the  knowledge  of  present  things  done  in  the  Avorld.1 
God,  indeed,  by  one  simple  act,  knows  himself  and  the  crea- 
tures; but  when  that  act  whereby  lie  knows  himself,  is  con- 
ceived by  us  to  pass  to  the  knowledge  of  the  creatures,  we  must 
not  understand  it  to  be  a  new  act,  distinct  from  the  other;  but 
the  same  act  upon  different  terms  or  objects;  such  an  order  is 
in  our  understandings  and  conceptions,  not  in  God's. 

[2.]  Nor  does  he  know  successively  as  we  do.  That  is,  not 
by  drops,  one  thing  after  another.  This  follows  from  the  for- 
mer; a  knowledge  of  all  things  without  discourse,  is  a  know- 
ledge without  succession.  The  knowledge  of  one  thing  is  not 
in  God  before  another,  one  act  of  knowledge  does  not  forget 
another;  in  regard  of  the  objects,  one  thing  is  before  another, 
one  year  before  another,  one  generation  of  men  before  another, 
one  is  the  cause,  the  other  is  the  (licet:  in  the  creatures  there 
is  such  a  succession,  and  God  knows  there  will  be  such  a  suc- 
cession; but  there  is  no  such  order  in  God's  knowledge;  for  he 
knows  all  those  successions  by  one  glance,  without  any  succes- 
sion of  knowledge  in  himself.2 

Man  in  his  view  of  things,  must  turn  sometimes  his  body 
sometimes  only  his  eyes:  he  cannot  see  all  the  contents  of  a 
letter  at  once;  and  though  he  beholds  all  the  lines  in  the  page 
of  a  book  at  once,  and  a  whole  country  in  a  map,  yel  to  know 
what  is  contained  in  them,  he  must  turn  his  eye  from  word  to 
word,  and  line  to  line,  and  to  spin  out  one  thing  after  another 
by  several  acts  and  motions.  We  behold  a  great  part  of  the 
sea  at  once,3  but  not  all  the  dimensions  of  it;  for  to  know  the 
length  of  the  sea  we  move  our  eyes  one  way;  to  see  the  breadth 
of  it,  we  turn  our  eyes  another  way;  to  behold  the  depth  of  it, 

1  Suarcz.  vol.  1.  dc  Deo,  lib.  3.  cap.  2.  p.  133,  134. 

*  Gamach.  in  Aquin.  q.  14.  cap.  1.  p.  119.  3  Saith  Epiphaniu 


516  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

we  have  another  motion  of  them.    And  when  we  cast  our  eyes 
up  to  heaven,  we  seem  to  receive  in  at  an  instant  the  whole 
extent  of  the  hemisphere;  yet  there  is  but  one  object  the  eye 
can  attentively  pitch  upon,  and  we  cannot  distinctly  view  what 
we  see  in  a  lump,  without  various  motions  of  our  eyes,  which 
is  not  done  without  succession  of  time.1     And  certainly  the 
understanding  of  angels  is  bounded,  according  to  the  measure 
of  their  beings;  so  that  it  cannot  extend  itself  at  one  time  to  a 
quantity  of  objects,  to  make  a  distinct  application  of  them,  but 
the  objects  must  present  themselves  one  by  one.     But  God  is 
all  eye,  all   understanding;    as  there   is  no  succession  in  his 
essence,  so  there  is  none  in  his  knowledge;  his  understanding, 
in  the  nature  and  in  the  act,  is  infinite  as  it  is  in  the  text.     He 
therefore  sees  eternally  and  universally  all  things  by  one  act, 
without  any  motion,  much  less  various  motions;  the  various 
changes  of  things,  in  their  substance,  qualities,  places,  and  rela- 
tions, withdraw  not  any  tiling  from  his  eye,  nor  bring  any  new 
thing  to  his  knowledge;  he  does  not  upon  consideration  of  pre- 
sent things  turn  his  mind  from  past;   nor  when  he  beholds 
future  things,  turn  his  mind  from  present;  but  he  sees  them, 
not  one  after  another,  but  all  at  once  and  all  together;  the  whole 
circle  of  his  own  counsels,  and  all  the  various  lines  drawn  forth 
from  the  centre  of  his  will,  to  the  circumference  of  his  creatures; 
just  as  if  a  man  were  able  in  one  moment  to  read  a  whole 
library;    or,  as  if  you  should  imagine  a  transparent  crystal 
globe,  hung  up  in  the  midst  of  a  room,  and  so  framed  as  to  take 
in  the  images  of  all  things  in  the  room,  the  fret-work  in  the 
ceiling,  the  inlaid  parts  of  the  floor,  and  the  particular  parts  of 
the  tapestry  about  it,  the  eye  of  a  man  would  behold  all  the 
beauty  of  the  room  at  once  in  it.     As  the  sun  by  one  light  and 
heat  frames  sensible  things;  so  God  by  one  simple  act  knows 
all  things:  as  he  knows  mutable  things  by  an  immutable  know- 
ledge, bodily  things  by  a  spiritual  knowledge;  so  he  knows 
many  things  by  one  knowledge.  All  things  are  open  and  naked 
to  him,  Heb.  iv.  13,  more  than  any  one  thing  can  be  to  us;  and 
therefore  he  views  all  things  at  once,  as  well  as  we  can  behold 
and  contemplate  one  thing  alone.  As  he  is  the  Father  of  lights, 
a  God  of  infinite  understanding,  there  is  no  variableness  in  his 
mind,  nor  any  shadow  of  turning  of  his  eye,  as  there  is  of  ours, 
to   behold  various  things,  James  i.  17.     His  knowledge  being 
eternal,  includes  all  times;  there  is  nothing  past  or  future  with 
him,  and  therefore  he  beholds  all  things  by  one  and  the  same 
maimer  of  knowledge,  and  comprehends  all  knowable  things 
by  one  act,  and  in  one  moment. 

This  must  needs  be  so, 

Because  of  the  eminency  of  God.     God  is  above  all,  and 

1  Amyrant. 


I  >\  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  5  ]  7 

therefore  cannot  but  see  the  motions  of  all.  He  that  sits  in  a 
theatre,  or  at  the  top  of  a  place,  sees  all  things,  all  persons,  by 
one  aspect  he  comprehends  the  whole  circle  of  the  place; 
whereas  he  that  sits  below,  when  he  Looks  before,  cannot  see 

things  behind.  God  being  above  all,  about  all,  in  all,  sees  at 
once  the  motions  of  all.  The  whole  world  in  the  eye  of  God, 
is  less  than  a  point  that  divides  one  sentence  from  another  in  a 
book;  as  a  cipher,  a  grain  of  dust,  Isa.  xl.  15.  So  little  a  thing 
can  be  seen  by  man  at  once;  and  all  things  being  as  little  in 
the  eye  of  God,  are  seen  at  once  by  him.  As  all  time  is  but  a 
moment  to  his  eternity,  so  all  things  are  but  as  a  point  to  the 
immensity  of  his  knowledge,  which  he  can  behold  with  more 
ease  than  we  can  move  or  turn  our  eye. 

Because  all  the  perfections  of  knowing  are  united  in  God. 
As  particular  senses  are  divided  in  man,  by  one  he  sees,  by 
another  he  hears,  by  another  lie  smells,  yet  all  those  are  united 
in  one  common  sense,  and  this  common  sense  apprehends  all; 
so  the  various  and  distinct  ways  of  knowledge  in  the  creatures, 
are  all  eminently  united  in  God. l  A  man,  when  he  sees  a  grain 
of  wheat,  understands  at  once  all  things  that  can  in  lime  pro- 
ceed from  that  seed;  so  God,  by  beholding  his  own  virtue  and 
power,  beholds  all  things  which  shall  in  time  be  unfolded  by 
him.  We  have  a  shadow  of  this  way  of  knowledge  in  our 
own  understanding;  the  sense  only  perceives  a  thing  present, 
and  one  object  only  proper  and  suitable  to  it;  as  the  eye  sees 
colour,  the  ear  hears  sounds;  we  see  this  and  that  man,  one 
time  this,  another  minute  that;  but  the  understanding  abstracts 
a  notion  of  the  common  nature  of  man,  and  frames  a  concep- 
tion of  that  nature  wherein  all  men  agree;  and  so  in  a  manner 
beholds  and  understands  all  men  at  once,  by  understanding  the 
common  nature  of  man,  which  is  a  degree  of  knowledge  above 
the  sense  and  fancy:  we  may  their  conceive  an  infinitely  vaster 
perfection  in  the  understanding  of  God.  As  to  know  is  simply 
better  than  not  to  know  at  all ;  so  to  know  by  one  act  compre- 
hensive, is  a  greater  perfection  than  to  know  by  divided  acts, 
by  succession  to  receive  information,  and  to  have  an  increase 
or  decrease  of  knowledge,  to  be  like  a  bucket,  always  descend- 
ing into  the  well,  and  fetching  water  from  thence.  It  is  a 
man's  weakness  that  he  is  fixed  on  one  object  only  at  a  time. 
It  is  God's  perfection  that  he  can  behold  all  at  once,  and  is 
fixed  upon  one  no  more  than  upon  another. 

(3.)  God  knows  all  things  independently.  This  is  essential 
to  an  infinite  understanding.  He  receives  not  his  knowledge 
from  any  thing  without  him,  he  has  no  tutor  to  instruct  him, 
or  book  to  inform  him;  u  Who  hath  been  his  counsellor?" 
saith  the  prophet,  Isa.  xl.  13.    He  has  no  need  of  the  counsels 

1  Cusnn.  p.  646. 


518  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

of  others,  nor  of  the  instructions  of  others.  This  follows  upon 
the  first  and  second  propositions;  if  he  knows  things  by  his 
essence,  then  as  his  essence  is  independent  from  the  creatures, 
so  is  his  knowledge;  he  borrows  not  any  images  from  the  crea- 
ture, hath  no  species  or  pictures  of  things  in  his  understanding, 
as  we  have;  no  beams  from  the  creature  strike  upon  him,  to 
enlighten  him,  but  beams  from  him  upon  the  world;  the  earth 
sends  not  light  to  the  sun,  but  the  sun  to  the  earth. 

Our  knowledge  indeed  depends  upon  the  object;  but  all 
created  objects  depend  upon  God's  knowledge  and  will :  we 
could  not  know  creatures  unless  they  were;  but  creatures 
could  not  be  unless  God  knew  them.  As  nothing  that  he  wills 
is  the  cause  of  his  will;  so  nothing  that  he  knows  is  the  cause 
of  his  knowledge:  he  did  not  make  things  to  know  them,  but 
he  knows  them  to  make  them;  who  will  imagine  that  the  mark 
of  the  foot  in  the  dust,  is  the  cause  that  the  foot  stands  in  this 
or  that  particular  place?  m 

If  his  knowledge  did  depend  upon  the  things,  then  the  exist- 
ence of  things  did  precede  God's  knowledge  of  them:  to  say 
that  they  are  the  cause  of  God's  knowledge,  is  to  say,  that  God 
was  not  the  cause  of  their  being;  and  if  he  did  create  them,  it 
was  effected  by  a  blind  and  ignorant  power,  he  created  he 
knew  not  what  till  he  had  produced  it.  If  he  be  beholden  for 
his  knowledge  to  the  creatures  he  has  made,  he  had  then  no 
knowledge  of  them  before  he  made  them.  If  his  knowledge 
were  dependent  upon  them,  it  could  not  be  eternal,  but  must 
have  a  beginning  when  the  creatures  had  a  beginning,  and  be 
of  no  longer  a  date  than  since  the  nature  of  things  was  in 
actual  existence:  for  whatsoever  is  a  cause  of  knowledge,  does 
precede  the  knowledge  it  causes,  either  in  order  of  time,  or 
order  of  nature;  temporal  things,  therefore,  cannot  be  the  cause 
of  that  knowledge  which  is  eternal.  His  works  could  not  be 
foreknown  to  him,  Acts  xv.  IS,  if  his  knowledge  commenced 
with  the  existence  of  his  works;  if  he  knew  them  before  he 
made  them,  he  could  not  derive  a  knowledge  from  them  after 
they  were  made.  He  made  all  things  in  wisdom,  Psal.  civ.  24. 
How  can  this  be  imagined,  if  the  things  known  were  the  cause 
of  his  knowledge,  and  so  before  his  knowledge,  and  therefore 
before  his  action? 1  God  would  not  then  be  the  first  in  the  order 
of  knowing  agents,  because  he  would  not  act  by  knowledge, 
but  act  before  he  knew,  and  know  after  he  had  acted,  and  so 
the  creature  which  he  made  would  be  before  the  act  of  his 
understanding,  whereby  he  knew  what  he  made. 

Again,  since  knowledge  is  a  perfection,  if  God's  knowledge 
of  the  creatures  depended  upon  the  creatures,  he  would  derive 
an  excellency  from  them,  they  would  derive  no  excellency  from 

'  Bradward.  lib.  1.  cap.  15. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  -,[() 

any  idea  in  the  Divine  mind;  he  would  not  be  infinitely  perfect 
in  himself;  if  his  perfection  in  knowledge  were  gained  from  any 
tiling  without  himself  arid  below  himself)  he  would  not  he  suf- 
ficient of  himself,  hut  he  under  an  indigence,  which  wanted  a 
supply  from  the  things  he  had  made ;  and  could  not  he  eternally 

perfect  till  he  had  created,  and  seen  the  effects  of  his  own  power, 

goodness,  and  wisdom,  to  render  him  more  wise  and  knowing 
in  time  than  he  was  from  eterniiy.  Who  can  fancy  such  a  God 
as  this,  without  destroying  the  Deity  he  pretends  to  adore?  For 
if  his  understanding  be  perfected  by  something  without  him, 
why  may  not  his  essence  be  perfected  by  something  without 
him;  that  as  he  was  made  knowing  by  something  without  him, 
he  might  be  made  God  by  something  without  him? 

How  could  his  understanding  he  infinite,  if  it  depended  upon 
a  finite  object,  as  upon  a  cause?  Is  the  majesty  of  God  to  be 
debased  to  a  mendicant  condition,  to  seek  for  a  supply  from 
things  inferior  to  himself?  Is  it  to  be  imagined  that  a  fool,  a  toad, 
a  fly  should  be  assistant  to  the  knowledge  of  God?  that  the 
most  noble  Being  should  be  perfected  by  things  so  vile?  that 
the  Supreme  Cause  of  all  things  should  receive  any  addition  of 
knowledge,  and  be  determined  in  his  understanding,  by  the  no- 
tion of  things  so  mean?  To  conclude  this  particular,  all  things 
depend  upon  his  knowledge,  his  knowledge  depends  upon 
nothing,  but  is  as  independent  as  himself  and  his  own  essence. 

(4.)  God  knows  all  things  distinctly.  His  understanding  is 
infinite  in  regard  of  clearness;  "  God  is  light,  and  in  him  is  no 
darkness  at  all,"  1  John  i.  5.  He  sees  not  through  a  mist  or 
cloud;  there  is  no  blemish  in  his  understanding,  no  mote  or  beam 
in  his  eye,  to  render  any  thing  obscure  to  him.  Man  discerns 
the  surface  and  outside  of  things,  little  or  nothing  of  the  essence 
of  things;  we  see  the  noblest  things  but  as  in  a  glass  darkly,  1 
Cor.  xiii.  12.  The  too  great  nearness,  as  well  as  the  too  great 
distance  of  a  thing,  hinders  our  sight;  the  smallness  of  a  mote 
escapes  our  eye,  and  so  our  knowledge  ;  also  the  weakness  of 
our  understanding  is  troubled  with  the  multitude  of  things,  and 
cannot  know  many  things  but  confusedly.  But  God  knows  the 
forms  and  essence  of  things,  every  circumstance;  nothing  is  so 
deep,  but  he  sees  to  the  bottom;  he  sees  the  mass,  and  sees  the 
motes  of  beings;  his  understanding  being  infinite,  is  not  offended 
with  a  multitude  of  things,  or  distracted  with  the  variety  of 
them;  he  discerns  every  thing  infinitely  more  clearly  and  per- 
fectly than  Adam  or  Solomon  could  any  one  thing  in  the  circle 
of  their  knowledge.  What  knowledge  they  had  was  from  him; 
he  has  therefore  infinitely  a  more  perfect  knowledge  than  they 
were  capable  in  their  natures  to  receive  a  communication  of. 
All  things  are  open  to  him,  Ileb.  iv.  13.     The  least  fibre  in  its 


520  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

nakedness  and  distinct  frame  is  transparent  to  him;  as  by  the 
help  of  glasses,  the  mouth,  feet,  hands  of  a  small  insect  are  visi- 
ble to  a  man,  which  seem  to  the  eye,  without  that  assistance, 
one  entire  piece,  not  diversified  into  parts.  All  the  causes, 
qualities,  natures,  properties  of  things  are  open  to  him ;  he  brings 
out  the  host  of  heaven  by  number,  and  calls  them  by  names, 
Isa.  xl.  26.  He  numbers  the  hairs  of  our  heads.  What  more 
distinct  than  number?  Thus  God  beholds  things  in  every  unity, 
which  makes  up  the  heap:  he  knows,  and  none  else  can,  every 
thing  in  its  true  and  intimate  causes,  in  its  original  and  interme- 
diate causes;  in  himself,  as  the  cause  of  every  particular  of  their 
being,  every  property  in  their  being. 

Knowledge  by  the  causes  is  the  most  noble  and  perfect  know- 
ledge, and  most  suited  to  the  infinite  excellency  of  the  Divine 
Being;  he  created  all  things,  and  ordered  them  to  a  universal 
and  particular  end;  he  therefore  knows  the  essential  properties 
of  every  thing,  every  activity  of  their  nature,  all  their  fitness  for 
those  distinct  ends,  to  which  he  orders  them,  and  for  which  he 
governs  and  disposes  them;  and  understands  their  darkest  and 
most  hidden  qualities,  infinitely  clearer  than  any  eye  can  behold 
the  clear  beams  of  the  sun.  He  knows  all  things  as  he  made 
them;  he  made  them  distinctly,  and  therefore  knows  them  dis- 
tinctly, and  that  too  every  individual;  therefore  God  is  said  to 
see  every  thing  that  he  has  made,  Gen.  i.  31 ;  he  took  a  review 
of  every  particular  creature  he  had  made,  and  upon  his  view 
pronounced  it  good.  To  pronounce  that  good  which  was. not 
exactly  known  in  every  creek,  in  every  mite  of  its  nature,  had 
not  consisted  with  his  veracity;  for  every  one  that  speaks  truth 
ignorantly,  that  knows  not  that  he  speaks  truth,  is  a  liar  in 
speaking  that  which  is  true.  God  knows  every  act  of  his  own 
will,  whether  it  be  positive  or  permissive,  and  therefore  every 
effect  of  his  will.  We  must  needs  ascribe  to  God  a  perfect 
knowledge;  but  a  confused  knowledge  cannot  challenge  that 
title.  To  know  things  only  in  a  heap,  is  unworthy  of  the 
Divine  perfection;  for  if  God  knows  his  own  ends  in  the  crea- 
tion of  things,  lie  knows  distinctly  the  means  whereby  he  will 
bring  them  to  those  ends  for  which  he  has  appointed  them. 
No  wise  man  intends  an  end,  without  a  knowledge  of  the  means 
conducing  to  that  end:  and  ignorance  then  of  any  thing  in  the 
world,  which  falls  under  the  nature  of  a  means  to  a  Divine  end, 
(and  there  is  nothing  in  the  world  but  does,)  would  be  incon- 
sistent with  the  perfection  of  God;  it  would  ascribe  to  him  a 
blind  providence  in  the  world.  As  there  can  be  nothing  imper- 
fect in  his  being  and  essence,  so  there  can  be  nothing  imperfect 
in  his  understanding  and  knowledge;  and  therefore  he  has  not 
a  confused  knowledge,  which  is  an  imperfection.     Darkness  and 


ON  GOD'S   KNOWLEDGE,  -,v)| 

light  are  both  alike  to  him,  Psal.  cxxxix.  12.  He  sees  distinctly 
into  the  one,  as  well  as  the  other;  what  is  darkness  to  us,  is  not 
so  to  him. 

(5.)  God  knows  all  things  infallibly.  His  understanding  is 
infinite,  in  regard  of  certainty;  every  tittle  of  what  he  knows, 
ia  as  far  from  failing,  as  what  he  speaks:  our  Saviour  affirms 
the  one,  Matt  v.  18;  and  there  is  the  same  reason  of  the  cer- 
tainty of  one  as  well  as  the  other.  His  essetice  is  the  measure 
of  his  knowledge;  whence  it  is  as  impossible  that  God  should 
be  mistaken  in  the  knowledge  of  the  least  thing  in  the  world, 
as  it  is  that  he  should  be  mistaken  in  his  own  essence;  for 
knowing  himself  comprehensively,  he  must  know  all  other 
things  infallibly;  since  he  is  essentially  omniscient,  he  is  no 
more  capable  of  error  in  his  understanding  than  of  imperfection 
in  his  essence;  his  counsels  are  as  unerring  as  his  essence  is 
perfect,  and  his  knowledge  as  infallible  as  his  essence  is  free 
from  defect. 

Again,  since  God  knows  all  things  with  a  knowledge  of 
vision,  because  he  wills  them,  his  knowledge  must  be  as  infal- 
lible as  his  purpose:  now  his  purpose  will  certainly  be  effected; 
what  he  has  thought  shall  come  to  pass,  and  what  he  has  pur- 
posed shali  stand,  Isa.  xiv.  24.  His  counsel  shall  stand,  and 
he  will  do  all  his  pleasure,  Isa.  xliv.  10.  There  may  be  inter- 
ruptions of  nature,  the  foundations  of  it  may  be  out  of  course, 
but  there  can  be  no  bar  upon  the  Author  of  nature;  he  has  an 
infinite  power  to  carry  on  and  perfect  the  resolves  of  his  own 
will ;  he  can  effect  what  he  pleases  by  a  word.  Speech  is  one 
of  the  least  motions;  yet  when  God  said,  Let  there  be  light, 
there  was  light,  arising  from  darkness.  No  reason  can  be 
given  why  God  knows  a  thing  to  be,  but  because  he  infallibly 
wills  it  to  be. 

Again,  ■  the  schools  make  this  difference  between  the  know- 
ledge of  the  good  and  bad  angels,  that  the  good  are  never  de- 
ceived; for  that  is  repugnant  to  their  blessed  state:  for  deceit 
is  an  evil  and  an  imperfection  inconsistent  with  that  perfect 
blessedness  the  good  angels  are  possessed  of:  and  would  it  not 
much  more  be  a  stain  upon  the  blessedness  of  that  God  that  is 
blessed  for  ever,  to  be  subject  to  deceit?  His  knowledge  there- 
fore is  not  an  opinion,  for  an  opinion  is  uncertain:  a  man 
knows  not  what  to  think,  but  leans  to  one  part  of  the  question 
proposed,  rather  than  to  the  other.  If  things  did  not  come  to 
pass  therefore  as  God  knows  them,  his  knowledge  would  be 
imperfect;  and  since  he  knows  by  his  essence,  his  essence  also 
would  be  imperfect,  if  God  were  exposed  to  any  deceit  in  his 
knowledge;  he  knows  by  himself,  who  is  the  highest  truth: 

1   Snare?.,  vol.  2.  p.  228 

Vol.  I.— r,c> 


522  ON  GO»'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

and  therefore  it  is  impossible  he  should  err  in  his  understand- 
ing. 

(6.)  God  knows  immutably.  His  understanding  else  could 
not  be  infinite:  every  thing  and  every  act  that  is  mutable,  is 
finite,  it  has  its  bounds;  for  there  is  a  term  from  which  it 
changes,  and  a  term  to  which  if  changes. '  There  is  a  change 
in  the  understanding  when  we  gain  the  knowledge  of  a  thing 
which  was  unknown  to  us  before;  or  when  we  actually  consi- 
der a  thing  which  we  did  not  know  before,  though  we  had  the 
principles  of  the  knowledge  of  it;  or  when  we  know  that  dis- 
tinctly, which  we  before  knew  confusedly.  None  of  these  can 
be  ascribed  to  God,  without  a  manifest  disparagement  of  his 
infiniteness.  Our  knowledge  indeed  is  always  arriving  to  us 
or  flowing  from  us;  we  pass  from  one  degree  to  another,  from 
worse  to  better,  or  from  better  to  worse ;  but  God  loses  no- 
thing by  the  ages  that  are  run,  nor  will  gain  any  thing  by  the 
ages  that  are  to  come.  If  there  were  a  variation  in  the  know- 
ledge of  God,  by  the  daily  and  hourly  changes  in  the  world  he 
would  grow  wiser  than  he  was,  he  was  not  then  perfectly  wise 
before.  A  change  in  the  objects  known,  infers  not  any  change 
in  the  understanding  exercised  about  them;  the  wheel  moves 
round,  the  spokes  that  are  lowest  are  presently  highest,  and 
presently  return  to  be  low  again;  but  the  eye  that  beholds 
them'  changes  not  with  the  motion  of  the  wheels.  God's 
knowledge  admits  no  more  of  increase  or  decrease,  than  his 
essence  does;  since  God  knows  by  his  essence,  and  the  essence 
of  God  is  God  himself,  his  knowledge  must  be  void  of  any 
change.  The  knowledge  of  possible  things  arising  from  the 
knowledge  of  his  own  power  cannot  be  changed,  unless  his 
power  be  changed,  and  God  become  weak  and  impotent;  the 
knowledge  of  future  things  cannot  be  changed,  because  that 
knowledge  arises  from  his  will,  which  is  irreversible;  "The 
counsel  of  the  Lord,  that  shall  stand,"  Prov.  xix.  21.  So  that 
if  God  can  never  decay  into  weakness,  and  never  turn  to  in- 
constancy, ther;e  can  be  no  variation  of  his  knowledge.  He 
knows  what  he  can  do,  and  he  knows  what  he  will  do,  and 
both  these  being  immutable,  his  knowledge  must  consequently 
be  so  too.  It  was  not  necessary  that  this  or  that  creature 
should  be,  and  therefore  it  was  not  necessary  that  God  should 
know  this  or  that  creature  with  a  knowledge  of  vision;  but 
after  the  will  of  God  had  determined  the  existence  of  this  or 
that  creature,  his  knowledge  being  then  determined  to  this  or 
that  object,  did  necessarily  continue  unchangeable.  God  there- 
fore knows  no  more  now  than  he  did  before;  and  at  the  end 
of  the  world  he  shall  know  no  more  than  he  does  now;  and 
from  eternity  he  knows  no  less  than  he  does  now,  and  shall  do 

1  Tileni  Syntagma,  part  1,  rlisp.  L3.thes.  IS. 


ON  (.Dies  KNOWLEDGE,  ^gg 

to  eternity.  Though  things  pass  into  being  and  out  of  being, 
the  knowledge  of  God  <loes  not  vary  with  them;  for  he  knows 
them  as  well  before  they  were,  as  when  they  arc,  and  knows 
them  as  well  when  they  are  past  as  wh<  n  they  are  present. 

(7.)  God  knows  all  things  perpetually,  that  is,  in  act.  Since 
he  knows  by  his  essence,  be  always  knows,  because  his  essence 
never  ceases,  but  is  a  pure  art  •  so  thai  he  does  not  know  only 
in  habit,  but  in  act.  Men  that  have,  the  knowledge  of  some  art 
or  science,  have  it  always  in  habit,  though  When  they  are  asleep 
they  have  it  not  in  act:  a  musician  has  the  habit  of  music,  but 
does  not  so  much  as  think  of  it  when  his  senses  are  bound  up. 
But  God  is  an  un-sleepy  eye,1  he  never  slumbers  nor  sleeps; 
he  never  slumbers  in  regard  of  his  providence,  and  therefore 
never  slumbers  in  regard  of  his  knowledge.  He  knows  not 
himself,  nor  any  other  creature  more  perfectly  at  one  time  than 
at  another;  he  is  perpetually  in  the  act  of  knowing,  as  the  sun 
is  in  the  act  of  shining :  the  sun  never  ceased  to  shine  in  one  or 
other  part  of  the  world,  since  it  was  first  fixed  in  the  heavens; 
nor  God  to  be  in  the  act  of  knowledge,  since  he  was  a  God; 
and  therefore  since  he  always  was  and  always  will  be  God,  he 
always  was  and  always  will  be  in  the  act  of  knowledge; 
always  knowing  his  own  essence,  he  must  always  actually 
know  what  has  been  gone  and  ceased  from  being,  and  what 
shall  come  and  arise  into  being.  As  a  watch-maker  knows 
what  watch  he  intends  to  make;  and  after  he  has  made  it, 
though  it  be  broken  to  pieces  or  consumed  by  the  fire,  he  still 
knows  it  because  he  knows  the  copy  of  it  in  his  own  mind. 
Some  therefore,  in  regard  of  this  perpetual  act  of  the  Divine 
knowledge,  have  called  God  not  "  I/i/el/eclus,"  but  the  intel- 
lection of  intellections;  we  have  no  proper  English  word  to 
express  the  act  of  the  understanding:  as  his  power  is  co-eternal 
with  him,  so  his  knowledge;  all  times  past,  present,  and  to 
come,  are  embraced  in  the  bosom  of  his  understanding;  he 
fixed  all  things  in  their  seasons,  that  nothing  new  comes  to  him, 
nothing  old  passes  from  him.2  What  is  done  in  a  thousand 
years,  is  as  actually  present  with  his  knowledge,  as  what  is 
done  in  one  day,  or  in  one  watch  in  the  night,  is  with  ours; 
since  a  thousand  years  are  no  more  to  God  than  a  day  or  a 
watch  in  the  night  is  to  us,  Psal.  xc.  4.  God  is  in  the  highest 
degree  of  being,  and  therefore  in  the  highest  degree  of  under- 
standing. Knowledge  is  one  of  the  most  perfect  acts  in  any 
creature.  God  therefore  has  all  actual,  as  well  as  essential  and 
habitual  knowledge,  "his  understanding  is  infinite." 

4.  The  next  general,  is  the  reasons  to  prove  this. 

(1.)  God  must  know  what  any  creature  knows,  and  more 
than  any  creature  knows.  There  is  nothing  done  in  the  world, 

i  Plato,  -xfi'iu^T-,,-  o^ax^u',-.  Damiantu 


524  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

but  is  known  by  some  creature  or  other;  every  action  is  at 
least  known  by  the  person  that  acts,  and  therefore  known  by 
the  Creator,  who  cannot  be  exceeded  by  any  of  the  creatures, 
or  all  of  them  together;  and  every  creature  is  known  by  him, 
since  every  creature  is  made  by  him.  And  as  God  works  all 
things  by  an  infinite  power,  so  he  knows  all  things  by  an 
infinite  understanding.1 

(2.)  The  perfection  of  God  requires  this.  All  perfections  that 
include  no  essential  defect,  are  formally  in  God;  but  know- 
ledge includes  no  essential  defect  in  itself,  therefore  it  is  in  God.2 
Knowledge  in  itself  is  desirable,  and  an  excellency;  ignorance 
is  a  defect;  it  is  impossible  that  the  least  grain  of  defect  can  be 
found  in  the  most  perfect  Being.  Since  God  is  wise,  he  must 
be  knowing;  for  wisdom  must  have  knowledge  for  the  basis  of 
it.  A  creature  can  no  more  be  wise  without  knowledge,  than 
he  can  be  active  without  strength.  Now  God  is  the  only  wise, 
Rom.  xvi.  27;  and  therefore  the  only  knowing  in  the  highest 
degree  of  knowledge,  incomprehensibly  beyond  all  degrees  of 
knowledge,  because  infinite. 

Again,  the  more  spiritual  any  thing  is,  the  more  understand- 
ing it  is.  The  dull  body  understands  nothing;  sense  perceives, 
but  the  understanding  faculty  is  seated  in  the  soul,  which  is  of 
a  spiritual  nature,  which  knows  things  that  are  present,  remem- 
bers things  that  are  past,  foresees  many  things  to  come.  What 
is  the  property  of  a  spiritual  nature,  must  be  in  a  most  eminent 
manner  in  the  Supreme  Spirit  of  the  world,  that  is,  in  the  high- 
est degree  of  spirituality,  and  most  remote  from  any  matter. 

Again,  nothing  can  enjoy  other  things,  but  by  some  kind  of 
understanding  them;  God  has  the  highest  enjoyment  of  himself, 
of  all  things  he  has  created,  of  all  the  glory  that  accrues  to  him 
by  them;  nothing  of  perfection  and  blessedness  can  be  wanting 
to  him.  Felicity  does  not  consist  with  ignorance,  and  all  im- 
perfect knowledge  is  a  degree  of  ignorance:  God  therefore  does 
perfectly  know  himself,  and  all  things  from  whence  he  designs 
any  glory  to  himself.  The  most  noble  manner  of  acting  must 
be  ascribed  to  God,  as  being  the  most  noble  and  excellent  Being; 
to  act  by  knowledge,  is  the  most  excellent  manner  of  acting; 
God  has,  therefore,  not  only  knowledge,  but  the  most  excellent 
manner  of  knowledge;  for  as  it  is  better  to  know  than  to  be 
ignorant,  so  it  is  better  to  know  in  the  most  excellent  manner, 
than  to  have  a  mean  and  low  kind  of  knowledge;  his  know- 
ledge therefore  must  be  every  way  as  perfect  as  his  essence, 
infinite  as  well  as  that.  An  infinite  nature  must  have  an  infi- 
nite knowledge:  a  God  ignorant  of  any  thing, cannot  be  counted 
infinite,  for  he  is  not  infinite  to  whom  any  degree  of  perfection 
is  wanting. 

1  Gerhard.  "-  (Jamach.  in  1,  [>art.  Aquiu.  q.  14.  cap.  1.  p.  118,  119. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  ,■_  , 

(3.)  All  the  knowledge  in  any  creature  is  from  God.  And 
you  must  allow  God  a  greater  and  more  perfect  knowledge 
than  any  creature  has,  yea,  than  all  creatures  have.  All  the 
drops  of  knowledge  any  creature  has,  come  from  Clod;  and  all 
the  knowledge  in  every  creature,  thai  ever  was,  is,  or  shall  be 
in  the  whole  mass,  was  derived  from  him.  If  all  those  several 
drops  in  particular  creatures  were  collected  into  one  spirit,  into 
one  creatine,  it  would  be  an  inconceivable  knowledge,  yet  still 
lower  than  what  the  Author  of  all  that  knowledge  has ;  lor  God 
cannot  give  more  knowledge  than  he  has  himself;  nor  is  the 
creature  capable  of  receiving  so  much  knowledge  as  God  has. 
As  the  creature  is  incapable  of  receiving  so  much  power  as 
God  has,  for  then  it  would  be  almighty;  so  it  is  incapable  of 
receiving  so  much  knowledge  as  God  has,  for  then  it  would  be 
God.  Nothing  can  be  made  by  God  equal  to  him  in  any  thing; 
it'  any  thing  could  h'1  made  as  knowing  as  God,  it  would  be 
eternal  as  God,  it  would  be  the  cause,  of  all  things  as  God.  The 
knowledge  that  we  poor  worms  have,  is  an  argument  God  uses 
for  the  asserting  the  greatness  of  his  own  knowledge:  "He 
that  teacheth  man  knowledge,  shall  not  he  know?''  Psal.  xciv. 
10.  Man  has  here  knowledge  ascribed  to  him,  the  Author  of 
this  knowledge  is  God,  he  furnished  him  with  it,  and  therefore 
does  in  a  higher  manner  possess  it;  and  much  more  than  can 
fall  under  the  comprehension  of  any  creature;  as  the  sun  en- 
lightens all  things,  but  has  more  light  in  itself  than  it  darts  upon 
the  earth  or  the  heavens:  and  shall  not  God  eminently  contain 
all  that  knowledge  he  imparts  to  the  creatures,  and  infinitely 
more  exact  and  comprehensive? 

(4.)  The  accusations  of  conscience  evidence  God's  know- 
ledge of  all  actions  of  all  his  creatures.  Does  not  conscience 
check  for  the  most  secret  sins,  to  which  none  are  privy  but  a 
man's  self — the  whole  world  beside  being  ignorant  of  his  crime? 
Do  not  the  fears  of  another  judge  gall  the  heart?  It' a  judgment 
above  him  be  feared,  an  understanding  above  him  discerning 
their  secrets  is  confessed  by  those  fears;  whence  can  those  hor- 
rors arise,  if  there  be  not  a  superior  that  understands  and  records 
the  crime?  What  perfection  of  the  Divine  Being  can  this  relate 
unto,  but  omniscience?  What  other  attribute  is  to  be  feared, 
if  God  were  defective  in  this? 

The  condemnation  of  us  by  our  own  hearts,  when  none  in 
the  world  can  condemn  us,  renders  it  legible,  that  there  is  one 
greater  than  our  hearts  in  respect  of  knowledge,  who  knows 
all  things,  1  John  iii.  20:  conscience  would  be  a  vain  principle, 
and  stingless  without  this;  it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  silence 
all  its  accusations,  and  mockingly  laugh  in  the  face  of  its  se- 
verest frowns.  What  need  any  trouble  themselves,  if  none 
knows  their  crimes  but  themselves?    Concealed   sins  gnawing 


526  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

the  conscience,  are  arguments  of  God's  omniscience  of  all  pre- 
sent and  past  actions. 

(5.)  God  is  the  first  cause  of  every  thing,  every  creature  is 
his  production.  Since  all  creatures,  from  the  highest  angel  to 
the  lowest  worm,  exist  by  the  power  of  God — if  God  under- 
stands his  own  power  and  excellency,  nothing  can  be  hid  from 
him  that  was  brought  forth  by  that  power,  as  well  as  nothing 
can  be  unknown  to  him  that  that  power  is  able  to  produce.  If 
God  knows  nothing  besides  himself,  he  may  then  believe  there 
is  nothing  besides  himself;  we  shall  then  fancy  a  God  misera- 
bly mistaken.1  If  he  knows  nothing  besides  himself,  then 
things  were  not  created  by  him,  or  not  understandingly  and 
voluntarily  created,  but  dropped  from  him  before  he  was  aware. 
To  think  that  the  first  cause  of  all  should  be  ignorant  of  those 
things  he  is  the  cause  of,  is  to  make  him  not  a  voluntary,  but 
natural  agent,  and  therefore  necessary;  and  then  that  the  crea- 
ture came  from  him  as  light  from  the  sun,  and  moisture  from 
the  water:  this  would  be  an  absurd  opinion  of  the  world's 
creation:  if  God  be  a  voluntary  Agent,  as  he  is,  he  must  be  an 
intelligent  Agent.  The  faculty  of  will  is  not  in  any  creature 
without  that  of  understanding  also:  if  God  be  an  intelligent 
Agent,  his  knowledge  must  extend  as  far  as  his  operation,  and 
every  object  of  his  operation,  unless  we  imagine  God  has  lost 
his  memory,  in  that  long  tract  of  time  since  the  first  creation 
of  them.  An  artificer  cannot  be  ignorant  of  his  own  work:  if 
God  knows  himself,  he  knows  himself  to  be  a  cause:  how  can 
he  know  himself  to  be  a  cause,  unless  he  know  the  effects  he 
is  the  cause  of?  One  relation  implies  another:  a  man  cannot 
know  himself  to  be  a  father,  unless  he  has  a  child,  because  it 
is  a  name  of  relation,  and  in  the  notion  of  it  refers  to  another. 
The  name  of  cause  is  a  name  of  relation,  and  implies  an  effect: 
if  God  therefore  know  himself  in  all  his  perfections,  as  the  cause 
of  things,  he  must  know  all  his  acts,  what  his  wisdom  contrived, 
what  his  counsel  determined,  and  what  his  power  effected. 
The  knowledge  of  God  is  to  be  supposed  in  a  free  determina- 
tion of  himself;  and  that  knowledge  must  be  perfect,  both  of 
the  object,  act,  and  all  the  circumstances  of  it.  How  can  his 
will  freely  produce  any  thing  that  was  not  first  known  in  his 
understanding?  From  this  the  prophet  argues  the  understand- 
ing of  God,  and  the  unsearchableness  of  it,  because  he  is  the 
Creator  of  the  ends  of  the  earth,  Isa.  xl.  28:  and  the  same  rea- 
son David  gives  of  God's  knowledge  of  him,  and  of  every 
thing  he  did,  and  that  afar  off,  because  he  was  formed  by  him, 
Psal.  cxxxix.  2.  15,  16.  As  the  perfect  making  of  things  be- 
longs only  to  God,  so  does  the  perfect  knowledge  of  things:  it 

1  Bradwardin,  p.  6. 


on  uoirs  knowledge.  527 

is  absurd  to  think  that  God  should  be  ignorant  of  what  he  has 
given  being  to;  that  he  should  not  know  all  the  creatures  and 
their  qualities,  the  plants  and  their  virtues;  as  that  a  man  should 
not  know  the  hitters  that  are  formed  by  him  in  writing.  Every 
thing  bears  in  itself  the  mark  of  God's  perfections;  and  shall 
not  God  know  the  representation  of  his  own  virtue? 

(6.)  Without  this  knowledge,  God  could  no  more  be  the  Go- 
vernor than  he  could  he  the  Creator  of  the  world.    Knowledge 
is  the  basis  of  providence;  to  know  things  is  before  the  govern- 
ment of  things;  a  practical  knowledge  cannot  be  without  a 
theoretical  knowledge.    Nothing  could  be  directed  to  its  proper 
end,  without  the  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  it,  and  its  suita- 
bleness to  answer  that  end  for  which  it  is  intended.     As  every- 
thing, even  the  minutest,  falls  under  the  conduct  of  God,  so 
every  thing  falls  under  the  knowledge  of  God.    A  blind  coach- 
man is  not  able  to  hold  the  reins  of  his  horses,  and  direct  them 
in  the  righl  paths.     Since  the  providence  of  God  is  about  par- 
ticulars, his  knowledge  must  be  about  particulars;  he  could  not 
else  govern  them  in  particular;  nor  could  all  things  be  said  to 
depend  upon  him  in   their  being  and  operations.     Providence 
depends  upon  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  the  exercise  of  it 
upon  the  goodness  of  God;  it  cannot  be  without  understanding 
and  will;  understanding  to  know  what  is  convenient,  and  will 
to  perform  it.     When  our  Saviour  therefore  speaks  of  provi- 
dence, he  intimates  these  two,  in  a  special  manner.     "  Your 
heavenly  Father   knoweth   that   ye   have   need   of  all  these 
things,"  Matt.  vi.  32;  and  goodness,  in  Luke  xi.  13.    The  rea- 
son of  providence  is  so  joined  with  omniscience,  that  they  can- 
not be  separated:  what  a  kind  of  God  would  he  be  that  were 
ignorant  of  those  things  that  were  governed  by  him !  The  ascrib- 
ing this  perfection  to  him,  asserts  his  providence;  for  it  is  as 
easy  for  one  that   knows  all  things,  to  look  over  the  whole 
world,  if  written  with  monosyllables,  in  every  little  particular 
of  it,  as  it  is  with  a  man  to  take  a  view  of  one  letter  in  an 
alphabet. 

Again,  if  God  were  not  omniscient,  how  could  he  reward 
the  good,  and  punish  the  evil?  '  The  works  of  men  are  either 
rewardable  or  punishable;  not  only  according  to  their  outward 
circumstances)  hut  inward  principles  and  ends,  and  the  decrees 
of  venom  lurking  in  the  heart.  The  exact  discerning  of  these, 
without  a  possibility  to  be  deceived,  is  necessary  to  pass  a 
right  and  infallible  judgment  upon  them,  and  proportion  the 
censure  and  punishment  to  the  crime.  Without  such  a  know- 
ledge and  discerning,  men  would  not  have  their  due;  nay,  a 
judgment  just  for  the  matter,  would  be  unjust  in  the  manner, 
because  unjustly  passed,  without  an  understanding  of  the  merit 

'  Sabnnd.  tit  B4.  much  rlian£cd. 


528  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

of  the  cause.  It  is  necessary  therefore  that  the  supreme  Judge 
of  the  world  should  uot  be  thought  to  be  blindfold  when  he 
distributes  his  rewards  and  punishments,  nor  muffle  his  face 
when  he  passes  his  sentence.  It  is  necessary  to  ascribe  to  him 
the  knowledge  of  men's  thoughts  and  intentions,  the  secret 
wills  and  aims,  the  hidden  works  of  darkness  in  every  man's 
conscience,  because  every  man's  work  is  to  be  measured  by 
the  will  and  inward  frame.  It  is  necessary  that  lie  should  per- 
petually retain  all  those  things  in  the  indelible  and  plain  records 
of  his  memory,  that  there  may  not  be  any  work  without  a  just 
proportion  of  what  is  due  to  it.  This  is  the  glory  of  God,  to 
discover  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  at  last;  as  1  Cor.  iv.  5,  the 
Lord  "  will  bring  to  light  the  hidden  things  of  darkness,  and 
will  make  manifest  the  counsel  of  all  hearts;  and  then  shall 
every  man  have  praise  of  God."  This  knowledge  fits  him  to 
be  a  Judge:  the  reason  why  the  ungodly  shall  not  stand  in 
judgment,  is  because  God  knows  their  ways,  which  is  implied 
in  his  knowing  the  way  of  the  righteous,  Psal.  i.  5,  6. 

5.  I  now  proceed  to  the  use. 

Use  (1.)  Is  of  information  or  instruction.     If  God  has  all 
knowledge,  then, 

[1.]  Jesus  Christ  is  not  a  mere  creature.  The  two  titles  of 
Wonderful  Counsellor  and  Mighty  God,  are  given  him  in  con- 
junction, Isa.  ix.  6;  not  only  the  Angel  of  the  covenant,  as  he 
is  called,  Mai.  iii.  1,  or  the  executor  of  his  counsels,  but  a 
Counsellor,  in  conjunction  with  him  in  counsel  as  well  as 
power.  This  title  is  superior  to  any  title  given  to  any  of  the 
prophets  in  regard  of  their  predictions;  and  therefore  I  should 
take  it  rather  as  the  note  of  his  perfect  understanding,  than  of 
his  perfect  teaching  and  discovering,  as  Calvin  does.  He  is 
not  only  the  revealer  of  what  he  knows,  so  were  the  prophets 
according  to  their  measures;  but  the  counsellor  of  what  he 
revealed,  having  a  perfect  understanding  of  all  the  counsels  of 
God,  as  being  interested  in  them,  as  the  mighty  God.  He  calls 
himself  by  the  peculiar  title  of  God,  and  declares  that  he  will 
manifest  himself  by  this  prerogative  to  all  the  churches;  "And 
all  the  churches  shall  know  that  I  am  he  which  searcheth  the 
reins  and  hearts,"  Rev.  ii.  23,  the  most  hidden  operations  of 
the  minds  of  men,  that  lie  locked  up  from  the  view  of  all  the 
world  besides.  And  this  was  no  new  thing  to  him  after  his 
ascension;  for  the  same  perfection  he  had  in  the  time  of  his 
earthly  flesh:  "he  knew  their  thoughts,"  Luke  vi.  8:  his  eyes 
are  therefore  compared  to  dove's  eyes,  Cant.  v.  12,  which  are 
clear  and  quick;  and  to  a  flame  of  fire,  Rev.  i.  14;  not  only 
heat  to  consume  his  enemies,  but  light  to  discern  their  contri- 
vances against  the  church;  he  pierceth,  by  his  knowledge,  into 
all  part$7  as  fire  pierceth  into  the  closest  particle  of  iron,  and 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 


529 


separates  between  the  most  united  parts  of  metals;  and  some 
tell  us,  he  is  called  a  roe,  from  the  perspicacity  of  his  sight,  as 
well  as  from  the  swiftness  of  his  motion. 

He  has  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  Father;  he  knows  the 
Father,  and  none  else  knows  the  Father;  angels  know  God, 
men  know  God,  but  Christ  in  a  peculiar  manner  knows  the 
Father:  "No  man  knoweth  the  Son,  but  the  Father;  neither 
knoweth  any  man  the  Father,  save  the  Son,"  Matt.  xi.  27. 
He  knows  so,  as  that  he  learns  not  from  any  other;  he  does 
perfectly  comprehend  him,  which  is  beyond  the  reach  of  any 
creature  with  the  addition  of  all  the  Divine  virtue;  not  because 
of  any  incapacity  in  God  to  reveal,  but  the  incapacity  of  the 
creature  to  receive:  finite  is  incapable  of  being  made  infinite, 
and  therefore  incapable  of  comprehending  infinite;  so  that 
Christ  cannot  be  "  Deus  factus,"  made  of  a  creature  a  God,  to 
comprehend  God;  for  then  of  finite  he  would  become  infinite, 
which  is  a  contradiction.  As  the  Spirit  is  God,  because  he 
searches  the  deep  things  of  God,  1  Cor.  ii.  10,  that  is,  compre- 
hends them, '  as  the  spirit  of  a  man  does  the  things  of  a  man; 
(now  the  spirit  of  man  understands  what  it  thinks,  and  what 
it  wills;)  so  the  Spirit  of  God  understands  what  is  in  the  under- 
standing of  God,  and  what  is  in  the  will  of  God.  Christ  has 
an  absolute  knowledge  ascribed  to  him,  and  such  as  could  not 
be  ascribed  to  any  thing  but  a  Divinity.  Now  if  the  Spirit 
knows  the  deep  things  of  God,  and  takes  from  Christ  what  he 
shows  to  us  of  him,  John  xvi.  15,  he  cannot  be  ignorant  of 
those  things  himself;  he  must  know  the  depths  of  God  that 
affords  us  that  Spirit,  that  is  not  ignorant  of  any  of  the  counsels 
of  the  Father's  will.  Since  he  comprehends  the  Father,  and 
the  Father  him,  he  is  in  himself  infinite;  for  God,  whose 
essence  is  infinite,  is  infinitely  knowable;  but  no  created  under- 
standing can  infinitely  know  God.  The  infiniteness  of  the 
object  hinders  it  from  being  understood  by  any  thing  that  is 
not  infinite.  Though  a  creature  should  understand  all  the 
works  of  God,  yet  it  cannot  be  therefore  said  to  understand 
God  himself:  as,  though  I  may  understand  all  the  volitions  and 
motions  of  my  soul,  yet  it  does  not  follow  that  therefore  I 
understand  the  whole  nature  and  substance  of  my  soul;  or,  if 
a  man  understood  all  the  effects  of  the  sun,  that  therefore  he 
understands  fully  the  nature  of  the  sun.  But  Christ  knows  the 
Father,  he  lay  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  was  in  the  greatest 
intimacy  with  him,  John  i.  18;  and  from  this  intimacy  with 
him  he  saw  him  and  knew  him:  so  he  knows  God  as  much  as 
he  is  knowable;  and  therefore  knows  him  perfectly,  as  the 
Father  knows  himself  by  a  comprehensive  vision:  this  is  the 
knowledge  of  God  wherein  properly  the  infiniteness  of  his 

1  Petav.  Theo.  Dogmat.  torn.  1.  p.  467,  &c. 
Vol.  I.— 67 


530  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

understanding  appears.  And  our  Saviour  uses  such  expres- 
sions which  manifest  his  knowledge  to  be  above  all  created 
knowledge,  and  such  a  manner  of  knowledge  of  the  Father,  as 
the  Father  has  of  him. 

Christ  knows  all  creatures.  That  knowledge  which  compre- 
hends God,  comprehends  all  created  things  as  they  are  in  God; 
it  is  a  knowledge  that  sinks  to  the  depths  of  his  will,  and  there- 
fore extends  to  all  the  acts  of  his  will  in  creation  and  provi- 
dence: by  knowing  the  Father  he  knows  all  things  that  are 
contained  in  the  virtue,  power,  and  will  of  God;  whatsoever 
the  Father  does,  that  the  Son  does,  John  v.  19.  As  the  Father 
therefore  knows  all  things  he  is  the  cause  of,  so  does  the  Son 
know  all  things  he  is  the  worker  of;  as  the  perfect  making  of 
all  things  belongs  to  hoth,  so  does  the  perfect  knowledge  of  all 
things  belong  to  both;  where  the  action  is  the  same, the  know- 
ledge is  the  same.  Now  the  Father  did  not  create  one  thing, 
and  Christ  another;  "but  all  things  were  created  by  him,  and 
for  him:  all  things  both  in  heaven  and  earth,"  Col.  i.  16.  As 
he  knows  himself  the  cause  of  all  things,  and  the  end  of  all 
things,  he  cannot  be  ignorant  of  all  things  that  were  effected 
by  him,  and  are  referred  to  him;  he  knows  all  creatures  in 
God,  as  he  knows  the  essence  of  God,  and  knows  all  creatures 
in  themselves,  as  he  knows  his  own  acts  and  the  fruits  of  his 
power.  Those  things  must  be  in  his  knowledge  that  were  in 
his  power;  all  the  treasures  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of 
God  are  hid  in  him,  Col.  ii.  3.  Now  it  is  not  the  wisdom  of 
God  to  know  in  part,  and  be  in  part  ignorant.  He  cannot  be 
ignorant  of  any  thing,  since  there  is  nothing  but  what  was 
made  by  him,  John  i.  3,  and  since  it  is  less  to  know  than  create; 
for  we  know  many  things  which  we  cannot  make.  If  he  be 
the  Creator,  he  cannot  but  be  the  discerner  of  what  he  made; 
this  is  a  part  of  wisdom  belonging  to  an  artificer,  to  know  the 
nature  and  quality  of  what  he  makes.1  Since  he  cannot  be 
ignorant  of  what  he  furnished  with  being,  and  with  various 
endowments,  he  must  know  them  not  only  universally,  but 
particularly. 

Christ  knows  the  hearts  and  affections  of  men.  Peter  scru- 
ples not  to  ascribe  to  him  this  knowledge,  among  the  know- 
ledge of  all  other  things;  "  Lord,  thou  knowest  all  things:  thou 
knowest  that  I  love  thee,"  John  xxi.  17.  From  Christ's  know- 
ledge of  all  things,  he  concludes  his  knowledge  of  the  inward 
frames  and  dispositions  of  men.  To  search  the  heart,  is  the 
sole  prerogative  of  God:  "For  thou,  even  thou  only,  knowest 
the  hearts  of  all  the  children  of  men,"  1  Kings  viii.  39.  Shall 
we  take  {only)  here  with  a  limitation,  as  some  that  are  no 
friends  to  the  Deity  of  Christ  would,  and  say,  God  only  knows 

1  Petav.  Theolo.  Dogmat.  torn.  1.  p.  467. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  53  J 

the  hearts  of  men  from  himself,  and  by  his  own  infinite  virtue? 
Why  may  we  not  take  {only)  in  other  places  wilh  a  limitation, 
and  make  nonsense  of  it?  as  Psal.  Ixxxvi.  10.  "Thou  art 
God  alone."  Is  it  to  be  understood,  that  God  is  God  alone 
from  himself,  but  other  Gods  may  be  made  by  him,  and  so 
there  may  be  numberless  infinites?  As  God  is  God  alone,  so 
that  none  can  be  God  but  himself;  so  he  alone  knows  all  the 
hearts  of  all  the  children  of  metl,  and  none  bill  he  can  know 
them;  this  knowledge  is  from  his  nature.  The  reason  why 
God  knows  the  hearts  of  men,  is  rendered  in  the  Scripture 
double,  because  he  created  them,  and  because  he  is  present 
every  where,  Psal.  xxxiii.  13.  15.1  These  two  are  by  the  con- 
fession of  Christians  and  pagans  universally  received  as  the 
proper  characters  of  Divinity,  whereby  the  Deity  is  distin- 
guished from  all  creatures.  Now  when  Christ  ascribes  this  to 
himself,  and  that  with  such  an  emphasis,  that  nothing  greater 
than  that  could  be  urged,  as  he  does,  Rev.  ii.  23:  we  must  con- 
clude that  he  is  of  the  same  essence  with  God,  one  with  him 
in  his  nature,  as  well  as  one  with  him  in  his  attributes.  God 
only  knows  the  hearts  of  the  children  of  men;  there  is  the  unity 
of  God:  Christ  searches  the  hearts  and  reins;  there  is  a  dis- 
tinction of  persons  in  a  oneness  of  essence.  He  knows  the 
hearts  of  all  men,  not  only  of  those  that  were  with  him  in  the 
time  of  the  flesh,  that  have  been  and  shall  be  since  his  ascen- 
sion; but  of  those  that  lived  and  died  before  his  coming,  be- 
cause he  is  to  be  the  Judge  of  all  that  lived  before  his  humilia- 
tion on  earth,  as  well  as  after  his  exaltation  in  heaven.  It 
pertains  to  him  as  a  Judge,  to  know  distinctly  the  merits  of  the 
cause  of  which  he  is  to  judge;  and  this  excellency  of  searching 
the  hearts  is  mentioned  by  himself  with  relation  to  his  judicial 
proceeding,  "  I  will  give  unto  everyone  of  you  according  to 
your  works."  And  though  a  creature  may  know  what  is  in 
a  man's  heart,  if  it  be  revealed  to  him,  yet  such  a  knowledge 
is  a  knowledge  only  by  report,  not  by  inspection;  yet  this  lat- 
ter is  ascribed  to  Christ,  "  He  knew  all  men,  and  needed  not 
that  any  should  testify  of  man;  for  he  knew  what  was  in 
man,"  John  ii.  24,25;  he  looked  into  their  hearts.  The  evan- 
gelist, to  allay  the  amazement  of  men  at  his  relation  of  our 
Saviour's  knowledge  of  the  inward  falsity  of  those  that  made  a 
splendid  profession  of  him,  does  not  say,  the  Father  revealed  it 
to  him,  but  intimates  it  to  be  an  inseparable  property  of  his 
nature.  No  covering  was  so  thick  as  to  bound  his  eye;  no 
pretence  so  glittering  as  to  impose  upon  his  understanding. 
Those  that  made  a  profession  of  him,  and  could  not  be  dis- 
cerned by  the  eye  of  man  from  his  faithfullest  attendants,  were 
in  their  inside  known  to  him  plainer  than  their  outside  was  to 

1   Placeus  de  Deitatr>  fliristi. 


532  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

others;  and  therefore  he  committed  not  himself  to  them, 
though  they  seemed  to  be  persuaded  to  a  real  belief  in  his 
name  because  of  the  power  of  his  miracles,  and  were  touched 
with  an  admiration  of  him,  as  some  great  prophet,  and  perhaps 
declared  him  to  be  the  Messiah,  ver.  23. 

He  had  a  foreknowledge  of  the  particular  inclinations  of  men, 
before  those  distinct  inclinations  were  in  actual  being  in  them. 
This  is  plainly  asserted,  John  vi.  64:  "  But  there  are  some  of 
you  that  believe  not;  for  Jesus  knew  from  the  beginning  who 
they  were  that  believed  not,  and  who  should  betray  him." 
When  Christ  assured  them,  from  the  knowledge  of  the  hearts 
of  his  followers,  that  some  of  them  were  void  of  that  faith  they 
professed;  the  evangelist,  to  stop  their  amazement,  that  Christ 
should  have  such  a  power  and  virtue,  adds,  that  he -knew  from 
the  beginning,  that  he  had  not  only  a  present  knowledge,  but  a 
foreknowledge  of  every  one's  inclination;  he  knew  not  only 
now  and  then  what  was  in  the  hearts  of  his  disciples,  but  from 
the  beginning  of  any  one's  giving  up  his  name  to  him,  he  knew 
whether  it  were  a  pretence  or  sincere;  he  knew  who  should 
betray  him,  and  there  was  no  man's  inward  affection  but  was 
foreseen  by  him.  "  From  the  beginning,"1  whether  we  under- 
stand it  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  as  when  Christ  saith 
concerning  divorces,  "  from  the  beginning  it  was  not  so;"  that 
is,  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
law  of  nature,  or  from  the  beginning  of  their  attending  him,  (as 
it  is  taken,  Luke  i.  2,)  he  had  a  certain  prescience  of  the  inward 
dispositions  of  men's  hearts,  and  their  succeeding  sentiments: 
he  foreknew  the  treacherous  heart  of  Judas  in  the  midst  of  his 
splendid  profession;  and  discerned  his  resolution  in  the  root, 
and  his  thought  in  the  confused  chaos  of  his  natural  corruption; 
he  knew  how  it  would  spring  up,  before  it  did  spring  up,  be- 
fore Judas  had  any  distinct  and  formal  conception  of  it  himself, 
or  before  there  was  any  actual  preparation  to  a  resolve.  Peter's 
denial  was  not  unknown  to  him,  when  Peter  had  a  present 
resolution,  and,  no  question,  spake  it  in  the  present  sincerity  of 
his  soul,  "  never  to  forsake  him;"  he  foreknew  what  would  be 
the  result  of  that  poison  which  lurked  in  Peter's  nature,  before 
Peter  himself  imagined  any  thing  of  it;  he  discerned  Peter's 
apostatizing  heart,  when  Peter  resolved  the  contrary:  our  Sa- 
viour's prediction  was  accomplished,  and  Peter's  valiant  reso- 
lution languished  into  cowardice. 

Shall  we  then  conclude  our  blessed  Saviour  a  creature,  who 
perfectly  and  only  knew  the  Father,  who  knew  all  creatures, 
who  had  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,  who  knew 
the  inward  motions  of  men's  hearts  by  his  own  virtue,  and  had 
not  only  a  present  knowledge,  but  a  prescience  of  them. 

1  'El  <*p*iij. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  533 

[2. J  The  second  instruction  from  this  position — That  God 
has  an  infinite  knowledge  and  understanding,  is — Then  there 
is  a  providence  exercised  by  God  in  the  world,  and  that  about 
every  thing.  As  providence  infers  omniscence  as  the  guide  of 
it;  so  omniscence  infers  providence  as  the  end  of  it.  What  ex- 
ercise would  there  be  of  this  attribute,  but  in  the  government 
of  the  world?  To  this  infinite  perfection  Jeremiah  refers,  xvii. 
10;  "  I  the  Lord  search  the  heart,  I  try  the  reins,  even  to  give 
every  man  according  to  his  ways,  and  according  to  the  fruit  of 
his  doings."  He  searches  the  heart  to  reward,  lie  rewards 
every  man  according  to  the  rewardableness  of  his  actions;  his 
government  therefore  extends  to  every  man  in  the  world;  there 
is  no  heart  but  he  searches,  therefore  no  heart  but  he  governs. 
To  what  purpose  else  would  be  this  knowledge  of  all  his  crea- 
tures? For  a  mere  contemplation  of  them?  No,  what  pleasure 
can  that  be  to  God,  who  knows  himself,  who  is  infinitely  more 
excellent  than  all  his  creatures?  Does  he  know  them,  to  neglect 
all  care  of  them?  This  must  be  either  out  of  sloth,  (but  how  in- 
compatible is  laziness  to  a  pure  and  infinite  activity!)  or  out  of 
majesty;  but  it  is  no  less  for  the  glory  of  his  majesty  to  conduct 
them,  than  it  was  for  the  glory  of  his  power  to  erect  them  into 
being:  lie  that  counts  nothing  unworthy  of  his'arms  to  make, 
nothing  unworthy  of  his  understanding  to  know,  why  slionld 
he  count  any  thing  unworthy  of  his  wisdom  to  govern?  If  lie 
knows  them,  to  neglect  them,  it  must  be  because  he  has  no  will 
to  it,  or  no  goodness  for  it;  either  of  these  would  be  a  stain  upon 
God;  to  want  goodness  is  to  be  evil,  and  to  want  will  is  to  be 
negligent  and  scornful,  which  are  inconsistent  with  an  infinite, 
active  goodness.  Does  a  father  neglect  providing  for  the  wants 
of  the  family  which  he  knows;  or  a  physician  the  cure  of  that 
disease  he  understands?  God  is  omniscient,  he  therefore  sees 
all  things;  he  is  good,  he  does  not  therefore  neglect  any  thing, 
but  conducts  it  to  the  end  he  appointed  it.  There  is  noihingso 
little  that  can  escape  his  knowledge,  and  therefore  nothing  so 
little  but  falls  under  his  providence;  nothing  so  sublime  as  to  be 
above  his  understanding,  and  therefore  nothing  can  be  without 
the  compass  of  his  conduct:  nothing  can  escape  his  eye,  and 
therefore  nothing  can  escape  his  care;  nothing  is  known  by 
him  in  vain,  as  nothing  was  made  by  him  in  vain;  there  must 
be  acknowledged  therefore  some  end  of  this  knowledge  of  all 
his  creatures. 

[3.]  Hence  then  will  follow  the  certainty  of  a  day  of  judg- 
ment. To  what  purpose  can  we  imagine  this  attribute  of  om- 
niscience so  often  declared  and  urged  in  Scripture  to  our  con- 
sideration, but  in  order  to  a  government  of  our  practice,  and  a 
future  trial?  Every  perfection  of  the  Divine  nature  has  sent  out 
brighter  rays  in  the  world  than  this  of  his  infinite  knowledge: 


534  0N  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

his  power  has  been  seen  in  the  being  of  the  world,  and  his  wis- 
dom in  the  order  and  harmony  of  the  creatures;  his  grace  and 
mercy  has  been  plentifully  poured  out  in  the  mission  of  a  Re- 
deemer; and  his  justice  has  been  elevated  by  the  dying  groans 
of  the  Son  of  God  upon  the  cross.  But  has  his  omniscience  yet 
met  with  a  glory  proportionable  to  that  of  his  other  perfections? 
All  the  attributes  of  God  that  have  appeared  in  some  beautiful 
glimmerings  in  the  world,  wait  for  a  more  full  manifestation  in 
glory,  as  the  creatures  do  for  the  "manifestation  of  the  sons  of 
God,"  Rom.  viii.  19;  but  especially  this,  since  it  has  been  less 
evidenced  than  others,  and  as  much  or  more  abused  than  any: 
it  expects  therefore  a  public  righting  in  the  eye  of  the  world. 
There  have  been  indeed  some  few  sparks  of  this  perfection  sen- 
sibly struck  out  now  and  then  in  the  world,  in  some  horrors  of 
conscience,  which  have  made  men  become  their  own  accusers 
of  unknown  crimes,  and  in  bringing  out  hidden  wickedness  to 
a  public  view,  by  various  providences.  This  has  also  been  the 
design  of  sprinklings  of  judgments  upon  several  generations,  as 
Psal.  xc.  7,  8.  "  We  are  consumed  by  thine  anger,  and  by  thy 
wrath  we  are  troubled.  Thou  hast  set  our  iniquities  before 
thee,  our  secret  sins  in  the  light  of  thy  countenance."  The 
word  there  used  signifies  youth,  as  well  as  secret,  that  is,  sins 
committed  long  ago,  and  that  with  secrecy.  By  this  he  has 
manifested,  that  secret  sins  are  not  hid  from  his  eye.  Though 
inward  terrors  and  outward  judgments  have  been  let  loose  to 
worry  men  into  a  belief  of  this,  yet  the  corruptions  of  men 
would  still  keep  a  contrary  notion  in  their  minds,  that  God  has 
forgotten,  that  he  hides  his  face  from  transgression,  and  will  not 
regard  their  impiety,  Psal.  x.  11.  There  must  therefore  be  a 
time  of  trial  for  the  public  demonstration  of  this  excellency,  that 
it  may  receive  its  due  honour  by  a  full  testimony,  that  no 
secrecy  can  be  a  shelter  from  it.  As  his  justice,  which  consists 
in  giving  every  one  his  due,  could  not  be  glorified,  unless  men 
were  called  to  an  account  for  their  actions;  so  neither  would  his 
omniscience  appear  in  its  illustrious  colours,  without  such  a 
manifestation  oi  the  secret  motions  of  men's  hearts  and  of  vil- 
lanies  done  under  lock  and  key,  when  none  were  conscious  of 
them  but  the  committers  of  them.  Now  the  last  judgment  is 
the  time  appointed  for  the  opening  of  the  books,  Dan.  vii.  10. 
The  book  of  God's  records,  and  conscience  the  counterpart, 
were  never  fully  opened  and  read  before,  only  now  and  then 
some  pages  turned  to,  in  particular  judgments;  and  out  of  those 
books  shall  men  be  judged  according  to  their  works,  Rev.  xx. 
12.  Then  shall  the  defaced  sins  be  brought  with  all  their  cir- 
cumstances to  every  man's  memory.  The  counsels  of  men's 
hearts  fled  far  from  their  present  remembrance;  all  the  habitual 
knowledge  they  had  of  their  own  actions,  shall  by  God's  know- 


ON  GOD'S   KNOWLEDGE.  f,;j5 

ledge  of  them  be  excited  to  an  actual  review;  and  their  works 
not  only  made  manifest  to  themselves,  but  notorious  to  tin- 
world.     All  the  words, thoughts,  deeds  of  men  shall  be  brought 

forth  into  the  light  of  their  own  minds,  by  the  infinite  light  of 
God's  understanding  reflecting  on  them.  His  knowledge  ren- 
ders him  an  unerring  witness,  as  well  as  his  justice  a  swift  wit- 
ness, Mai.  iii.  5;  a  swift  witness,  because  he  shall  without  any 
circuit,  or  length  of  speech,  convince  their  consciences  by  an 
inward  illumination  of  them,  to  take  notice  of  the  blackness  and 
deformity  of  their  hearts  and  works.  In  all  judgments  God  is 
somewhat  known  to  be  the  searcher  of  hearts;  the  time  of  judg- 
ment is  the  time  of  his  remembrance;  "  Now  will  he  remember 
their  iniquity,  and  visit  their  sins,"  Hos.  viii.  13;  but  the  great 
instant,  or  now,  of  the  full  glorifying  it,  is  the  grand  day  of  ac- 
count. This  attribute  must  have  a  time  for  its  full  discovery; 
and  no  time  can  be  fit  for  it  but  a  time  of  a  general  reckoning. 
Justice  cannot  be  exercised  without  omniscience;  for  as  justice 
is  a  giving  to  every  one  his  due,  so  there  must  be  knowledge  to 
discern  what  is  due  to  every  man:  the  searching  the  heart  is  in 
order  to  the  rewarding  the  work's. 

[4.]  This  perfection  in  God  gives  us  ground  to  believe  a 
resurrection.  Who  can  think  this  too  hard  for  his  power,  since 
not  the  least  atom  of  the  dust  of  our  bodies  can  escape  his 
knowledge?  An  infinite  understanding  comprehends  every 
mite  of  a  departed  carcass;  this  will  not  appear  impossible  or 
irrational  to  any  upon  a  serious  consideration  of  this  excellency 
in  God.  The  body  is  perished,  the  matter  of  it  has  been  since 
clothed  with  different  forms  and  figures;  part  of  it  has  been 
made  the  body  of  a  worm,  part  of  it  returned  to  the  dust  that 
has  been  blown  away  by  the  wind,  part  of  it  has  been  concocted 
in  the  bodies  of  cannibals,  fish,  ravenous  beasts;  the  spirits 
have  evaporated  into  air,  part  of  the  blood  melted  into  water: 
what  then,  is  the  matter  of  the  body  annihilated?  is  that 
wholly  perished?  No,  the  foundation  remains,  though  it  has 
put  on  a  variety  of  forms;  neither  the  body  of  Abel,  the  first 
man  that  died,  nor  the  body  vof  Adam,  are  to  this  day  reduced 
to  nothing.  Indeed  the  quantity  and  the  quality  of  those  bodies 
have  been  lost,  by  various  changes  they  have  passed  through 
since  their  dissolution;  but  the  matter  or  substance  of  them 
remains  entire,  and  is  not  capable  to  be  destroyed  by  all  those 
transforming  alterations  in  so  long  a  revolution  of  time. 

The  body  of  a  man  in  his  infancy  and  his  old  age,  if  it  wire 
Methuselah's,  is  the  same  in  the  foundation  in  those  multitude 
of  years.  Though  the  quantity  of  it  be  altered,  the  quality 
different;  though  the  colour  and  other  things  be  changed  in  it; 
the  matter  of  this  body  remains  the  same  among  all  the  altera- 
tions after  death.     And  can  it  be  so  mixed  with  other  natures 


536  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

and  creatures,  as  that  it  is  past  finding  out  by  an  infinite  under- 
standing? Can  any  particle  of  this  matter  escape  the  eye  of 
him  that  makes  and  beholds  all  those  various  alterations,  and 
where  every  mite  of  the  substance  of  those  bodies  is  particu- 
larly lodged ;  so  as  that  he  cannot  compact  it  together  again 
for  a  habitation  of  that  soul,  that  many  a  year  before  fled  from 
it?1  Since  the  knowledge  of  God  is  infinite,  and  his  providence 
extensive  over  the  least  as  well  as  the  greatest  parts  of  the 
world,  he  must  needs  know  the  least  as  well  as  the  greatest  of 
his  creatures  in  their  beginning,  progress,  and  dissolution;  all 
the  forms  through  which  the  bodies  of  all  creatures  roll,  the 
particular  instants  of  time,  and  the  particular  place  when  and 
where  those  changes  are  made,  they  are  all  present  with  him ; 
and  therefore  when  the  revolution  of  time  allotted  by  him  for 
the  re-union  of  souls  and  deceased  bodies  is  come,  it  cannot  be 
doubted  but  out  of  the  treasures  of  his  knowledge  he  can  call 
forth  every  part  of  the  matter  of  the  bodies  of  men,  from  the 
first  to  the  last  man  that  expired,  and  strip  it  of  all  those  forms  and 
figures,  which  it  shall  then  have,  to  compact  it  to  be  a  lodging 
for  that  soul  which  it  entertained  before;  and  though  the  bodies 
of  men  have  been  devoured  by  wild  beasts  in  the  earth,  and 
fish  in  the  sea,  and  been  lodged  in  the  stomachs  of  barbarous 
men-eaters,  the  matter  is  not  lost.  There  is  but  little  of  the 
food  we  take,  that  is  turned  into  the  substance  of  our  own  bodies; 
that  which  is  not  proper  for  nourishment,  which  is  the  greatest 
part,  is  separated,  and  concocted,  and  rejected.  Whatsoever 
objections  are  made,  are  answered  by  this  attribute.  Nothing 
hinders  a  God  of  infinite  knowledge  from  discerning  every  par- 
ticle of  the  matter,  wheresoever  it  is  disposed;  and  since  he 
has  an  eye  to  discern,  and  a  hand  to  recollect  and  unite,  what 
difficulty  is  there  in  believing  this  article  of  the  Christian  faith? 
He  that  questions  this  revealed  truth  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
body,  must  question  God's  omniscience,  as  well  as  his  omnipo- 
tence and  power. 

[5.]  What  semblance  of  reason  is  there  to  expect  a  justifica- 
tion in  the  sight  of  God  by  any  thing  in  ourselves?  Is  there 
any  action  done  by  any  of  us,  but  upon  a  scrutiny  we  may  find 
flaws  and  deficiency  in  it?  What  then?  shall  not  this  perfec- 
tion of  God  discern  them?  The  motes  that  escape  our  eyes 
cannot  escape  his,  "  God  is  greater  than  our  heart,  and  know- 
eth  all  things,"  1  John  iii.  20;  so  that  it  is  in  vain  for  any  man 
to  flatter  himself  with  the  rectitude  of  any  work,  or  enter  into 
any  debate  with  him  who  can  bring  a  thousand  articles  against 
us,  out  of  his  own  infinite  records,  unknown  to  us  and  unan- 
swerable by  us.  If  conscience,  a  representative  or  counterpart 
of  God's  omniscience  in  our  own  bosoms,  find  nothing  done  by 
i  Daille,  Serm.  15.  p.  21—24. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLKDCK. 


537 


us,  but  in  a  copy  short  of  the  original,  and  beholds,  if  not  blurs, 
yet  imperfections  in  the  best  actions,  God  must  much  more  dis- 
cern them;  we  never  knew  a  copy  equally  exact  with  the  ori- 
ginal. If  our  own  conscience  be  as  a  thousand  witnesses,  the 
knowledge  of  God  is  as  millions  of  witnesses  against  us:  if 
our  corruption  be  so  great,  and  our  holiness  so  low  in  our  own 
eyes,  how  much  greater  must  the  one,  and  how  much  meaner 
must  the  other  appear  in  the  eyes  of  God?  God  has  an  unerring 
eye  to  see,  as  well  as  an  unspotted  holiness  to  hate,  and  an  un- 
bribable  justice  to  punish:  he  wants  no  more  understanding  to 
know  the  shortness  of  our  actions,  than  he  docs  holiness  to 
enact  and  power  to  execute  his  laws.  Nay,  suppose  we  could 
recollect  many  actions,  wherein  there  were  no  spot  visible  to 
us,  the  consideration  of  this  attribute  should  scare  us  from  rest- 
ing upon  any  or  all  of  them;  since  it  is  the  Lord  that  by  a 
piercing  eye  sees  and  judges  according  to  the  heart,  and  not 
according  to  appearance.  The  least  crookedness  of  a  stick,  not 
sensible  to  an  acute  eye,  yet  will  appear  when  laid  to  the  line ; 
and  the  impurity  of  a  counterfeit  metal  be  manifest  when  ap- 
plied to  the  touchstone;  so  will  the  best  action  of  any  mere 
man  in  the  world,  when  it  comes  to  be  measured  in  God's 
knowledge  by  the  straight  line  of  his  law. 

Let  every  man  therefore,  as  Paul,  though  he  should  know 
nothing  by  himself,  think  not  himself  therefore  justified;  since 
it  is  the  Lord,  who  is  of  an  infinite  understanding,  that  judgeth, 
1  Cor.  iv.  4.  A  man  may  be  justified  in  his  own  sight,  but  not 
any  living  man  can  be  justified  in  the  sight  of  God,  Psal.  cxliii. 
2;  in  his  sight,  whose  eye  pierces  into  our  unknown  secrets  and 
frames.  It  was  therefore  well  answered  of  a  good  man  upon 
his  death-bed,  being  asked  what  he  was  afraid  of?  "  I  have 
laboured  (says  he)  with  all  my  strength  to  observe  the  com- 
mands of  God;  but  since  I  am  a  man,  I  am  ignorant  whether 
my  works  are  acceptable  to  God,  since  God  judges  in  one  man- 
ner, and  I  in  another  manner."  Let  the  consideration  there- 
fore of  this  attribute  make  us  join  with  Job  in  his  resolution, 
Job  ix.  21;  "  though  I  were  perfect,  yet  would  I  not  know  my 
own  soul.  I  would  not  stand  up  to  plead  any  of  my  virtues 
before  God."  Let.  us  therefore  look  after  another  righteous- 
ness, wherein  the  exact  eye  of  the  Divine  omniscience,  we  are 
sure,  can  discern  no  stain  or  crookedness. 

[6.]  What  honourable  and  adoring  thoughts  ought  we  to 
have  of  God  for  this  perfection!  Do  we  not  honour  a  man  that 
is  able  to  predict?  do  we  not  think  it  a  great  part  of  wisdom? 
Have  not  all  nations  regarded  such  a  faculty  as  a  character  and 
a  mark  of  divinity?  There  is  something  more  ravishing  in  the 
knowledge  of  future  things,  both  to  the  person  that  knows 
them,  and  the  person  that  hears  them,  than  there  is  in  any  other 
Vol.  L— 68 


538  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

kind  of  knowledge;  whence  the  greatest  prophets  have  been 
accounted  in  the  greatest  veneration,  and  men  have  thought  it 
a  way  to  glory,  to  divine  and  predict.  Hence  it  was  that  the 
devils  and  pagan  oracles  gained  so  much  credit;  upon  this  foun- 
dation were  they  established,  and  the  enemies  of  mankind 
owned  for  a  true  God;  I  say,  from  the  prediction  of  future 
things,  though  their  oracles  were  often  ambiguous,  many  times 
false.  Yet  those  poor  heathen  framed  many  ingenious  excuses, 
to  free  their  adored  gods  from  the  charge  of  falsity  and  impos- 
ture. And  shall  we  not  adore  the  true  God,  the  God  of  Israel, 
the  God  blessed  for  ever,  for  this  incommunicable  property, 
whereby  he  flies  above  the  wings  of  the  wind,  the  understand- 
ings of  men  and  cherubim? 

Consider  how  great  it  is  to  know  the  thoughts,  and  inten- 
tions, and  works  of  one  man,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of 
his  life;  to  foreknow  all  these  before  the  being  of  this  man, 
when  he  was  lodged  afar  off  in  the  loins  of  his  ancestors,  yea, 
of  Adam;  how  much  greater  is  it  to  foreknow  and  know  the 
thoughts  and  works  of  three  or  four  men,  of  a  whole  village  or 
neighbourhood!  It  is  greater  still  to  know  the  imaginations  and 
actions  of  such  a  multitude  of  men  as  are  contained  in  London, 
Paris,  or  Constantinople;  how  much  greater  still  to  know  the 
intention^  and  practices,  the  clandestine  contrivances  of  so  many 
millions,  that  have,  do,  or  shall  swarm  in  all  quarters  of  the 
world,  every  person  of  them  having  millions  of  thoughts,  de- 
sires, designs,  affections,  and  actions!1 

Let  this  attribute,  then,  make  the  blessed  God  honourable  in 
our  eyes,  and  adorable  in  all  our  affections;  especially  since  it 
is  an  excellency  which  has  so  lately  discovered  itself,  in  bring- 
ing to  light  the  hidden  things  of  darkness;  in  opening,  and  in 
part  confounding  the  wicked  devices  of  bloody  men.  Espe- 
cially let  us  adore  God  for  it,  and  admire  it  in  God,  since  it  is 
so  necessary  a  perfection,  that  without  it  the  goodness  of  God 
had  been  impotent,  and  could  not  have  relieved  us;  for  what 
help  can  a  distressed  person  expect  from  a  man  of  the  sweetest 
disposition,  and  the  strongest  arm,  if  the  eyes  which  should  dis- 
cover the  danger,  and  direct  the  defence  and  rescue,  were  closed 
up  by  blindness  and  darkness?  Adore  God  for  this  wonderful 
perfection. 

[7.]  In  the  consideration  of  this  excellent  attribute,  what  low 
thoughts  should  we  have  of  our  own  knowledge,  and  how  hum- 
ble ought  we  to  be  before  God!  There  is  nothing  man  is  more 
apt  to  be  proud  of  than  his  knowledge;  it  is  a  perfection  he  glo- 
ries in;  but  if  our  own  knowledge  of  the  little  outside  and  bark 
of  things  puffs  us  up,  the  consideration  of  the  infiniteness  of 
God's  knowledge  should  abate  the  tumour.     As  our  beings  are 

1  Sabnnd  Thcol.  Natural,  lit.  84.  somewhat  changed. 


BOlt'S  KNOW  LEDGE.  ;,;jq 

nothing  in  regard  to  the  infiniteness  of  his  essence,  so  our  know- 
ledge is  nothing  in  regard  of  the  vastness  of  his  understanding: 
we  have  a  spark  of  being,  but  nothing  to  the  heat  of  the  sun: 
we  have  a  drop  of  knowledge,  hut  nothing  to  the  Divine  ocean. 

What  a  vain  thing  is  it  lor  a  shallow  brook  to  boast  of  its 
streams  before  a  sea,  whose  depths  arc  unfathomable!  As  it 
is  a  canity  t<>  brag  of  our  strength  when  we  remember  the 
power  of  God  ;  and  of  our  prudence,  when  we  glance  upon  the 
wisdom  of  God;  so  it  is  no  less  a  vanity  to  hoast  of  our  know- 
ledge, when  we  think  of  the  understanding  and  knowledge  of 
God. 

How  hard  is  it  for  us  to  know  any  thing!  Too  much  noise 
deafens  us,  and  too  much  light  dazzles  us;  too  much  distance 
alienates  the  object  from  us,  and  too  much  nearness  bars  up  our 
sight  from  beholding  it.1  When  we  think  ourselves  to  be  near 
the  knowledge  of  a  thing,  as  a  ship  to  the  haven,  a  puff  of  wind 
blows  us  away,  and  the  object  which  we  desired  to  know  eter- 
nally flics  from  us;  we  burn  with  a  desire  of  knowledge,  and 
yet  are  oppressed  with  the  darkness  of  ignorance;  we  spend 
our  days  more  in  dark  Egypt  than  in  enlightened  Goshen.  In 
what  narrow  bounds  is  all  the  knowledge  of  the  most  intelli- 
gent persons  included!  How  few  understand  the  exact  har- 
mony of  their  own  bodies,  the  nature  of  the  life  they  have  in 
common  with  other  animals!2  Who  understands  the  nature  of 
his  own  faculties,  how  he  knows,  and  how  he  wills,  how  the 
understanding  proposes,  and  how  the  will  embraces,  how  his 
spiritual  soul  is  united  to  his  material  body,  what  the  nature  is 
of  the  operation  of  our  spirits?  Nay,  who  undestands  the  nature 
of  his  own  body,  the  offices  of  his  senses,  the  motion  of  his 
members,  how  they  come  to  obey  the  command  of  the  will, and 
a  thousand  other  things?  What  a  vain,  weak,  and  ignorant 
thing  is  man,  when  compared  with  God!  Yet  there  is  not  a 
greater  pride  to  be  found  among  devils,  than  among  ignorant 
men,  with  a  little,  very  little  flashy  knowledge;  ignorant  man 
is  as  proud,  as  if  he  knew  as  God! 

As  the  consideration  of  God's  omniscience  should  render 
him  honourable  in  our  eyes,  so  it  should  render  us  vile  in  our 
own.  God,  because  of  his  knowledge,  is  so  far  from  disdain- 
ing his  creatures,  that  his  omniscience  is  a  minister  to  his  good- 
ness. No  knowledge  that  we  are  possessed  of,  should  make 
us  swell  with  too  high  a  conceit  of  ourselves,  and  a  disdain  of 
others.  We  have  infinitely  more  of  ignorance  than  knowledge. 
Let  us  therefore  remember  in  all  our  thoughts  of  God,  that  he 
is  God,  and  we  are  men;  and  therefore  ought  to  be  humble,  as 
becomes  men,  and  ignorant  and  foolish  men  to  be.  As  weak 
creatures  should  lie  low  before  an  almighty  God,  and  impure 

'Pascal],  p.  170.         -  Amyraut,  de  Prrcdcbt.  ]>.  llfi,  117.  somewhat  changed. 


540  oii  ^OD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

creatures  before  a  holy  God,  false  creatures  before  a  faithful 
God,  finite  creatures  before  an  infinite  God;  so  should  ignorant 
creatures  before  an  all-knowing  God.  All  God's  attributes 
teach  admiring  thoughts  of  God,  and  low  thoughts  of  ourselves. 

[8.]  It  may  inform  us,  how  much  this  attribute  is  injured  in 
the  world.  The  first  error  after  Adam's  eating  the  forbidden 
fruit,  was  the  denial  of  this,  as  well  as  the  omnipresence  of 
God:  "I  heard  thy  voice  in  the  garden,  and  I  hid  myself," 
Gen.  iii.  10;  as  if  the  thickness  of  the  trees  could  screen  him 
from  the  eye  of  his  Creator.  And  after  Cain's  murder,  this  is 
the  first  perfection  he  affronts:  "  Where  is  Abel,  thy  brother?" 
says  God:  how  roundly  he  answers,  "  I  know  not!"  Gen.  iv.  9; 
as  if  God  were  as  weak  as  man,  to  be  put  off  with  a  lie.  Man 
as  naturally  hates  this  perfection,  as  much  as  he  cannot  natu- 
rally but  acknowledge  it;  he  wishes  God  stripped  of  this  emi- 
nency,  that  he  might  be  incapable  to  be  an  inspector  of  his 
crimes,  and  a  searcher  of  the  closets  of  his  heart.  In  wishing 
him  deprived  of  this,  there  is  a  hatred  of  God  himself;  for  it  is  a 
loathing  an  essential  property  of  God,  without  which  he  would 
be  a  pitiful  Governor  of  the  world.  What  a  kind  of  God  should 
that  be,  of  a  sinner's  wishing,  that  had  wanted  eyes  to  see  a 
crime,  and  righteousness  to  punish  it!  The  want  of  the  con- 
sideration of  this  attribute,  is  the  cause  of  all  sin  in  the  world : 
"  They  consider  not  in  their  hearts  that  I  remember  all  their 
wickedness,"  Hos.  vii.  2.  They  speak  not  to  their  hearts,  nor 
make  any  reflection  upon  the  infiniteness  of  my  knowledge! 
It  is  a  high  contempt  of  God,  as  if  he  were  an  idol,  a  senseless 
stock  or  stone.  In  all  evil  practices,  this  is  denied.  We  know 
God  sees  all  things,  yet  we  live  and  walk  as  if  he  knew  nothing; 
we  call  him  omniscient,  and  live  as  if  he  were  ignorant;  we 
say  he  is  all  eye,  yet  act  as  if  he  were  wholly  blind. 

In  particular,  this  attribute  is  injured  by  invading  the  pecu- 
liar rights  of  it,  by  presuming  on  it,  and  by  a  practical  denial 
of  it. 

By  invading  the  peculiar  rights  of  it. 

By  invocation  of  creatures.  Praying  to  saints,  by  the  Ro- 
manists, is  a  disparagement  to  this  Divine  excellency:  he  that 
knows  all  things,  is  alone  fit  to  have  the  petitions  of  men  pre- 
sented to  him.  Prayer  supposes  an  omniscient  Being,  as  the 
object  of  it;  no  other  being  but  God  ought  to  have  that  honour 
acknowledged  to  it;  no  understanding  but  his  is  infinite;  no 
other  presence  but  his  is  every  where:  to  implore  any  deceased 
creature  for  a  supply  of  our  wants,  is  to  own  in  them  a  property 
of  the  Deity;  and  make  them  deities  that  were  but  men,  and 
increase  their  glory  by  a  diminution  of  God's  honour,  in  ascrib- 
ing that  perfection  to  creatures  which  belongs  only  to  God. 
Alas!  they  are  so  far  from  understanding  the  desires  of  our 


()N  COD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  54 ^ 

souls,  that  they  know  not  the  words  of  our  lips.  It  is  against 
reason  to  address  our  supplications  to  them  that  neither  under- 
stand us  nor  discern  us:  Abraham  is  ignorant  of  us,  and  Israel 
acknowledges  us  not,  Isa.  lxiii.  16.  The  Jews  never  called 
upon  Abraham,  though  the  covenant  was  made  with  him  for 
the  whole  seed  ■  not  one  departed  saint  for  the  whole  four  thou- 
sand years  between  the  creation  of  the  world  and  the  coming 
of  Christ,  was  ever  prayed  to  by  the  Israelites,  or  ever  imagined 
to  have  a  share  in  God's  omniscience;  so  that  to  pray  to  St. 
Peter,  St.  Paul,  much  less  to  St.  Roch,  St.  Swithin,  St.  Martin, 
St.  Francis,  &c,  is  such  a  superstition  that  has  no  footing  in  the 
Scripture. 

To  desire  the  prayers  of  the  living,  with  whom  we  have  a 
communion,  who  can  understand  and  grant  our  desires,  is 
founded  upon  a  mutual  charity;  but  to  implore  persons  that 
are  absent,  at  a  great  distance  from  us,  with  whom  we  have 
not,  nor  know  how  to  have  any  commerce,  supposes  them  in 
their  departure  to  have  put  off  humanity,  and  commenced  gods, 
and  endued  with  some  part  of  the  Divinity  to  understand  our 
petitions:  we  are  indeed  to  cherish  their  memories,  consider 
their  examples,  imitate  their  graces,  and  observe  their  doctrines; 
we  are  to  follow  them  as  saints,  but  not  elevate  them  as  gods, 
in  ascribing  to  them  such  a  knowledge  which  is  only  the  neces- 
sary right  of  their  and  our  common  Creator.1  As  the  invoca- 
tion of  saints  mingles  them  with  Christ  in  the  exercise  of  his 
office,  so  it  sets  them  equal  with  God  in  the  throne  of  his  omnis- 
cience; as  if  they  had  as  much  credit  with  God,  as  Christ,  in  a 
way  of  mediation;  and  as  much  knowledge  of  men's  affairs,  as 
God  himself.  Omniscience  is  peculiar  to  God,  and  incommuni- 
cable to  any  creature;  it  is  the  foundation  of  all  religion,  and 
therefore  to  one  of  the  choicest  acts  of  it,  namely,  prayer  and 
invocation.  To  direct  our  vows  and  petitions  to  any  else,  is  to 
invade  the  peculiarity  of  this  perfection  in  God,  and  to  rank 
some  creatures  in  a  partnership  with  him  in  it. 

This  attribute  is  injured  also  by  curiosity  of  knowledge; 
especially  of  future  things,  which  God  has  not  discovered  in 
natural  causes,  or  supernatural  revelation.  It  is  a  common 
error  of  men's  spirits  to  aspire  to  know  what  God  would  have 
hidden,  and  to  pry  into  Divine  secrets;  and  many  men  arc 
more  willing  to  remain  without  the  knowledge  of  those  things 
which  may  with  a  little  industry  be  attained,  than  be  divested 
of  the  curiosity  of  inquiring  into  those  things  which  are  above 
their  reach;  it  is  hence  that  some  have  laid  aside  the  study  of 
the  common  remedies  of  nature,  to  find  out  the  philosopher's 
stone;  which  scarce  any  yet  ever  attempted,  but  sunk  in  the 
enterprise.     From  this  inclination  to  know  the  most  abstruse 

'  Daillc,  Rfelang.  pari  2.  i>.  5G0,  561. 


542  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

and  difficult  things  it  is,  that  the  horrors  of  magic  and  the  vani- 
ties of  astrology  have  sprung,  whereby  men  have  thought  to 
find,  in  a  commerce  with  devils  and  the  jurisdiction  of  the  stars, 
the  events  of  their  lives,  and  the  disposal  of  states  and  king- 
doms.1 Hence  also  arose  those  multitudes  of  ways  of  divina- 
tion invented  among  the  heathen,  and  practised  too  commonly 
in  these  ages  of  the  world.  This  is  an  invasion  of  God's  pre- 
rogative, to  whom  secret  things  belong:  "  Secret  things  belong 
unto  the  Lord  our  God,  but  those  things  which  are  revealed 
belong  unto  us  and  to  our  children,"  Deut.  xxix.  29.  It  is  an 
intolerable  boldness  to  attempt  to  fathom  those,  the  knowledge 
whereof  God  has  reserved  to  himself,  and  to  search  that  which 
God  will  have  to  surpass  our  understandings;  whereby  we 
more  truly  envy  God  a  knowledge  superior  to  our  own,  than 
we  in  Adam  imagined  that  he  envied  us.  Ambition  is  the 
greatest  cause  of  this,  ambition  to  be  accounted  some  great 
thing  among  men,  by  reason  of  a  knowledge  estranged  from 
the  common  mass  of  mankind;  but  more  especially  that  soar- 
ing pride  to  be  equal  with  God,  which  lurks  in  our  nature  ever 
since  the  fall  of  our  first  parents.  This  is  not  yet  laid  aside  by 
man,  though  it  was  the  first  thing  that  embroiled  the  world 
with  the  wrath  of  God.  Some  think  a  curiosity  of  knowledge 
was  the  cause  of  the  fall  of  the  devils;  I  am  sure  it  was  the 
foil  of  Adam,  and  is  yet  the  crime  of  his  posterity;  had  he  been 
contented  to  know  what  God  had  furnished  him  with,  neither 
he  nor  his  posterity  had  smarted  under  the  venom  of  the  ser- 
pent's breath. 

All  curious  and  bold  inquiries  into  things  not  revealed,  are 
an  attempt  upon  the  throne  of  God,  and  are  both  sinful  and 
pernicious;  like  to  glaring  upon  the  sun,  when  instead  of  a 
greater  acuteness,  we  meet  with  blindness,  and  pay  too  dearly, 
by  our  ignorance  in  attempting  a  superfluous  knowledge.  As 
God's  knowledge  is  destined  to  the  government  of  the  world, 
so  should  ours  be  to  the  advantage  of  the  world,  and  not 
degenerate  into  vain  speculations. 

This  attribute  is  injured  by  swearing  by  creatures.  To  swear 
by  the  name  of  God,  in  a  righteous  cause,2  when  we  are  law- 
fully called  to  it  by  a  superior  power,  or  by  the  necessary  deci- 
sion of  some  controversy,  for  the  ends  of  charity  and  justice,  is 
an  act  of  religion,  and  a  part  of  worship,  founded  upon  and 
directed  to  the  honour  of  this  attribute;  by  it  we  acknow- 
ledge the  glory  of  his  infallible  knowledge  of  all  things;  but  to 
swear  by  false  gods,  or  by  any  creature,  is  blasphemous;  it 
sets  the  creature  in  the  place  of  God,  and  invests  it  with  that 
which  is  the  peculiar  honour  of  the  Divinity;  for  when  any 
swear  truly,  they  intend  the  invocation  of  an  infallible  witness, 

1  Amyraut.  Moral,  torn.  3.  p.  75,  &c.  2  Cajetan.  Sum.  p.  190. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  ,,  j;; 

and  the  bringing  an  undoubted  testimony  for  what  they  do 
assert.  While  any  therefore  swear  by  a  creature,  or  a  lalse 
god,  they  profess  that  that  creature,  or  that  which  they  esteem 
to  be  a  god.  is  an  infallible  witness,  which  to  be,  is  the  right 
only  of  God;  they  attribute  to  the  creature  that  which  is  the 
property  of  God  alone,  to  know  the  heart,  and  to  be  a  witness 
whether  they  speak  true  or  no;  and  this  was  accounted  by  all 
nations  the  true  design  of  an  oath.  As  to  swear  falsely,  is  a 
plain  denial  of  the  all-knowledge  of  God ;  so  to  swear  by  any 
creature,  is  to  set  the  creature  upon  the  throne  of  God,  in 
ascribing  that  perfection  to  the  creatine  which  sovereignly 
belongs  to  the  Creator:  for  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  any  to  wit- 
ness to  the  truth  of  the  heart,  but  of  him  that  is  the  Searcher  of 
hearts. 

We  sin  against  this  attribute  by  censuring  the  hearts  of 
others.  An  open  crime  indeed  falls  under  our  cognizance, and 
therefore  under  our  judgment;  for  whatsoever  falls  under  the 
authority  of  man  to  be  punished,  falls  under  the  judgment  of 
man  to  be  censured,  as  an  act  contrary  to  the  law  of  God;  yet 
when  a  censure  is  built  upon  the  evil  of  the  act  which  is 
obvious  to  the  view,  if  we  take  a  step  further  to  judge  the 
heart  and  state,  we  leave  the  revealed  rule  of  the  law,  and 
ambitiously  erect  a  tribunal  equal  with  God's;  and  usurp  a 
judicial  power,  pertaining  only  to  the  supreme  Governor  of  the 
world;  and  consequently  pretend  to  be  possessed  of  this  per- 
fection of  omniscience,  which  is  necessary  to  render  him  capa- 
ble of  the  exercise  of  that  sovereign  authority.  For  it  is  in 
respect  of  his  dominion,  that  God  has  the  supreme  right  to 
judge,  and  in  respect  of  his  knowledge  that  he  has  an  incom- 
municable capacity  to  judge. 

In  an  action  that  is  doubtful,  the  good  or  evil  whereof  de- 
pends only  upon  God's  determination,  and  wherein  much  of 
the  judgim-nt  depends  upon  the  discerning  the  intention  of  the 
agent,  we  cannot  judge  any  man  without  a  manifest  invasion 
of  God's  peculiar  right:  such  actions  are  to  be  tried  by  God's 
knowledge,  not  by  our  surmises;  God  only  is  the  Master  in 
such  cases,  to  whom  a  person  stands  or  falls,  Rom.  xiv.  4. 
Till  the  true  principle  and  ends  of  an  action  be  known  by 
the  confession  of  the  party  acting  it,  a  true  judgment  of  it, 
is  not  in  our  power.  Principles  and  ends  lie  deep  and  hid 
from  us;  and  it  is  intolerable  pride  to  pretend  to  have  a  joint 
key  with  God  to  open  that  cabinet  which  he  has  reserved  to 
himself. 

Besides  die  violation  of  the  rule  of  charity  in  misconstruing 
actions  which  may  be  great  and  generous  in  their  root  and 
principle,  we  invade  God's  right,  as  if  our  ungrounded  imagi- 
nations and  conjectures   were   in  joint   commission   with  this 


544  ON  GOD'S   KNOWLEDGE. 

sovereign  perfection;  and  thereby  we  become  usurping  judges 
of  evil  thoughts,  James  ii.  4.  It  is  therefore  a  boldness  worthy 
to  be  punished  by  the  judge,  to  assume  to  ourselves  the  capa- 
city and  authority  of  him,  who  is  the  only  Judge.  For  as  the 
execution  of  the  Divine  law,  for  the  inward  violation  of  it, 
belongs  only  to  God,  so  is  the  right  of  judging  a  prerogative 
belonging  only  to  his  omniscience;  his  right  is  therefore  in- 
vaded, if  we  pretend  to  a  knowledge  of  it.  This  humour  of 
men  the  apostle  checks,  when  he  says,  "  He  that  judgeth  me 
is  the  Lord.  Therefore  judge  nothing  before  the  time,  until 
the  Lord  come,  who  will — manifest  the  counsels  of  all  hearts," 
1  Cor.  iv.  4,  5.  It  is  not  the  time  yet  for  God  to  erect  the  tri- 
bunal for  the  trial  of  men's  hearts,  and  the  principles  of  their 
actions;  he  has  reserved  the  glorious  discovery  of  this  attribute 
for  another  season;  we  must  not  therefore  presume  to  judge  of 
the  counsels  of  men's  hearts,  till  God  has  revealed  them  by 
opening  the  treasuries  of  his  own  knowledge. 

Much  less  are  we  to  judge  any  man's  final  condition. 
Manasseh  may  sacrifice  to  devils,  and  unconverted  Paul  tear 
the  church  in  pieces;  but  God  had  mercy  on  them  and  called 
them.  The  action  may  be  censured,  not  the  state,  for  we 
know  not  whom  God  may  call.  In  censuring  men  we  may 
doubly  imitate  the  devil,  in  a  false  accusation  of  the  brethren, 
as  well  as  in  an  ambitious  usurpation  of  the  rights  of  God. 

This  perfection  is  injured,  by  presuming  upon  it,  or  making 
an  ill  use  of  it.  As  in  the  neglect  of  prayer  for  the  supply  of 
men's  wants,  because  God  knows  them  already;  so  that  that 
which  is  an  encouragement  to  prayer,  they  make  the  reason  of 
restraining  it  before  God.  Prayer  is  not  to  administer  know- 
ledge to  God,  but  to  acknowledge  this  admirable  perfection  of 
the  Divine  nature.  If  God  did  not  know,  there  were  indeed 
no  use  of  prayer;  it  would  be  as  vain  a  thing  to  send  up  our 
prayers  to  heaven,  as  to  implore  the  senseless  statue  or  picture 
of  a  prince  for  a  protection.  We  pray  because  God  knows ; 
for  though  he  know  our  wants  with  a  knowledge  of  vision,  yet 
he  will  not  know  them  with  a  knowledge  of  supply  till  he  be 
sought  unto,  Matt.  vi.  32,  33;  vii.  11.  All  the  excellencies  of 
God  are  ground  of  adoration ;  and  this  excellency  is  the  ground 
of  that  part  of  worship  we  call  prayer.  If  God  be  to  be  wor- 
shipped, he  is  to  be  called  upon;  invocation  of  his  name  in  our 
necessities  is  a  chief  act  of  worship ;  whence  the  temple,  the 
place  of  solemn  worship,  was  not  called  the  house  of  sacrifice, 
but  the  house  of  prayer. 

Prayer  was  not  appointed  for  God's  information,  as  if  he 
were  ignorant,  but  for  the  expression  of  our  desires;  not  to  fur- 
nish him  with  a  knowledge  of  what  we  want,  but  to  manifest 
to  him  by  some  rational  sign  convenient  to  our  nature,  our 


<>\  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  5  j g 

sense  oi  that  want,  which  he  knows  by  himself  So  that  prayer 
is  not  designed  to  acquaint  God  with  our  wants,  but  n>  express 
the  desire  of  a  remedy  of  our  wants.  God  knows  our  wants, 
but  has  not  made  promises  hardy  to  our  wants,  but  to  our  ask- 
ing; that  his  omniscience  in  hearing,  as  well  as  his  sufficiency 
in  supplying,  may  have  a  sensible  honour  in  our  acknowledg- 
ments ami  receipts.  It  is  therefore  an  ill  use  of  this  excellency 
of  God,  to  neglect  prayer  to  him  as  needless, because  he  knows 

already. 

This  perfection  of  God  is  wronged,  by  a  practical  denial  of 

it.  It  is  the  language  of  every  sin,  and  so  God  takes  it  when 
he  comes  to  reckon  with  men  for  their  impieties.  Upon  this 
he  charges  the  greatness  of  the  iniquity  of  Israel,  the  overflow- 
ing of  blood  in  the  land,  and  the  perverseness  of  the  city; 
"  They  say,  The  Lord  hath  forsaken  the  earth,  and  the  Lord 
seeth  not,"  Ezek.  ix.  9;  they  deny  his  eyes  to  see,  and  his  re- 
solution to  punish. 

It  will  appear  also,  in  forbearing  sin  from  a  sense  of  man's 
knowledge,  not  of  God's.  Open  impieties  are  refrained  from  be- 
cause of  the  eye  of  man ;  but  secret  sins  are  not  checked  because 
of  the  eye  of  God.  Wickedness  is  committed  in  darkness,  that 
is  restrained  in  light;  as  if  darkness  were  as  great  a  clog  to 
God's  eyes  as  it  is  to  ours;  as  though  his  eyes  were  muffled 
with  the  curtains  of  the  night,  Job  xxii.  14.  This  it  is  likely 
was  at  the  root  of  Jonah's  flight;  he  might  have  some  secret 
thought,  that  his  Master's  eye  could  not  follow  him,  as  though 
the  close  hatches  of  a  ship  could  secure  him  from  the  know- 
ledge of  God,  as  well  as  the  sides  of  the  ship  could  from  the 
dashing  of  the  waves.  'What  lies  most  upon  the  conscience 
when  it  is  graciously  wounded,  is  least  regarded,  or  contemned 
when  it  is  basely  inclined.  David's  heart  smote  him  not  only 
for  his  sin  in  the  gross,  but  as  particularly  circumstantiated  by 
the  commission  of  it  in  the  sight  of  God;  "  Against  thee,  thee 
only  have  I  sinned,  and  done  this  evil  in  thy  sight,"  Psal.  li.  4. 
None  knew  the  reason  of  Uriah's  death  but  myself,  and  be- 
cause others  knew  it  not,  I  neglected  any  regard  to  this  Divine 
eye.  When  Jacob's  sons  used  their  brother  Joseph  so  bar- 
barously, they  took  care  to  hide  it  from  their  father;  but  cast 
away  all  thoughts  of  God,  from  whom  it  could  not  be  con- 
cealed. 

Does  not  the  presence  of  a  child  bridle  a  man  from  the  act 
of  a  longed  for  sin,  when  the  eye  of  God  is  of  no  force  to 
restrain  him?  As  if  God's  knowledge  were  of  less  ralue  than 
the  sight  of  a  little  boy  or  girl ;  as  if  a  child  only  could  see,  and 
God  were  blind.  He  that  will  forbear  an  unworthy  action  for 
fear  of  an  informer,  will  not  forbear  it  for  God;  as  if  God's 
omniscience  were  not  as  full  an  intelligencer  to  him,  as  man 
Vol.  I.— 69 


546 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 


can  be  an  informer  to  a  magistrate.  As  we  acknowledge  the 
power  of  men  seeing  us,  when  we  are  ashamed  to  commit  a 
filthy  action  in  their  view;  so  we  discredit  the  power  of  God 
seeing  us,  when  we  regard  not  what  we  do  before  the  light  of 
his  eyes.  Secret  sins  are  more  against  God  than  open;  open 
sins  are  against  the  law,  secret  sins  are  against  the  law,  and 
this  prime  perfection  of  his  nature.  The  majesty  of  God  is  not 
only  violated,  but  the  omniscience  of  God  disowned,  who  is 
the  only  witness;  we  must,  in  all  of  them,  either  imagine  him 
to  be  without  eyes  to  behold  us,  or  without  an  arm  of  justice 
to  punish  us.  And  often  it  is,  I  believe,  in  such  cases,  that  if 
any  thoughts  of  God's  knowledge  strike  upon  men,  they 
quickly  damp  them,  lest  they  should  begin  to  know  what  they 
fear,  and  fear  that  they  might  not  eat  their  pleasant  sinful 
morsels. 

It  appears,  in  partial  confessions  of  sin  before  God.  As  by 
a  free,  full,  and  ingenuous  confession,  we  offer  a  due  glory  to 
this  attribute;  so  by  a  feigned  and  curtailed  confession  we  deny 
him  the  honour  of  it.  For  though  by  any  confession  we  in 
part  own  him  to  be  a  Sovereign  and  Judge,  yet  by  a  half  and 
pared  acknowledgment,  we  own  him  to  be  no  more  than  a 
human  and  ignorant  one.  Achan's  full  confession  gave  God 
the  glory  of  his  omniscience,  manifested  in  the  discovery  of  his 
secret  crime.  "And  Joshua  said  unto  Achan,  My  son,  give,  I 
pray  thee,  glory  to  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  and  make  confes- 
sion unto  him,"  Josh.  vii.  19.  And  so,  Psal.  1.  23,  "Whoso 
offereth  praise  glorifieth  me;"  or  confession,  as  ihe  word  signi- 
fies, in  which  sense  I  would  rather  take  it,  referring  to  this 
attribute;  which  God  seems  to  tax  sinners  with  the  denial  of, 
ver.  21,  telling  them  that  he  would  open  the  records  of  their 
sins  before  them,  and  indict  them  particularly  for  every  one. 
If  therefore  you  would  glorify  this  attribute,  which  shall  one 
day  break  open  your  consciences,  offer  to  me  a  sincere  confes- 
sion. When  David  speaks  of  the  happiness  of  a  pardoned 
man,  Psal.  xxxii.  1,  2,  he  adds,  *  in  "whose  spirit  there  is  no 
guile;"  not  meaning  a  sincerity  in  general,  but  that  ingenuous- 
ness in  confessing.  To  excuse  or  extenuate  sin,  is  to  deny  God 
the  knowledge  of  the  depths  of  our  deceitful  hearts.  When 
we  will  mince  it  rather  than  aggravate  it,  and  lay  it  upon  the 
inducements  of  others,  when  it  was  the  free  act  of  our  own 
wills,  study  shifts  to  deceive  our  Judge — this  is  to  speak  lies  of 
him,  as  the  expression  is,  Hos.  vii.  13;  as  though  he  were  a 
God  easy  to  be  cheated,  and  knew  no  more  than  we  are  willing 
to  declare.  What  did  SauTs  transferring  his  sin  from  himself 
to  the  people,  1  Sam.  xv.  15,  but  charge  God  with  a  defect  in 
this  attribute  ?     When  man  could  not  be  like  God  in  his  know- 

1  Camero.  p.  80.  col.  1. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 


547 


ledge,  he  would  fancy  a  God  like  to  him  in  his  ignorance;  and 
imagine  a  possibility'  of  biding  himself  from  his  knowledge: 
and  all  men  tread  more  or  less  in  their  father's  steps,  and  are 
fruitful  to  devise  distinctions  to  disguise  errors  in  doctrine,  and 
excuses  to  palliate  errors  in  practice.  This  crime  Job  removes 
from  himself,  when  he  speaks  of  several  acts  of  his  sincerity; 
"If  I  covered  my  transgressions  as  Adam,  by  hiding  mine 
iniquity  in  my  bosom,"  Job.  xxxi.  33.  I  hid  not  any  of  my 
sins  in  my  own  conscience,  but  acknowledged  God  a  witness 
to  them,  and  gave  him  the  glory  of  his  knowledge  by  a  free 
confession.  I  did  not  conceal  it  from  God  as  Adam  did,  or  as 
men  ordinarily  do;  as  if  God  could  understand  no  more  of  their 
secret  crimes  than  they  will  let  him  and  had  no  more  sense  of 
their  faults  than  they  would  furnish  him  with.  As  the  first 
rise  of  confession  is  the  owning,  of  this  attribute;  (for  the  jus- 
tice of  God  would  not  scare  men,  nor  the  holiness  of  God  awe 
them,  without  a  sense  of  his  knowledge  of  their  iniquities;)  so 
to  drop  out  some  fragments  of  confession,  discover  some  sins, 
and  conceal  others,  is  a  plain  denial  of  the  extensiveness  of  the 
Divine  knowledge. 

It  is  discovered,  by  putting  God  off  with  an  outside  worship. 
Men  are  often  flatterers  of  God,  and  think  to  bend  him  by  for- 
mal flattering  devotions,  without  the  concurrence  of  their  hearts ; 
as  though  he  could  not  pierce  into  the  darkness  of  the  mind, 
but  did  as  little  know  us  as  one  man  knows  another.     There 
are  such  things  as  feigned  lips,  Psal.  xvii.  1 ;  a  contradiction 
between  the  heart  and  the  tongue,  a  clamour  in  the  voice,  and 
scoffing  in  the  soul;  a  crying  to  God,  thou  art  "  my  Father,  the 
guide  of  my  youth,"  and  yet  speaking  and  doing  evil  to   the 
utmost  of  our  power,  Jer.  iii.  4,  5.    As  if  God  could  be  imposed 
upon  by  fawning  pretences:  and,  like  old  Isaac,  take  Jacob  for 
Esau,  and  be  cozened  by  the  smell  of  his  garments;  as  if  he 
could  not  discern  the  negro  heart  under  an  angel's  garb.  Thus 
Ephraim,  the   ten   tribes,  apostatized  from  the   true  religion, 
would  go  with  their  flocks  and  their  herds  to  seek  the  Lord, 
Hos.  v.  6,  would  sacrifice  multitudes  of  sheep  and    heifers, 
which  was  the  main  outside  of  the  Jewish  religion;  only  with 
their  flocks  and  their  herds,  not  with  their  hearts,  with  those 
inward  qualifications  of  deep  humiliation  and  repentance  for 
sin:  as  though  outside  appearances  limited  God's  observation, 
whereas  God  had  told  them  before,  that  he  knew  Ephraim,  and 
Israel  was  not  hid  from  him,  ver.  3.      Thus  to  do  is  to  put  a 
cheat  upon   God,  and  think  to  blind  his  all-seeing  eye;  and 
therefore  it  is  called  deceit,  Psal.  lxxviii.  3S.     "They  did  flatter 
him  with  their  mouth:"  the  word   signifies  to  deceive,  as  well 
as  to  flatter:  not  that  they  or  any  (1st:  ran  deceive  God,  but  it 
implies  an  endeavour  to  deceive  him,  by  a  few  dissembling 


548  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

words  and  gestures,  or  an  imagination  that  God  was  satisfied 
with  bare  professions,  and  would  not  concern  himself  in  a  fur- 
ther inquisition.  This  is  an  unworthy  conceit  of  God,  to  fancy 
that  we  can  satisfy  for  inward  sins,  and  avert  approaching  judg- 
ments, by  external  offerings,  by  a  loud  voice  with  a  false  heart, 
as  if  God  (like  children)  would  be  pleased  with  the  glittering 
of  an  empty  shell,  or  the  rattling  of  stones,  the  chinking  of 
money,  a  mere  voice  and  crying,  without  inward  frames  and 
intentions  of  service. 

Once  more,  in  cherishing  multitudes  of  evil  thoughts.     No 
man  but  would  blush  for  shame,  if  the  base,  impure,  slovenly 
thoughts,  either  in  or  out  of  duties  of  worship,  were  visible  to 
the  understanding  of  man :  how  diligent   would  he  be  to  curb 
his  luxuriant  and  unworthy  fancies,  as  well  as  bite  in  his  words! 
But  when  we  give  the  reins  to  the  motions  of  our  hearts,  and 
suffer  them  to  run  at  random  without  a  curb,  it  is  an  evidence 
we  are  not  concerned  for  their  falling  under  the  notice  of  the 
eye  of  God:  and  it  argues  a  very  weak  belief  of  this  perfection, 
or  scarce  any  belief  at  all.     Who  can  think  any  man's  heart 
possessed  with  a  sense  of  this  infinite  excellency,  that  suffers  his 
mind,  in  his  meditation  on  God,  to  wander  into  every  sty,  and 
be  picking  up  stones  upon  a  dunghill?     What  does  it  intimate, 
but  that  those  thoughts  are  as  invisible,  or  inaudible  to  God,  as 
they  are  to  men  without  the  garments  of  words?    When  a 
man   thinks   of  obscene   things,  his  own   natural   notions,  if 
revived,  would  tell  him,  that  God  discerns  what  he  thinks,  that 
the  depths  of  his  heart  are  open  to  him.1    And  the  voice  of  those 
notions  is,  deface  those  vain  imaginations  out  of  your  minds. 
But  what  is  done  ?     Men  cast  away  rational  light,  muster  up 
conceits,  that  God  sees  them  not,  knows  them  not,  and  so  sink 
into  the  puddle  of  their  sordid  imaginations,  as  though  they 
remained  in  darkness  to  God. 
I  might  further  instance, 

In  omission  of  prayer,  which  arises  sometimes  from  a  flat 
atheism.  Who  will  call  upon  a  God,  that  believes  no  such 
being?  Or  from  partial  atheism,  either  a  denial  of  God's  suffi- 
ciency to  help,  or  of  his  omniscience  to  know,  as  if  God  were 
like  the  statue  of  Jupiter  in  Crete,  framed  without  ears. 

And  in  the  hypocritical  pretences  of  men,  to  exempt  them 
from  the  service  God  calls  them  to;  when  men  pretend  one 
thing,  and  intend  another.  This  lurks  in  the  veins  sometimes 
of  the  best  men;  sometimes  it  arises  from  a  fear  of  man  ;  when 
men  are  more  afraid  of  the  power  of  man,  than  of  dissembling 
with  the  Almighty.  It  will  pretend  a  virtue  to  cover  a  secret 
wile;  and  choose  the  tongue  of  the  crafty, as  the  expression  in 
Job  is,  ch.  xv.  5. 

1   Drexel  Nicolas.  Lib.  2.  cap,  10.  p.  '?.r»7. 


ON  GOD'S  k\<»\\  LEDGE.  .,  r, 

The  case  is  plain  in  Moses,  who,  when  ordered  to  undertake 
an  eminent  service,  pretends  a  want  of  eloquence,  and  an  nn- 
ungrateful  slowness  of  speech,  Kxod.  iv.  10.  This  generous 
soul,  that  before  was  not  afraid  to  discover  himself  in  the  midst 
of  Egypt  for  his  countrymen,  answers  sneakiugly  to  God,  and 
would  veil  his  carnal  tear  with  a  pretence  of  insufficiency  and 
humility;  "Who  am  [,  thai  I  should  go  unto  Pharaoh ?/'  Exod. 
iii.  11.  He  could  not  well  allege  an  inability  to  go  to  Pharaoh, 
since  ho  had  had  an  education  in  the  Egyptian  learning,  which 
rendered  him  capable  to  appear  at  court.  God  at  last  uncases 
him,  and  shows  it  all  to  be  a  dissimulation,  and  whatsoever  was 
the  pretence,  fear  lay  at  the  bottom;  he  was  afraid  of  his  life 
upon  his  appearance  before  Pharaoh,  from  whose  face  he  had 
fled  upon  the  slaying  the  Egyptian,  which  God  intimates  to 
him:  "  Go,  return  into  Egypt:  for  all  the  men  arc  dead  which 
sought  thy  life,"  Exod.  iv.  If).  What  does  this  carriage  speak, 
but  as  if  God's  eye  were  not  upon  our  inward  parts,  as  though 
we  could  lock  him  ont  of  our  hearts,  that  cannot  be  shut  out 
from  any  creek  of  the  hearts  of  men  and  angels. 

Use  (2.)  The  second  use  is  of  comfort.  It  is  a  ground  of 
great  comfort  under  the  present  dispensation  wherein  we  are; 
we  have  heard  the  doctrinal  part,  and  God  has  given  us  the 
experimental  part  of  it  in  his  special  providence  tins  day,  upon 
the  stage  of  the  world.1  And  blessed  be  God  that  he  has  given 
us  a  ground  of  comfort,  without  going  out  of  our  ordinary 
course  to  fetch  it,  whereby  it  seems  to  be  peculiarly  of  God's 
ordering  for  us. 

[1.]  It  is  a  comfort  in  all  the  clandestine  contrivances  of  men 
against  the  church.     His  eyes  pierce  as  far  as  the  depths  of 
hell;  not  one  of  his  church's  adversaries  lies  in  a  mist,  all  are 
as  plain  as  the  stars  which  he  numbers:  "  Mine  adversaries  are 
all  before  thee,"  Psal.  lxix.  19,  more  exactly  known  to  thee, 
than  I  can  recount  them.     It  is  a  prophecy  of  Christ,  wherein 
Christ  is  brought  in  speaking  to   God,  of  his  own  and  the 
church's  enemies.  He  comforts  himself  with  this  that  God  has 
his  eye  upon  every  particular  person  among  his  adversaries: 
he  knows  where  they  repose  themselves,  when  they  go  out  to 
consult,  and  when  they  come  in   with  their  resolves:  he  dis- 
cerns all  the  rage  that  spirits  their  hearts,  in  what  corner  it 
lurks,  how  it  acts;  all  the  disorders,  motions  of  it,  and  every 
object  of  that  rage;  he  cannot  be  deceived  by  the  closest  and 
subtlest  person.      Thus   God  speaks  concerning   Sennacherib 
and  his  host  against  Jerusalem.     After  he  had  spoken  of  the 
forming  of  his  church,  and  the  weakness  of  it,  he  adds,  "But 
I  know  thy  abode,  and  thy  going  out,  and  thy  coming  in,  and 
thy  rage  against  me.     Because  thy  rage  against  me,  and  thy 
Nov,  1678,  win  11  the  i>"|>ish  i>l«>t  w;is  discovered. 


550  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

tumult  is  come  up  into  mine  ears,  therefore  will  I  put  my  hook 
into  thy  nose,  and  my  bridle'into  thy  lips,  and  I  will  turn  thee 
back,"  Isa.  xxxvii.  28,  29,  &c.  He  knows  all  the  methods  of 
the  counsels,  the  stages  they  had  laid,  the  manner  of  execution 
of  their  designs,  all  the  ways  whither  they  turned  themselves, 
and  would  use  them  no  better  than  men  do  devouring  fish  and 
untamed  beasts,  with  a  hook  in  the  nose  and  a  bridle  in  the 
mouth.  Those  statesmen  in  Isa.  xxix.  15,  thought  their  con- 
trivances too  deep  for  God  to  fathom,  and  too  close  for  God  to 
frustrate;  they  "  seek  deep  to  hide  their  counsel  from  the  Lord: 
surely  your  turning  of  things  upside  down  shall  be  esteemed 
as  the  potter's  clay,"  of  no  more  force  and  understanding  than 
a  potter's  vessel,  which  understands  not  its  own  form  wrought 
by  the  artificer,  nor  the  use  it  is  put  to  by  the  buyer  and  pos- 
sessor; or  shall  be  esteemed  as  a  potter's  vessel,  that  can  be  as 
easily  flung  back  into  the  mass  from  whence  it  was  taken,  as 
preserved  in  the  figure  it  is  now  endued  with.  No  secret  de- 
signer is  shrouded  from  God's  sight,  or  can  be  shrouded  from 
God's  arm;  he  understands  the  venom  of  their  hearts  better 
than  we  can  feel  it,  and  discovers  their  inward  fury  more  plain- 
ly than  we  can  see  the  sting  or  teeth  of  a  viper  when  they  are 
opened  for  mischief;  and  to  what  purpose  does  God  know  and 
see  them,  but  in  order  to  deliver  his  people  from  them  in  his 
own  due  time?  "I  know  their  sorrows,  and  I  am  come  down 
to  deliver  them,"  Exod.  iii.  7,  8.  The  walls  of  Jerusalem  are 
continually  before  him,  he  knows  therefore  all  that  would  un- 
dermine and  demolish  them;  none  can  hurt  Zion  by  any  igno- 
rance or  inadvertence  in  God. 

It  is  observable,  that  our  Saviour  assuming  to  himself  a  dif- 
ferent title  in  every  epistle  to  the  seven  churches,  does  particu- 
larly ascribe  to  himself  this  of  knowledge  and  wrath  in  that  to 
Thyatira,  an  emblem  or  description  of  the  Romish  state:  "And 
unto  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Thyatira  write,  These  things 
saith  the  Son  of  God,  who  hath  his  eyes  like  unto  a  flame  of 
fire,  and  his  feet  like  fine  brass,"  Rev.  ii.  18.  His  eyes,  like  a 
flame  of  fire,  are  of  a  piercing  nature,  insinuating  themselves 
into  all  the  pores  and  parts  of  the  body  they  encounter;  and 
his  feet  like  brass  to  crush  them  with,  is  explained,  ver.  23. 
"  I  will  kill  her  children  with  death;  and  all  the  churches  shall 
know  that  I  am  he  which  searcheth  the  reins  and  the  hearts: 
and  I  will  give  unto  every  one  of  you  according  to  your  works." 
He  knows  every  design  of  the  Romish  party,  designed  by  that 
church  of  Thyatira.1  Jezebel,  there,  signifies  a  whorish  church, 
such  a  church  as  shall  act  as  Jezebel,'  Ahab's  wife,  who  was 

'  For  the  evidence  of  it,  I  refer  you  to  Dr.  Morc's  Exposition  of  the  Seven 
Churches,  worthy  every  learned  and  understanding  man's  reading-,  and  of  every 
sober  Romanist. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDOE.  55  j 

not  only  a  worshipper  of  idols,  but  propagated  idolatry  in 
Israel,  slew  the  prophets,  persecuted  Elijah,  murdered  Naboth, 
the  name  whereof  signifies  prophecy,  seized  upon  his  posses- 
sion. And  if  it  be  said  that — this  church  was  commended  foi 
her  works,  faith,  patience,  vet.  19;  it  is  true  Home  did  at  first 
strongly  profess  Christianity,  and  maintained  the  interest  of  it, 
hut  afterwards  fell  into  the  practice  of  Jezebel,  and  committed 
spiritual  adultery.  And  is  she  to  be  owned  for  a  wife,  that  now 
plays  the  harlot,  because  she  was  honest  and  modest  at  her  first 
marriage?2  And  though  she  shall  be  destroyed,  yet  not  speedi- 
ly: "I  will  cast  her  into  a  bed,"  ver.  22,  seems  to  intimate  the 
destruction  of  Jezebel  not  to  be  at  once  and  speedily,  but  in  a 
lingering  way,  and  by  degrees,  as  sickness  consumes  a  body. 

[2.]  This  perfection  of  God  fits  him  to  be  a  special  object  of 
trust.  If  he  were  forgetful,  what  comfort  could  we  have  in  any 
promise?  How  could  we  depend  upon  him,  if  he  were  ignorant 
of  our  state  ?  His  compassions  to  pity  us,  his  readiness  to  relieve 
us,  his  power  to  protect  and  assist  us,  would  be  insignificant, 
without  his  omniscience  to  inform  his  goodness,  and  direct  the 
arm  of  his  power.  This  perfection  is  as  it  were  God's  otiiceof 
intelligence.  As  you  go  to  your  memorandum  book  to  know 
what  you  are  to  do;  so  docs  God  to  his  omniscience.  This  per- 
fection is  God's  eye,  to  acquaint  him  with  the  necessities  of  his 
church,  and  directs  all  his  other  attributes  in  their  exercise  for 
and  about  his  people.  You  may  depend  upon  his  mercy  that  has 
promised,  and  upon  his  truth  to  perform,  upon  liissufliciency  to 
supply  you,  and  his  goodness  to  relieve  you,  and  his  righteous- 
ness to  reward  you,  because  he  lias  an  infinite  understanding 
to  know  you  and  your  wants,  you  and  your  services.  And 
without  this  knowledge  of  his,  no  comfort  could  be  drawn  from 
any  other  perfection;  none  of  them  could  be  a  sure  nail  to  hang 
our  hopes  and  confidence  upon.  This  is  that  the  church  always 
celebrated:  Mle  hath  remembered  his  covenant  for  ever,  and 
the  word  which  he  hath  commanded  to  a  thousand  genera- 
tions," Psal.  cv.  7;  and  "He  remembered  his  holy  promise," 
ver.  42;  and,  "  He  remembered  for  them  his  covenant,"  Psal.  cvi. 
45.  He  remembers  and  understands  his  covenant;  therefore 
his  promise,  to  perform  it;  and  therefore  our  wants,  to  supply 
them. 

[3.]  And  the  rather,  because  God  knows  the  persons  of  all 
his  own.  He  has  in  his  infinite  understanding,  tin' exact  num- 
ber of  all  the  individual  persons  that  belong  to  him;  "  The  Lord 
kno weth  them  that  are  his,"  2  Tim.  ii.  19.  He  knows  all 
things,  because  he  has  created  them;  and  he  knows  his  people, 
because  he  has  not  only  made  them,  but  also  chosen  them.  He 
could  no  more  choose  lie  knew  not  what,  than  he  could  create 

1  Coc.  in  loc. 


552  0N  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

he  knew  not  what:  he  knows  them  under  a  double  title;  of 
creation,  as  creatures,  in  the  common  mass  of  creation;  as  new 
creatures,  by  a  particular  act  of  separation.  Ke  cannot  be 
ignorant  of  them  in  time,  whom  he  foreknew  from  eternity:  his 
knowledge  in  time  is  the  same  he  had  from  eternity.  He  fore- 
knew them  that  he  had  intended  to  give  the  grace  of  faith  unto; 
and  he  knows  them  after  they  believe,  because  he  knows  his 
own  act  in  bestowing  grace  upon  them,  and  his  own  mark  and 
seal  wherewith  he  has  stamped  them.  No  donbt  but  he  that 
calls  the  stars  of  heaven  by  their  names,  Psal.  cxlvii.  4,  knows 
the  number  of  those  living  stars  that  sparkle  in  the  firmament 
of  his  church.  He  cannot  be  ignorant  of  their  persons,  when 
he  numbers  the  hairs  of  their  heads,  and  has  registered  their 
names  in  the  book  of  life.  As  he  only  had  an  infinite  mercy  to 
make  the  choice;  so  he  only  has  an  infinite  understanding  to 
comprehend  their  persons.  We  only  know  the  elect  of  God  by 
a  moral  assurance  in  the  judgment  of  charity,  when  the  conver- 
sation of  men  is  according  to  the  doctrine  of  God.  We  have 
not  an  infallible  knowledge  of  them,  we  may  be  often  mistaken; 
Judas,  a  devil,  may  be  judged  by  man  for  a  saint,  till  he  be 
stripped  of  his  disguise.  God  only  has  an  infallible  knowledge 
of  them;  he  knows  his  own  records,  and  the  counterparts  in  the 
hearts  of  his  people;  none  can  counterfeit  his  seal,  nor  can  any 
raze  it  out.  When  the  church  is  either  scattered,  like  dust,  by 
persecution,  or  overgrown  with  superstition  and  idolatry,  that 
there  is  scarce  any  grain  of  true  religion  appearing,  as  in  the 
time  of  Elijah,  who  complained  that  he  was  left  alone,  as  if  the 
church  had  been  rooted  out  of  that  corner  of  the  world;1  yet 
God  knew  that  he  had  a  number  fed  in  a  cave,  and  had  reserved 
seven  thousand  men  that  had  preserved  the  purity  of  his  wor- 
ship, and  not  bowed  their  knee  to  Baal,  1  Kings  xix.  14.  18. 
Christ  knew  his  sheep,  as  well  as  he  is  known  of  them;  yea, 
better  than  they  can  know  him,  John  x.  14.  History  acquaints 
us,  that  Cyrus  had  so  vast  a  memory,  that  he  knew  the  name 
of  every  particular  soldier  in  his  army,  which  consisted  of  divers 
nations:  shall  it  be  too  hard  for  an  infinite  understanding  to 
know  every  one  of  that  host  that  march  under  his  banners? 
may  he  not  as  well  know  them,  as  know  the  number,  qualities, 
influences  of  those  stars  which  lie  concealed  from  our  eye,  as 
well  as  those  that  are  visible  to  our  sense  ?  Yes,  he  knows  them, 
as  a  general  to  employ  them,  as  a  shepherd  to  preserve  them: 
he  knows  them  in  the  world  to  guard  them,  and  he  knows  them 
when  they  are  out  of  the  world  to  gather  them,  and  cull  out 
their  bodies,  though  wrapped  up  in  a  cloud  of  the  putrified  car- 
casses of  the  wicked.  As  he  knew  them  from  all  eternity  to 
elect  them,  so  he  knows  them  in  time  to  clothe  their  persons 

1  Turrctin's  Sermons,  p.  362. 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  553 

with  righteousness,  to  protect  their  persons  in  calamity  accord- 
ing to  his  good  pleasure,  and  at  last  to  raise  and  reward  them 
according  to  his  promise. 

[4.]  We  may  take  comfort  from  hence,  that  our  sincerity 
cannot  be  unknown  to  an  infinite  understanding.  Not  a  way 
of  the  righteous  is  concealed  from  him,  and  then-fore  they  shall 
stand  in  judgment  before  him:  "The  Lord  knoweth  the  way 
of  the  righteous,"  Psal.  i.  6;  he  knows  them  to  observe  them, 
and  he  knows  them  to  reward  them.  How  comfortable  is  it 
to  appeal  to  this  attribute  of  God  for  our  integrity,  with  Heze- 
kiah,  "0  Lord,  remember  now  how  I  have  walked  before  thee 
in  truth  and  with  a  perfect  heart,"  2  Kings  xx.  3.  Christ  him- 
self is  brought  in  this  prophetical  psalm  drawing  out  the  com- 
fort of  this  attribute,  "  I  have  not  refrained  my  lips,  0  Lord, 
thou  knowest,"  Psal.  xl.  9;  meaning  his  faithfulness  m  declar- 
ing the  righteousness  of  God.  Job  follows  the  same  steps, 
"  Also  now,  behold,  my  witness  is  in  heaven,  and  my  record  is 
on  high,"  Job  xvi.  19.  My  innocence  has  the  testimony  of 
men,  but  my  greatest  support  is  in  the  records  of  God.  Also 
now,  or  besides  the  testimony  of  my  own  heart,  I  have  another 
witness  in  heaven  that  knows  the  heart,  and  can  only  judge  of 
the  principles  of  my  actions,  and  clear  me  from  the  scorn  of  my 
friends,  and  the  accusations  of  men,  with  a  justification  of  my 
innocence.  He  repeats  it  twice,  to  take  the  greater  comfort  in 
it.  God  knows,  that  we  do  that  in  the  simplicity  of  our  hearts, 
which  may  be  judged  by  men  to  be  done  for  unworthy  and 
sordid  ends:  he  knows  not  only  the  outward  action,  but  the 
inward  affection:  and  praises  that  which  men  often  dispraise ; 
and  writes  down  that  with  "Euge,"  "  Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant,"  which  men  daub  with  their  severest  censures, 
Rom.  ii.  29.  How  refreshing  is  it  to  consider,  that  God  never 
mistakes  the  appearance  for  reality,  nor  is  led  by  the  judgment 
of  man!  He  sits  in  heaven,  and  laughs  at  their  follies  and  cen- 
sures. If  God  had  no  sounder  and  no  more  piercing  a  judg- 
ment than  man,  woe  be  to  the  sincerest  souls  that  are  often 
judged  hypocrites  by  some.  What  a  happiness  is  it  for  integrity 
to  have  a  judge  of  infinite  understanding,  who  will  one  day 
wipe  off  the  dirt  of  worldly  reproaches! 

Again,  God  knows  the  least  dram  of  grace  and  righteousness 
in  the  hearts  of  his  people,  though  but  as  a  smoking  flax,  or  as 
the  least  particle  of  a  saving  conviction,  Matt.  xii.  20;  and 
knows  it  so  as  to  cherish  it;  he  knows  that  work  he  has  begun, 
and  never  has  his  eye  off  from  it  to  abandon  it. 

[5.]  The  consideration  of  this  excellent  perfection   in  God 

may  comfort  us  in  our  secret  prayers,  sighs,  and  works.     If 

God  were  not  of  infinite  understanding,  to  pierce  into  the  heart, 

what  comfort  has  a  poor  creature,  that  has  a  scantiness  of  ex- 

Vol.  I.— 70 


554  0N  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

pression,  but  a  heart  in  a  flame?  If  God  did  not  understand 
the  heart,  faith  and  prayer,  which  are  internal  works,  would  be 
in  vain.  How  could  he  give  that  mercy  our  hearts  plead  for, 
if  he  were  ignorant  of  our  inward  affections?  Hypocrites 
might  scale  heaven  by  lofty  expressions,  and  a  sincere  soul 
come  short  of  the  happiness  he  is  prepared  for,  for  want  of 
flourishing  gifts.  Prayer  is  an  internal  work,  words  are  but  the 
garment  of  prayer;  meditation  is  the  body,  and  affections  the 
soul  and  life  of  prayer;  "  Give  ear  to  my  words,  0  Lord,  con- 
sider my  meditation,"  Psal.  v.  1.  Prayer  is  a  rational  act,  an 
act  of  the  mind,  not  the  act  of  a  parrot:  prayer  is  an  act  of  the 
heart,  though  the  speaking  prayer  is  the  work  of  the  tongue: 
now  God  gives  ear  to  the  words,  but  he  considers  the  medita- 
tion, the  frame  of  the  heart.  Consideration  is  a  more  exact 
notice  than  hearing,  the  act  only  of  the  ear.  Were  not  God  of 
an  infinite  understanding,  and  omniscient,  he  might  take  fine 
clothes,  a  heap  of  garments,  for  the  man  himself;  and  be  put 
off  by  glittering  words,  without  a  spiritual  frame.  What  mat- 
ter of  rejoicing  is  it,  that  we  call  not  upon  a  deaf  and  ignorant 
idol;  but  on  one  that  listens  to  our  secret  petitions  to  give  them 
a  despatch,  that  knows  our  desires  afar  off,  and  from  the  infi- 
niteness  of  his  mercy,  joined  with  his  omniscience,  stands  ready 
to  give  us  a  return!  Has  he  not  a  book  of  remembrance  for 
them  that  fear  him,  and  for  their  sighs  and  ejaculations  to  him 
as  well  as  their  discourses  of  him,  Mai.  iii.  16;  and  not  only 
what  prayers  they  utter,  but  what  gracious  and  holy  thoughts 
they  have  of  him?  That  "  thought  upon  his  name."  Though 
millions  of  supplications  be  put  up  at  the  same  time,  yet  they 
have  all  a  distinct  file  (as  I  may  say)  in  an  infinite  understand- 
ing, which  perceives  and  comprehends  them  all.  As  he  ob- 
serves millions  of  sins  committed  at  the  same  time  by  a  vast 
number  of  persons,  to  record  them  in  order  to  punishment;  so 
he  distinctly  discerns  an  infinite  number  of  cries  at  the  same 
moment,  to  register  them  in  order  to  an  answer. 

A  sigh  cannot  escape  an  infinite  understanding,  though 
crowded  among  a  mighty  multitude  of  cries  from  others,  or 
covered  with  many  unwelcome  distractions  in  ourselves;  no 
more  than  a  believing  touch  from  the  woman  that  had  the 
bloody  issue,  could  be  concealed  from  Christ,  and  be  undis- 
cerned  from  the  press  of  the  thronging  multitudes.  Our  groans 
are  as  audible  and  intelligible  to  him  as  our  words,  and  he 
knows  what  is  the  mind  of  his  own  Spirit,  though  expressed  in 
no  plainer  language  than  sobs  and  heavings,  Rom.  viii.  27. 
Thus  David  cheers  up  himself  under  the  neglects  of  his  friends, 
"Lord,  all  my  desire  is  before  thee;  and  my  groaning  is  not 
hid  from  thee,"  Psal.  xxxviii.  9.  Not  a  groan  of  a  panting 
spirit  shall  be  lost,  till  God  has  lost  his  knowledge;  not  a  peti- 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  j;,- 

tion  forgotten  while  God  has  a  record,  nor  a  tear  dried  while 
God  has  a  bottle  to  reserve  it  in,  Psal.  lvi.  8. 

Our  secret  works  are  also  known  and  observed  by  him;  not 
only  our  outward  labour,  but  our  inward  love  in  it,  Heb.  vi. 
10.  If  with  Isaac  we  go  privately  into  the  field  to  meditate, 
or  secretly  cast  our  bread  upon  the  waters,  he  keeps  his  eye 
upon  us  to  reward  us,  and  returns  the  fruit  into  our  own  bo- 
soms, Matt.  vi.  4.  6;  yea,  though  it  be  but  a  cup  of  cold  water, 
from  an  inward  spring  of  love  given  to  a  disciple,  he  sees  your 
works  and  your  labours,  and  faith  and  patience  in  working 
them,  Rev.  ii.  2,  all  the  marks  of  your  industry,  and  strength 
of  your  intentions;  and  will  be  as  exact  at  last  in  order  to  a 
due  praise,  as  to  open  sins  in  order  to  a  just  recompense,  1  Cor. 
iv.  5. 

[6.]  The  consideration  of  this  excellent  attribute  affords  com- 
fort in  the  afflictions  of  good  men.  He  knows  their  pressures, 
as  well  as  hears  their  cries,  Exod.  iii.  7.  His  knowledge 
comes  not  by  information  from  us;  but  his  compassionate 
listening  to  our  cries  springs  from  his  own  inspection  into  our 
sorrows;  he  is  affected  with  them,  before  we  make  any  disco- 
very of  them.  He  is  not  ignorant  of  the  best  season,  when 
they  may  be  usefully  inflicted,  and  when  they  may  be  profita- 
bly removed:  the  tribulation  and  poverty  of  his  church  is  not 
unknown  to  him;  "I  know  thy  works,  and  tribulation,"  &c. 
Rev.  ii.  9.  He  knows  their  works,  and  what  tribulation  they 
meet  with  for  him;  he  sees  their  extremities,  when  they  are 
toiling  against  the  wind  and  tide  of  the  world,  Mark  vi.  48. 
Yea,  the  natural  exigences  of  the  multitude  are  not  neglected 
by  him,  he  discerns  to  take  care  of  them;  our  Saviour  consi- 
dered the  three  days'  fasting  of  his  followers,  and  miraculously 
provides  a  dish  for  them  in  the  wilderness.  No  good  man  is 
ever  out  of  God's  mind,  and  therefore  never  out  of  his  compas- 
sionate care;  his  eye  pierceth  into  their  dungeons  and  pities 
their  miseries:  Joseph  may  forget  his  brethren,  and  the  disci- 
ples not  know  Christ  when  he  walks  upon  the  midnight  waves 
and  turbulent  sea;  [  but  a  lion's  den  cannot  obscure  a  Daniel 
from  his  sight,  nor  the  depth  of  the  whale's  belly  bury  Jonah 
from  the  Divine  understanding.  He  discerns  Peter  in  his 
chains,  and  Stephen  under  the  stones  of  martyrdom:  he  knows 
Lazarus  under  his  tattered  rags,  and  Abel  wallowing  in  his 
blood:  his  eye  and  knowledge  goes  along  with  his  people, 
when  they  are  transplanted  into  foreign  countries,  and  sold  for 
slaves  into  the  islands  of  the  Grecians,  for  he  will  raise  them 
out  of  the  place,  Joel  iii.  6,  7.  He  would  defeat  the  hopes  of 
the  persecutors,  and  applaud  the  patience  of  his  people.  He 
knows  his  people  in  the  tabernacle  of  life,  and  in  the  valley  of 

1  Barlow's  Man's  Refuge,  p,  29,  30. 


556  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

the  shadow  of  death,  Psal.  xxiii.  He  knows  all  penal  evils, 
because  he  commissions  and  directs  them:  he  knows  the  instru- 
ments, because  they  are  his  sword,  Psal.  xvii.  13;  and  he 
knows  his  gracious  sufferer,  because  he  has  his  mark:  he  dis- 
cerns Job  in  his  anguish,  and  the  devil  in  his  malice.  By  the 
direction  of  this  attribute  he  orders  calamities,  and  rescues  from 
them.  "Thou  hast  seen  it;  for  thou  beholdest  mischief  and 
spite,"  Psal.  x.  14.  That  is  the  comfort  of  the  psalmist,  and 
the  comfort  of  every  believer,  and  the  ground  of  committing 
themselves  to  God  under  all  the  injustice  of  men. 

[7.]  It  is  a  comfort  in  all  our  infirmities.  As  he  knows  our 
sins  to  charge  them,  so  he  knows  the  weakness  of  our  nature 
to  pity  us.  As  his  infinite  understanding  may  scare  us,  because 
he  knows  our  transgressions;  so  it  may  relieve  us,  because  he 
knows  our  natural  mutability  in  our  first  creation:  "  He  know- 
eth  our  frame;  he  remembereth  that  we  are  dust,"  Psal.  ciii. 
14.  It  is  the  reason  of  the  precedent  verses,  why  he  removes 
our  transgression  from  us,  why  he  is  so  backward  in  punish- 
ing; so  patient  in  waiting;  so  forward  in  pitying.  Why?  He 
does  not  only  remember  our  sins,  but  remember  our  frame  or 
forming,  what  brittle,  though  clear  glasses  we  were  by  crea- 
tion, how  easy  to  be  cracked.  He  remembers  our  impotent 
and  weak  condition  by  corruption;  what  a  sink  we  have  of 
vain  imaginations  that  remain  in  us  after  regeneration;  he  does 
not  only  consider  that  we  were  made  according  to  his  image, 
and  therefore  able  to  stand,  but  that  we  were  made  of  dust  and 
weak  matter,  and  had  a  sensitive  soul,  like  that  of  beasts,  as 
well  as  an  intellectual  nature,  like  that  of  angels,  and  therefore 
liable  to  follow  the  dictates  of  it,  without  exact  care  and  watch- 
fulness. If  he  remembered  only  the  first,  there  would  be  no 
issue  but  indignation;  but  the  consideration  of  the  latter  moves 
his  compassion.  How  miserable  should  we  be  for  want  of  this 
perfection  in  the  Divine  nature,  whereby  God  remembers  and 
reflects  upon  his  past  act  in  our  first  frame,  and  the  mindful- 
ness of  our  condition  excites  the  motion  of  his  bowels  to  us! 
Had  he  lost  the  knowledge,  how  he  first  framed  us;  did  he  not 
still  remember  the  mutability  of  our  nature,  as  we  were  formed 
and  stamped  in  his  mint;  how  much  more  wretched  would  our 
condition  be  than  it  is!  If  his  remembrance  of  our  original  be 
one  ground  of  his  pity,  the  sense  of  his  omniscience  should  be 
a  ground  of  our  comfort,  in  the  stirring  of  our  infirmities.  He 
remembers  we  were  but  dust,  when  he  made  us;  and  yet  re- 
members we  are  but  dust,  while  he  preserves  and  forbears  us. 

[8.]  It  is  some  comfort  in  the  fears  of  some  lurking  corrup- 
tion in  our  hearts.  We  know  by  this  whither  to  address  our- 
selves for  the  search  and  discovery  of  it:  perhaps  some  bless- 
ings we  want  are  retarded,  some  calamities  we  understand  not 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  557 

the  particular  cause  of  are  inflicted,  some  petitions  we  have 
put  up  hang  too  long  for  an  answer;  and  the  chariot  wheels  of 
Divine  goodness  move  slow  and  are  long  in  coming.  Let  ns 
beg  the  aid  of  this  attribute  to  open  to  us  the  remoras,  to  dis- 
cover what  base  affection  there  is  that  retards  the  mercies  we 
want,  or  attracts  the  affliction  we  feel,  or  bars  the  door  against 
the  return  of  our  supplications.  What  our  dim  sight  cannot 
discover,  the  clear  eye  of  God  can  make  visible  to  us.  "  Show 
me  wherefore  thou  contendcst  with  me,"  Job  x.  2.  As  in  want 
of  pardon,  we  particularly  plead  his  mercy,  and  in  our  desires 
for  the  performance  of  his  promise,  we  argue  with  him  from 
his  faithfulness;  so  in  the  fear  of  any  insincerity  or  hidden  cor- 
ruption we  should  implore  his  omniscience:  for  as  God  is  a 
God  in  covenant,  our  God,  our  God  in  the  whole  of  his  nature; 
so  the  perfections  of  his  nature  are  employed  in  their  several 
stations,  as  assistances  of  his  creatures.  This  was  David's 
practice  and  comfort;  after  that  large  meditation  on  the  omnis- 
cience and  omnipresence  of  God,  he  turns  his  thoughts  of  it 
into  petitions  for  the  employment  of  it  in  the  concerns  of  his 
soul,  and  begs  a  mercy  suitable  to  the  glory  of  this  perfection: 
"  Search  me,  O  Sod,  and  know  my  heart:  try  me,  and  know 
my  thoughts,"  Psal.  exxxix.  23;  dive  to  the  bottom,  "  and  see 
if  there  be  any  wicked  way  in  me,  and  lead  me  in  the  way 
everlasting,"  ver.  24.  His  desire  is  not  barely  that  God  should, 
know  him,  for  it  would  be  senseless  to  beg  of  God  that  he 
should  have  mercy,  or  faithfulness,  or  power,  or  knowledge  in 
his  nature;  but  he  desires  the  exercise  of  this  attribute,  in  the 
discovery  of  himself  to  himself,  in  order  to  his  sight  of  any 
wicked  way,  and  humiliation  for  it,  and  reformation  of  it  in 
order  to  his  conduct  to  everlasting  life.  As  we  may  appeal  to 
this  perfection  to  judge  us,  when  the  sincerity  of  our  actions  is 
censured  by  others;  so  we  may  implore  it  to  search  us,  when 
our  sincerity  is  questioned  by  ourselves;  that  our  minds  may 
be  enlightened  by  a  beam  from  his  knowledge,  and  the  little 
thieves  may  be  pulled  out  of  their  dens  in  our  hearts  by  the 
hand  of  his  power.  In  particular,  it  is  our  comfort  that  we 
can,  and  our  necessity  that  we  must  address  particularly  to 
this,  when  we  engage  solemnly  in  a  work  of  self-examination; 
that  we  may  have  a  clearer  eye  to  direct  us  than  our  own;  that 
we  may  not  mistake  brass  for  gold,  or  counterfeit  graces  for 
true;  that  nothing  that  is  filthy  and  fit  to  be  cast  out,  may  es- 
cape our  sight,  and  preserve  its  station.  And  we  need  not 
question  the  laying  at  the  door  of  this  neglect  (namely,  not 
calling  in  this  attribute  to  our  aid,  whose  proper  office  it  is,  as 
I  may  so  say,  to  search  and  inquire)  all  the  mistakes,  ill  suc- 
cess, and  fruitlessness  of  our  endeavours  in  self-examination, 
because  we  would  engage  in  it  in  the  pitiful  strength  of  our 


558  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

own  dimness,  and  not  in  the  light  of  God's  countenance  and 
the  assistance  of  his  eye,  which  can  discern  what  we  cannot 
see,  and  discover  that  to  us  which  we  cannot  manifest  to  our- 
selves. It  is  a  comfort  to  a  learner  of  an  art,  to  have  a  skilful 
eye  to  overlook  his  work,  and  inform  him  of  the  defects.  Beg 
the  help  of  the  eye  of  God  in  all  your  searches  and  self-exami- 
nations. 

[9.]  The  consideration  of  this  attribute  is  comfortable  in  our 
assurances  of  and  reflections  upon  the  pardon  of  sin,  or  seeking 
of  it.  As  God  punishes  men  for  sin  according  to  his  knowledge 
of  them,  which  is  greater  than  the  knowledge  their  own  con- 
sciences have  of  them;  so  he  pardons  according  to  his  know- 
ledge: he  pardons  not  only  according  to  our  knowledge,  but 
according  to  his  own.  He  is  greater  than  any  man's  heart,  to 
condemn  for  that  which  a  man  is  at  present  ignorant  of;  and 
greater  than  our  hearts,  to  pardon  that  which  is  not  at  present 
visible  to  us:  he  knows  that  which  the  most  watchful  conscience 
cannot  take  a  survey  of.  If  God  had  not  an  infinite  under- 
standing of  us,  how  could  we  have  a  perfect  and  full  pardon 
from  him?  It  would  not  stand  with  his  honour  to  pardon  he 
knew  not  what.  He  knows  what  crimes  we  have  to  be  par- 
doned, when  we  know  not  all  of  them  ourselves  that  stand  in 
need  of  a  gracious  remission;  his  omniscience  beholds  every  sin 
to  charge  it  upon  our  Saviour.  If  he  knows  our  sins  that  are 
black,  he  knows  every  mite  of  Christ's  righteousness  which  is 
pure,  and  the  utmost  extent  of  his  merits,  as  well  as  the  demerit 
of  our  iniquities.  As  he  knows  the  filth  of  our  sin,  he  also 
knows  the  covering  of  our  Saviour:  he  knows  the  value  of  the 
Redeemer's  sufferings,  and  exactly  understands  every  plea  in 
the  intercession  of  our  Advocate.  Though  God  knows  our  sins 
"oculo  indice,"  "with  an  eye  that  marks  them,"  yet  he  does 
not  see  them  "  oculo  judice,"  with  a  judicial  eye:  his  omnisci- 
ence stirs  not  up  his  justice  to  revenge,  but  his  mercy  to  pity. 
His  infinite  understanding  of  what  Christ  has  done,  directs  him 
to  disarm  his  justice,  and  sound  an  alarm  to  his  bowels.  As  he 
understands  better  than  we,  what  we  have  committed;  so  he 
understands  better  than  we,  what  our  Saviour  has  merited; 
and  his  eye  directs  his  hand  in  the  blotting  out  guilt,  and 
applying  the  remedy. 

Use  (3.)  The  third  use  shall  be  to  sinners,  to  humble  them, 
and  put  them  upon  serious  consideration.  This  attribute  speaks 
terrible  things  to  a  profligate  sinner.  Basil  thinks  that  the  rip- 
ping open  the  sins  of  the  damned  to  their  faces  by  this  perfec- 
tion of  God,  is  more  terrible  than  their  other  torments  in  hell. 
God  knows  the  persons  of  wicked  men,  not  one  is  exempted 
from  his  eye,  he  sees  all  the  actions  of  men  as  well  as  he  knows 
their  persons:  "  He  knoweth  vain  men:  he  seeth  wickedness 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 


559 


also,"  Job  xi.  11.  His  eye  is  upon  all  their  goings,  Job  xxxiv. 
21.  He  bears  the  most  private  whispers,  the  scope,  manner, 
circumstance  of  speaking,  he  knows  it  altogether,  Psal.  cxxxix. 
4.  He  understands  all  our  thoughts,  the  first  bubblings  of 
that  bitter  spring,  ver.  2.  The  quickest  glances  of  the  fancy, 
the  closest  musings  of  the  mind,  and  the  abortive  wishes 
of  the  will,  the  language  of  the  heart,  as  well  as  the  language 
of  the  tongue;  not  a  foolish  thought  or  an  idle  word,  not 
a  wanton  glance  or  a  dishonest  action,  not  a  negligent  service 
or  a  distracting  fancy,  but  is  more  visible  to  him,  than  the  filth 
of  a  dunghill,  can  be  to  any  man  by  the  help  of  a  sun-beam. 
How  much  better  would  it  be  for  desperate  sinners,  to  have 
their  crimes  known  to  all  the  angels  in  heaven,  and  men  upon 
earth,  and  devils  in  hell,  than  that  they  should  be  known  to 
their  Sovereign,  whose  laws  they  have  violated,  and  to  their 
Judge,  whose  righteousness  obliges  him  to  revenge  the  injury! 
[1.]  Consider,  what  a  poor  refuge  is  secrecy  to  a  sinner! 
Not  the  mists  of  a  foggy  day,  nor  the  obscurity  of  the  darkest 
night,  nor  the  closest  curtains,  nor  the  deepest  dungeon,  can  hide 
any  sin  from  the  eye  of  God.  Adam  is  known  in  his  thickets, 
and  Jonah  in  his  cabin.  Achan's  wedge  of  gold  is  discerned 
by  him,  though  buried  in  the  earth,  and  hooded  with  a  tent. 
Shall  Sarah  be  unseen  by  him,  when  she  mockingly  laughs  be- 
hind the  door?  Shall  Gehazi  tell  a  lie,  and  comfort  himself  with 
an  imagination  of  his  master's  ignorance,  as  long  as  God  knows 
it?  Whatsoever  works  men  do,  are  not  hid  from  God,  whether 
done  in  the  darkness  or  day-light,  in  the  midnight  darkness  or 
the  noon-day  sun :  he  is  all  eye  to  see,  and  he  has  a  great  wrath 
to  punish.  The  wheels  in  Ezekiel  are  full  of  eyes,  a  piercing 
eye  to  behold  the  sinner,  and  a  swift  wheel  of  wrath  to  overtake 
him.  God  is  light,  and  of  all  things  light  is  most  difficult  to 
keep  out.  The  most  secret  sins  are  set  in  the  light  of  his  coun- 
tenance, Psal.  xc.  S;  as  legible  to  him  as  if  written  with  a  sun- 
beam; more  visible  to  him  than  the  greatest  print  to  the  sharp- 
est eye.  The  fornications  of  the  Samaritan  woman,  perhaps 
known  only  to  her  own  conscience,  were  manifest  to  Christ, 
John  iv.  18.  There  is  nothing  so  secretly  done,  but  there  is  an 
infallible  witness  to  prepare  a  charge.  Though  God  be  invisi- 
ble to  us,  we  must  not  imagine  we  are  so  to  him;  it  is  a  vanity 
therefore  to  think,  we  can  conceal  ourselves  from  God,  by  con- 
cealing: the  notions  of  God  from  our  sense  and  practice.  If  men 
be  as  close  from  the  eyes  of  all  men,  as  from  those  of  the  sun: 
yea,  if  they  could  separate  themselves  from  their  own  shadow, 
they  could  not  draw  themselves  from  God's  understanding:  how 
then  can  darkness  shelter  us,  or  crafty  artifices  defend  us? 
With  what  shame  will  sinners  be  filled,  when  God,  who  has 
traced  their  steps,  and  written  their  sins  in  a  book,  shall  make 


560  ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

a  repetition  of  their  ways,  and  unveil  the  web  of  their  wicked- 


ness 


[2.]  What  a  dreadful  consideration  is  this  to  the  juggling 
hypocrite,  that  masks  himself  with  an  appearance  of  piety! 
An  infinite  understanding  judges  not  according  to  the  veils  and 
shadows,  but  according  to  truth;  he  judges  not  according  to 
appearance,  1  Sam.  xvi.  7.  The  outward  comeliness  of  a  work 
imposeth  not  on  him,  his  knowledge,  and  therefore  his  estima- 
tions are  quite  of  another  nature  than  those  of  men.  By  this 
perfection  God  looks  through  the  veil,  and  beholds  the  litter  of 
abominations  in  the  secrets  of  the  soul,  the  true  quality  and 
principle  of  every  work,  and  judges  of  them  as  they  are,  and 
not  as  they  appear.  Disguised  pretexts  cannot  deceive  him; 
the  disguises  are  known  afar  off  before  they  are  weaved;  he 
pierces  into  the  depths  of  the  most  abstruse  wills;  all  secret 
ends  are  dissected  before  him;  every  action  is  naked  in  its  out- 
side, and  open  in  its  inside;  all  are  as  clear  to  him  as  if  their 
bodies  were  of  crystal,  so  that  if  there  be  any  secret  reserves, 
he  will  certainly  reprove  us,  Job  xiii.  10.  We  are  often  de- 
ceived, we  may  take  wolves  for  sheep,  and  hypocrites  for  be- 
lievers; for  the  eyes  of  men  are  no  better  than  flesh,  and  dive 
no  further  than  appearance;  but  an  infinite  understanding,  that 
fathoms  the  secret  depths  of  the  heart,  is  too  knowing  to  let  a 
dream  pass  for  a  truth,  or  mistake  a  shadow  for  a  body. 
Though  we  call  God  Father  all  our  days,  speak  the  language 
of  angels,  or  be  endowed  with  the  gift  of  miracles,  he  can  dis- 
cern whether  we  have  his  mark  upon  us;  he  can  espy  the  trea- 
son of  Judas  in  a  kiss;  Herod's  intent  of  murdering  under  a 
specious  pretence  of  worship :  a  pharisee's  fraud  under  a  broad 
philactery;  a  ravenous  wolf  under  the  softness  of  a  sheep's 
skin;  and  the  devil  in  Samuel's  mantle,  or  when  he  would 
shroud  himself  among  the  sons  of  God,  Job  i.  6,  7.  All  the 
rooms  of  the  heart,  and  every  atom  of  dust  in  the  least  chink 
of  it,  is  clear  to  his  eye.  He  can  strip  sin  from  the  fairest  ex- 
cuses, pierce  into  the  heart  with  more  ease  than  the  sun  can 
through  the  thinnest  cloud  or  vapour,  and  look  through  all 
Ephraim's  ingenious  inventions  to  excuse  his  idolatry,  Hos.  v. 
3.  Hypocrisy  then  is  a  senseless  thing,  since  it  cannot  escape 
unmasking  by  an  infinite  understanding.  As  all  our  force  can- 
not stop  his  arm,  when  he  is  resolved  to  punish;  so  all  our 
sophistry  cannot  blind  his  understanding,  when  he  comes  to 
judge.  Woe  to  the  hypocrite,  for  God  sees  him;  all  his  jug- 
gling is  open  and  naked  to  an  infinite  understanding. 

[3.]  Is  it  not  also  a  senseless  thing  to  be  careless  of  sins  com- 
mitted long  ago  ?  The  old  sins  forgotten  by  men,  stick  fast  in 
an  infinite  understanding:  time  cannot  raze  out  that  which 
hath  been  known  from  eternity.     Why  should  they  be  for- 


"\  (iOD'S  KNOW  1,1  ;i>(iK.  )(lj 

gotten  many  years  after  they  were  acted,  since  they  were  fore- 
known in  an  eternity  before  they  were  committed,  or  the  crimi- 
nal capable  to  practise  them?     Amalek  must  pay  their  arrears 

of  their  ancient  unkindness  to  [srael  in  the  time  of  Saul,  though 
the  generation    that   committed    them   were   rotten   in   their 

graves,  1  Sum.  xv.  2.  Old  sins  are  written  in  a  hook,  which 
lies  always  before  God;  and  not  only  our  own  sins,  but  the 
sins  of  our  lathers,  to  he  requited  upon  their  posterity.1  What 
a  vanity  is  it  then  to  he  regardless  of  the  sins  of  an  age  that 
went  before  us!  Because  they  are  in  some  measure  out  of 
our  knowledge,  are  they  therefore  blotted  out  of  God's  remem- 
brance? Sins  are  bound  up  with  him,  as  men  do  bonds,  till 
they  resolve  to  sue  for  the  debt;  "  The  iniquity  of  Ephraim  is 
bound  up,"  Hos.  xiii.  12.  As  his  foreknowledge  extends  to  all 
acts  that  shall  be  done,  so  his  remembrance  extends  to  all  acts 
that  have  been  done.  We  may  as  well  say,  God  foreknows 
nothing  that  shall  be  done  to  the  end  of  the  world,  as  that  he 
forgets  any  thing  that  has  been  done  from  the  beginning  of 
the  world.  The  former  ages  of  the  world  are  no  further  dis- 
tant from  him  than  the  latter.  God  has  a  calendar,  (as  it 
were,)  or  an  account  book  of  men's  sins  ever  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  world;  what  they  did  in  their  childhood,  what  in 
their  youth,  what  in  their  manhood,  and  what  in  their  old  age; 
he  hath  them  in  store  among  his  treasure,  Deut.  xxxii.  34.  He 
hath  neither  lost  his  understanding  to  know  them,  nor  his  reso- 
lution to  revenge  them:  as  it  follows,  "  To  me  belongeth  ven- 
geance," ver.  35.  He  intends  to  enrich  his  justice  with  a  glo- 
rious manifestation,  by  rendering  a  due  recompense.  And  it 
is  to  be  observed,  that  God  does  not  only  necessarily  remem- 
ber them,  but  sometimes  binds  himself  by  an  oath  to  do  it: 
"The  Lord  hath  sworn  by  the  excellency  of  Jacob,  Surely  I 
will  never  forget  any  of  their  works,"  Amos  viii.  7;  or  in  the 
Hebrew,  If  I  ever  forget  any  of  their  works;  that  is,  let  me  not 
be  accounted  a  God  for  ever,  if  I  do  forget;  let  me  lose  my 
Godhead,  if  I  lose  my  remembrance.  It  is  not  less  a  misery 
to  the  wicked,  than  it  is  a  comfort  to  the  godly,  that  their  re- 
cord is  in  heaven. 

[4.]  Let  it  be  observed,  that  this  infinite  understanding  does 
exactly  know  the  sins  of  men,  he  knows  so  as  to  consider.  He 
does  not  only  know  them,  but  intently  beholds  them;  "His 
eyelids  try  the  children  of  men,"  Psal.  xi.  4;  a  metaphor  taken 
from  men,  that  contract  the  eyelids  when  they  would  wistly 
and  accurately  behold  a  thing;  it  is  not  a  transient  and  careless 
look:  "Thou  hast  seen  it,"  Psal.  x.  14:  thou  hast  intently  be- 
held it,  as  the  word  properly  signifies.  He  beholds  and  knows 
the  actions  of  every  particular  man,  as  if  there  were  none  but 

1   "  Behold  it  is  written."  In    \Xf.  6 

Vol.   I.— 71 


5(J2  0N  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

he  in  the  world;  and  does  not  only  know  but  ponder,  Prov.  v. 
21,  and  consider  their  works,  Psal.  xxxiii.  15.  He  is  not  a  bare 
spectator,  but  a  diligent  observer.  "By  him  actions  are  weigh- 
ed," 1  Sam.  ii.  3,  to  see  what  degree  of  good  or  evil  there  is 
in  them,  what  there  is  to  blemish  them,  what  to  advantage 
them,  what  the  quality  and  quantity  of  every  action  is.  Con- 
sideration takes  in  every  circumstance  of  the  considered  object; 
notice  is  taken  of  the  place  where,  the  minute  when,  the  mercy 
against  which  it  is  committed;  the  number  of  them  is  exact  in 
God's  book.  They  "  have  tempted  me  now  these  ten  times," 
against  the  demonstrations  of  my  glory  in  Egypt  and  the  wil- 
derness, Numb.  xiv.  22.  The  whole  guilt  in  every  circumstance 
is  spread  before  him:  his  knowledge  of  men's  sins  is  not  con- 
fused; such  an  imperfection  an  infinite  understanding  cannot 
be  subject  to.  It  is  exact,  for  iniquity  is  marked  before  him, 
Jer.  ii.  22. 

[5.]  God  knows  men's  miscarriage  so  as  to  judge.  This  use 
his  omniscience  is  put  to,  to  maintain  his  sovereign  authority 
in  the  exercise  of  his  justice:  his  notice  of  the  sins  of  men  is 
in  order  to  a  just  retribution:  thou  hast  seen  mischief  to  requite 
it  with  thy  hand,  Psal.  x.  14.  The  eye  of  his  knowledge  di- 
rects the  hand  of  his  justice;  and  no  sinful  action  that  falls 
under  his  cognizance,  but  will  fall  under  his  revenge:  they  can 
as  little  escape  his  censure  as  they  can  his  knowledge:  he  is  a 
witness  in  his  omniscience,  that  he  may  be  a  Judge  in  his  right- 
eousness: he  knows  the  hearts  of  the  wicked,  so  as  to  hate 
their  works,  and  testify  his  abhorrence  of  that  which  is  of  high 
value  with  men,  Luke  xvi.  15.  Sin  is  not  preserved  in  his  un- 
derstanding, or  written  down  in  his  book  to  be  moth-eaten  as 
an  old  manuscript,  but  to  be  opened  one  day,  and  copied  out 
in  the  consciences  of  men :  he  writes  them  to  publish  them, 
and  sets  them  in  the  light  of  his  countenance,  to  bring  thorn  to 
the  light  of  their  consciences.  What  a  terrible  consideration 
is  it,  to  think  that  the  sins  of  a  day  are  upon  record  in  an  infal- 
lible understanding;  much  more  the  sins  of  a  week:  what  a 
number  then  do  the  sins  of  a  month,  a  year,  ten,  or  forty  years 
arise  to!  How  many  actions  against  charity,  against  sincerity; 
what  an  infinite  number  is  there  of  them,  all  bound  up  in  the 
court  rolls  of  God's  omniscience,  in  order  to  a  trial,  to  be  brought 
out  before  the  eyes  of  men!  Who  can  seriously  consider  all 
those  bonds,  reserved  in  the  cabinet  of  God's  knowledge  to  be 
sued  out  against  the  sinner  in  due  time,  without  an  inexpressible 
horror? 

Use  (4.)  The  fourth  use  is  of  exhortation.  Let  us  have  a 
sense  of  God's  knowledge  upon  our  hearts.  All  wickedness 
has  a  spring  from  a  want  of  due  consideration  and  sense  of  it. 
David  concludes  it  so;  the  proud  rose  against  him,  and  violent 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  553 

men  sought  after  his  soul,  because  they  did  not  set  God  before 
them,  Psal.  lxxxvi.  II.  They  think  God  does  not  know,  and 
therefore  care  not  what  nor  how  they  act.  When  the  fear  of 
this  attribute  is  removed,  a  door  is  opened  to  all  impiety.  What 
is  there  so  villanous,  but  the  minds  of  men  will  attempt  to  act? 
What  reverence  of  a  Deity  can  he  left,  when  the  sense  of  his 
infinite  understanding  is  extinguished?  What  faith  could  then: 
be  in  judgments,  in  witnesses?  How  would  the  foundations  of 
human  society  be  overturned!  the  pillars  upon  which  com- 
merce stands,  be  utterly  broken  and  dissolved!  What  society 
can  be  preserved,  if  this  be  not  truly  believed  and  faithfully 
stuck  to?  How  easily  would  oaths  be  swallowed  and  quickly 
violated,  if  the  sense  of  this  perfection  were  rooted  out  of  the 
minds  of  men!  What  fear  could  they  have  of  calling  to  wit- 
ness a  Being  they  imagine  blind  and  ignorant?  Men  secretly 
imagine,  that  God  knows  not,  or  soon  forgets,  and  then  make 
bold  to  sin  against  him,  Ezek.  viii.  12.  How  much  does  it 
therefore  concern  us  to  cherish  and  keep  alive  the  sense  of  this! 
If  God  writes  us  upon  the  palms  of  his  hands,  as  the  expres- 
sion is,  to  remember  us,  let  us  engrave  him  upon  the  tables  of 
our  hearts  to  remember  him.  It  would  be  a  good  motto  to 
write  upon  our  minds,  God  knows  all,  he  is  of  infinite  under- 
standing. 

[1.]  This  would  give  check  to  much  iniquity.  Can  a  man's 
conscience  easily  and  delightfully  swallow  that,  which  he  is 
sensible  falls  under  the  cognizance  of  God,  when  it  is  hateful 
to  the  eye  of  his  holiness,  and  renders  the  actor  odious  to  him? 
"Doth  he  not  see  my  ways,  and  count  all  my  steps?"  saith  Job, 
ch.  xxxi.  4.  To  what  end  does  he  fix  this  consideration  ?  To 
keep  him  from  wanton  glances.  Temptations  have  no  encour- 
agement to  come  near  him,  that  is  constantly  armed  with  the 
thoughts  that  his  sin  is  booked  in  God's  omniscience.  If  any 
impudent  devil  has  the  face  to  tempt  us,  we  should  not  have 
the  impudence  to  join  issue  with  him  under  the  sense  of  an 
infinite  understanding.  How  fruitless  would  his  wiles  be 
against  this  consideration!  How  easily  would  his  snares  be 
cracked,  by  one  sensible  thought  of  this!  This  does  Solomon 
prescribe  to  allay  the  heat  of  carnal  imaginations,  Prov.  v.  20, 
21.  It  were  a  useful  question  to  ask,  at  the  appearance  of 
every  temptation,  at  the  entrance  upon  every  action,  aa  the 
church  did  in  temptations  to  idolatry;  "Shall  not  God  search 
this  out?  for  he  knoweth  the  secrets  of  the  heart,  Psal.  xliv.  21. 
His  understanding  comprehends  us  more  than  our  conscience  I 
can  our  acts,  or  our  understanding  our  thoughts.  Who  durst 
speak  treason  against  a  prince,  if  he  were  sure  he  heard  him, 
or  that  it  would  come  to  his  knowledge?  A  sense  of  God's 
knowledge  of  wickedness  in  the  first  motion  and  inward  con- 


504  oN  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE. 

trivance,  would  bar  the  accomplishment  and  execution.  The 
consideration  of  God's  infinite  understanding,  would  cry 
"stand"  to  the  first  glances  of  the  heart  to  sin. 

[2.]  It  would  make  us  watchful  over  our  hearts  and 
thoughts.  Should  we  harbour  any  unworthy  thoughts  in  our 
cabinet,  if  our  heads  and  hearts  were  possessed  with  this  use- 
ful truth,  that  God  knows  every  thing  which  comes  into  our 
minds,  Ezek.  xi.  5.  We  should  as  much  blush  at  the  rising  of 
impure  thoughts  before  the  understanding  of  God,  as  at  the 
discovery  of  unworthy  actions  to  the  knowledge  of  men.  If 
we  lived  under  a  sense,  that  not  a  thought  of  all  those  millions, 
which  flutter  about  our  minds,  can  be  concealed  from  him, 
how  watchful  and  careful  should  we  be  of  our  hearts  and 
thoughts! 

[3.]  It  would  be  a  good  preparation  to  every  duty.  This 
consideration  should  be  the  preface  to  every  service;  the  Di- 
vine understanding  knows  how  I  now  act.  This  would  engage 
us  to  serious  intention,  and  quell  wandering  and  distracting 
fancies.  Who  would  come  before  God  with  a  careless  and 
ignorant  soul,  under  a  sense  of  his  infinite  understanding,  and 
prerogative  of  searching  the  heart,  "0  thou  that  dwellest  in 
the  heavens,"  was  a  consideration  the  psalmist  had  at  the 
beginning  of  his  prayer,  Psal.  cxxiii.  1;  whereby  he  testifies 
not  only  an  apprehension  of  the  majesty  and  power  of  God,  but 
of  his  omniscience,  as  one  sitting  above  beholds  all  that  is 
below.  Would  we  offer  to  God  such  raw  and  undigested  peti- 
tions; would  there  be  so  much  flatness  in  our  services;  would 
our  hearts  so  often  give  us  the  slip;  would  any  hang  down 
their  heads  like  a  bulrush,  by  an  affected  or  counterfeit  humi- 
lity, while  the  heart  is  filled  with  pride,  if  we  did  act  faith  in 
this  attribute?  No,  our  prayers  would  be  more  sound,  our 
devotions  more  vigorous,  our  hearts  more  close,  our  spirits  like 
the  chariots  of  Aminadib,  more  swift  in  their  motions.  Every 
thing  would  be  done  by  us  with  all  our  might,  which  would 
be  very  feeble  and  faint,  if  we  conceived  God  to  be  of  a  finite 
understanding  like  ourselves.  Let  us  therefore  before  every 
duty,  not  draw,  but  open  the  curtains  between  God  and  our 
souls,  and  think  that  we  are  going  before  him  that  sees  us, 
before  him  that  knows  us,  Gen.  xvi.  13.  And  the  stronger 
impressions  of  the  Divine  knowledge  are  upon  our  minds,  the 
better  would  our  preparation  be  for,  and  the  more  active  our 
frames  in  every  service:  and  certainly  we  may  judge  of  the 
suitableness  of  our  preparations,  by  the  strength  of  such  im- 
pressions upon  us. 

[4.]  This  would  tend  to  make  us  sincere  in  our  whole  course. 
This  prescription  David  gave  to  Solomon,  to  maintain  a  sound- 
ness and  health  of  spirit  in  his  walk  before  God;  "And  thou, 


ON  GOD'S  KNOWLEDGE.  555 

Solomon  my  son,  know  thou  the  God  of  thy  lather,  and  serve 
him  with  a  perfect  heart; — for  the  Lord  understandeth  all  the 
imaginations  of  the  thoughts/9  1  Ghron.  xwiii.  •».  Josephus 
gives  this  reason  for  Abel's  holiness,  that  he  believed  God  was 

ignorant  of  nothing.  '  As  tin-  doctrine  of  omniscience  is  tin: 
foundation  of  all  religion,  so  the  impression  of  it  would  pro- 
mote the  practice  of  all  religion.  When  all  our  ways  are 
imagined  by  us  to  be  before  the  Lord,  we  shall  then  keep  his 
precepts,  Psal.  cxix.  168.  And  we  can  never  be  perfect  or 
sincere,  till  we  walk  before  God,  Gen.  xvii.  1,  as  under  the  eye 
of  God's  knowledge.  What  we  speak,  what  we  think,  what 
we  act  is  in  his  sight:  he  knows  every  place  where  we  are, 
every  thing  that  we  do,  as  well  as  Christ  knew  Nathanael 
under  the  fig-tree.  As  he  is  too  powerful  to  be  vanquished, 
so  he  is  too  full  of  understanding  to  be  deceived:  the  sense  of 
this  would  make  us  walk  with  as  much  care,  as  if  the  under- 
Slanding  of  all  men  did  comprehend  us  and  onr  actions. 

[5.]  The  consideration  of  this  attribute  would  make  us  hum- 
ble. How  dejected  would  a  person  be,  if  he  were  sure  all  the 
angels  in  heaven  and  men  upon  earth,  did  perfectly  know  his 
crimes,  with  all  their  aggravations!  But  what  is  created  know- 
ledge to  an  infinite  and  justly  censuring  understanding  ?  When 
we  consider  that  he  knows  our  actions  whereof  there  are  multi- 
tudes, and  our  thoughts  whereof  there  are  millions;  that  he 
views  all  the  blessings  bestowed  upon  us,  all  the  injuries  we 
have  returned  to  him;  that  he  exactly  knows  his  own  bounty, 
and  our  ingratitude:  all  the  idolatry,  blasphemy  and,  secret 
enmity  in  every  man's  heart  against  him:  all  tyrannical  oppres- 
sions, hidden  lusts,  omissions  of  necessary  duties,  violation  of 
plain  precepts,  every  foolish  imagination,  with  all  the  circum- 
stances of  them,  and  that  perfectly  in  their  full  anatomy,  every 
mite  of  unworthiness  and  wickedness  in  every  circumstance; 
and  add  to  this  his  knowledge,  the  wonders  of  his  patience, 
which  are  miraculous  upon  the  score  of  his  omniscience,  that 
he  is  not  as  quick  in  his  revenge  as  he  is  in  his  understanding; 
but  he  is  so  far  from  inflicting  punishment,  that  he  continues 
his  former  benefits,  arms  not  his  justice  against  us,  but  solicits 
our  repentance,  and  waits  to  be  gracious  with  all  his  know- 
ledge of  our  crimes;  should  not  the  consideration  of  this  melt 
our  hearts  into  humiliation  before  him,  and  make  us  earnest  in 
begging  pardon  and  forgiveness  of  him? 

Again,  do  we  not  all  find  a  worm  in  our  best  fruit,  a  flaw  in 
our  soundest  duties  ?  Shall  any  of  us  vaunt,  as  if  God  beheld 
only  the  gold,  and  not  any  dross;  as  if  he  knew  one  thing  only, 
and  not  another  ?  If  we  knew  something  by  ourselves  i»  cheer 
us,  do  we  not  also  know  something,  yea,  many  things  to  con- 
1  Antiqait.  lib.  1.  <-;ip.  3- 


5(36  ON  TilE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

demn  us,  and  therefore  to  humble  us  ?  Let  the  sense  of  God's 
infinite  knowledge  therefore  be  an  incentive  and  argument  for 
more  humiliation  in  us.  If  we  know  enough  to  render  our- 
selves vile  in  our  own  eyes,  how  much  more  does  God  know  to 
render  us  vile  in  his! 

[6.]  The  consideration  of  this  excellent  perfection  should 
make  us  to  acquiesce  in  God,  and  rely  upon  him  in  every  strait. 
In  public,  in  private;  he  knows  all  cases,  and  he  knows  all 
remedies;  he  knows  the  seasons  of  bringing  them,  and  he 
knows  the  seasons  of  removing  them,  for  his  own  glory.  What 
is  contingent  in  respect  of  us,  and  of  our  foreknowledge  and 
in  respect  of  second  causes,  is  not  so  in  regard  of  God's,  who 
has  the  knowledge  of  the  futurition  of  all  things.  He  knows 
all  causes  in  themselves,  and  therefore  knows  what  every 
cause  will  produce,  what  will  be  the  event  of  every  coun- 
sel and  of  every  action.  How  should  we  commit  ourselves 
to  this  God  of  infinite  understanding,  who  knows  all  things, 
and  foreknows  every  thing,  that  cannot  be  forced  through  igno- 
rance to  take  new  counsel,  or  be  surprised  with  any  thing  that 
can  happen  to  us!  This  use  the  psalmist  makes  of  it,  "Thou 
hast  seen  it: — the  poor  committeth  himself  unto  thee,"  Psal.  x. 
14.  Though  some  trust  in  chariots  and  horses,  Psal.  xx.  7, 
some  in  counsels  and  counsellors,  some  in  their  arms  and  cour- 
age, and  some  in  mere  vanity  and  nothing;  yet  let  us  remember 
the  name  and  nature  of  the  Lord  our  God,  his  Divine  perfec- 
tions, of  which  this  of  his  infinite  understanding  and  omnis- 
cience is  none  of  the  least,  but  so  necessary,  that  without  it  he 
could  not  be  God,  and  the  whole  world  would  be  a  mere  chaos 
and  confusion. 


DISCOURSE  IX. 

ON      THE      WISDOM      OP      GOD. 
Rom.  xvi.  27.— To  God  only  wise,  be  glory  through  Jesus  Christ  for  ever.    Amen. 

This  chapter  being  the  last  of  this  epistle,  is  chiefly  made  up 
of  charitable  and  friendly  salutations  and  commendations  of 
particular  persons,  according  to  the  earliness  and  strength  of 
their  several  graces,  and  their  labour  of  love  for  the  interest  of 
God  and  his  people. 

In  verse  17,  he  warns  them  not  to  be  drawn  aside  from  the 
gospel  doctrine  which  had  been  taught  them,  by  the  plausible 
pretences  and  insinuations,  which  the  corrupters  of  the  doctrine 
and  rule  of  Christ  never  want  from  the  suggestions  of  their 


'i.N  Tin:  \\  isihjm  of  (.oi>.  .,<;; 

carnal  wisdom.  The  offspring  of  soul-destroying  errrors  may- 
walk  about  the  world  in  a  garb  and  disguise  of  good  words  and 

fair  speeches;  as  it  is  in  the  IS1J1  verse,  "  by  good  words  and 
tair  speeches  deceive  the  hearts  of  the  simple."  And  for  their 
encouragement  to  a  constancy  in  the  gospel  doctrine,  he  assures 

them  that  all  those  that  would  dispossess  them  of  truth,  to  pos- 
sess them  with  vanity,  are  but  Satan's  instruments,  and  will  fall 
under  the  same  captivity  and  yoke  with  their  principal:  u  The 
God  of  peace  shall  bruise  Satan  under  your  feet  shortly,"  verse 
20. 

Whence  observe, 

All  corrupters  of  Divine  truth,  and  troublers  of  the  church's 
peace,  are  no  better  than  devils.  Our  Saviour  thought  the 
name  "  Satan,"  a  title  merited  by  Peter,  when  he  breathed  out 
an  advice,  as  an  axe  at  the  root  of  the  gospel,  the  death  of 
Christ,  the  foundation  of  all  gospel  truth:  and  the  apostle  con- 
cludes them  under  the  same  character,  which  hinder  the  super- 
structure, and  would  mix  their  chaff  with  his  wheat.  "Get 
thee  behind  me,  Satan,"  Matt.  xvi.  23.  It  is  not,  Get  thee 
behind  me,  Simon,  or,  Get  thee  behind  me,  Peter;  but,  "Get 
thee  behind  me,  Satan:  thou  art  an  offence  unto  me;"  thou  dost 
oppose  thyself  to  the  wisdom,  and  grace,  and  authority  of  God, 
to  the  redemption  of  man,  and  to  the  good  of  the  world. 

As  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the  Spirit  of  truth,  so  is  Satan  the  spirit 
of  falsehood:  as  the  Holy  Ghost  inspires  believers  with  truth, 
so  the  devil  corrupts  unbelievers  with  error.  Let  us  cleave  to 
the  truth  of  the  gospel,  that  we  may  not  be  counted  by  God  as 
part  of  the  corporation  of  fallen  angels,  and  not  be  barely  reck- 
oned as  enemies  of  God,  but  in  league  with  the  greatest  enemy 
to  his  glory  in  the  world. 

Again,  the  Reconciler  of  the  world  will  be  the  subduer  of 
Satan.  The  God  of  peace  sent  the  Prince  of  peace  to  be  the 
restorer  of  his  rights,  and  the  hammer  to  beat  in  pieces  the 
usurper  of  them.  As  a  God  of  truth  he  will  make  good  his 
promise,  as  a  God  of  peace  he  will  perfect  the  design  his  wis- 
dom has  laid,  and  begun  to  act.  In  the  subduing  Satan,  he 
will  be  the  conqueror  of  his  instruments:  he  says  not,  God 
shall  bruise  your  troublers,  and  heretics;  but  Satan:  the  fall  of 
a  general  proves  the  rout  of  the  army.  Since  God,  as  a  God 
of  peace,  has  delivered  his  own,  he  will  perfect  the  victory, 
and  make  them  cease  from  bruising  the  heel  of  his  spiritual 
seed. 

Divine  evangelical  truth  shall  be  victorious.  No  weapon 
formed  against  it  shall  prosper:  the  head  of  the  wicked  shall 
fall  as  low  as  the  feet  of  the  godly.  The  devil  never  yet  blus- 
tered in  the  world,  but  he  nv't  at  last  with  a  disappointment: 
his  fall  has  been  like  lightning,  sudden,  certain,  vanishing. 


568  ON  -THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

Again,  faith  must  look  back  as  far  as  the  foundation  promise. 
"  The  God  of  peace  shall  bruise,"  &c.  The  apostle  seems  to 
allude  to  the  first  promise,  Gen.  iii.  15;  a  promise  that  has 
vigour  to  nourish  the  churches  in  all  ages  of  the  world.  It  is 
the  standingrcordial ;  out  of  the  womb  of  this  promise  all  the 
rest  have  taken  their  birth.  The  promises  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment were  designed  for  those  under  the  New,  and  full  perform- 
ance of  them  is  to  be  expected  and  will  be  enjoyed  by  them. 
It  is  a  mighty  strengthening  to  faith,  to  trace  the  footsteps  of 
God's  truth  and  wisdom,  from  the  threatening  against  the 
serpent  in  Eden,  to  the  bruise  he  received  in  Calvary,  and  the 
triumph  over  him  upon  mount  Olivet. 

Lastly,  we  are  to  confide  in  the  promise  of  God,  but  leave 
the  season  of  its  accomplishment  to  his  wisdom.  He  will  bruise 
Satan  under  your  feet,  therefore  do  not  doubt  it;  and  shortly, 
therefore  wait  for  it:  shortly  it  will  be  done,  that  is,  quickly, 
when  you  think  it  may  be  a  great  way  off;  or  shortly,  that  is, 
seasonably,  when  Satan's  rage  is  hottest.  God  is  the  best  judge 
of  the  seasons  of  distributing  his  own  mercies,  and  darting  out 
his  own  glory.  It  is  enough  to  encourage  our  waiting,  that  it 
will  be,  and  that  it  will  be  shortly;  but  we  must  not  measure 
God's  shortly  by  our  minutes. 

The  apostle  after  this  concludes  with  a  comfortable  prayer, 
that  since  they  wrere  liable  to  many  temptations  to  turn  their 
backs  upon  the  doctrine  which  they  had  learned;  yet  he  desires 
God,  who  had  brought  them  to  the  knowledge  of  his  truth, 
would  confirm  them  in  the  belief  of  it,  since  it  was  the  gospel 
of  Christ  his  dear  Son,  and  a  mystery  he  had  been  chary  of 
and  kept  in  his  own  cabinet,  and  now  brought  forth  to  the 
world  in  pursuance  of  the  ancient  prophecies,  and  now  had 
published  to  all  nations  for  that  end  that  it  might  be  obeyed; 
and  concludes  with  a  doxology,  a  voice  of  praise,  to  him  who 
was  only  wise  to  effect  his  own  purposes:  "Now  to  him  that 
is  of  power  to  stablish  you  according  to  my  gospel,  and  the 
preaching  of  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  the  revelation  of  the 
mystery,  which  was  kept  secret,  since  the  world  began,  but  now 
is  made  manifest,  and  by  the  Scriptures  of  the  prophets,  ac- 
cording to  the  commandment  of -the  everlasting  God,  made 
known  to  all  nations  for  the  obedience  of  faith,"  ver.  25 — 27. 
This  doxology  is  interlaced  with  many  comforts  for  the  Ro- 
mans. He  explains  the  causes  of  this  glory  to  God,  "  power 
and  wisdom;"  power  to  establish  the  Romans  in  grace,  which 
includes  his  will.  This  he  proves  from  a  Divine  testimony, 
namely,  the  gospel;  the  gospel  committed  to  him,  and  preached 
by  him,  which  he  commends  by  calling  it  the  preaching  of 
Christ;  and  describes  it,  for  the  instruction  and  comfort  of  the 
Church,  from  the  adjuncts,  the  obscurity  of  it  under  the  Old 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  COD.  559 

Testament,  and  the  clearness  of  it  under  the  New.  It  was  hid 
from  the  former  ages,  and  kept  in  silence;  not  simply  and  ab- 
solutely, hut  comparatively  and  in  part;  because  in  the  Old 
Testament,  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  Christ  was  confined  to 
the  limits  of  Judea,  preached  only  to  the  inhabitants  of  thai 
country;  to  them  he  gave  his  statutes  and  his  judgments,  and 
dealt  not  so  magnificently  with  any  nation,  Psal.  cxlvii.  19,20; 
but  now  he  causes  it  to  spring  with  greater  majesty  out  of  those 
narrow  bounds,  and  spread  its  wings  about  the  world.  This 
manifestation  of  the  gospel  he  declares,  from  the  subject,  "  All 
nations:"  from  the  principal  efficient  cause  of  it,  "  The  com- 
mandment and  order  of  God:"  the  instrumental  cause,  "  The 
prophetic  Scriptures:"  From  the  end  of  it,  "The  obedience  of 
faith."1 

Observe  here  the  following  things.  The  glorious  attributes 
of  God  bear  a  comfortable  respect  to  believers.  Power  and 
wisdom  are  here  mentioned  as  two  props  of  their  faith:  his 
power  here  includes  his  goodness.  Power  to  help  without  will 
to  assist,  is  a  dry  chip.  The  apostle  mentions  not  God's  power 
simply  and  absolutely  considered,  for  that  of  itself  is  no  more 
comfort  to  men,  than  it  is  to  devils;  but  as  considered  in  the 
gospel  covenant,  his  power,  as  well  as  his  other  perfections,  are 
ingredients  in  that  cordial  of  God's  being  our  God.  We  should 
never  think  of  the  excellency  of  the  Divine  nature,  without  con- 
sidering the  duties  they  demand,  and  gathering  the  honey  they 
present. 

Again,  the  stability  of  a  gracious  soul  depends  upon  the  wis- 
dom, as  well  as  the  power  of  God.  It  would  be  a  disrepute  to 
the  almightiness  of  God,  if  that  should  be  totally  vanquished 
which  was  introduced  by  his  mighty  arm,  and  rooted  in  the 
soul  by  an  irresistible  grace.  It  would  speak  a  want  of  strength 
to  maintain  it,  or  a  change  of  resolution,  and  so  would  be  no 
honour  to  the  wisdom  of  his  first  design.  It  is  no  part  of  the 
wisdom  of  an  artificer  to  let  a  work,  wherein  he  determined  to 
show  the  greatness  of  his  skill,  to  be  dashed  in  pieces,  when  he 
has  power  to  preserve  it.  God  designed  every  gracious  soul 
for  a  piece  of  his  workmanship,  Eph.  ii.  10:  what,  to  have  the 
skill  of  his  grace  defeated?  If  any  soul  which  he  has  graciously 
conquered  should  be  wrested  from  him,  what  could  be  thought, 
but  that  his  power  is  enfeebled?  if  deserted  by  him,  what  could 
be  imagined,  but  that  he  repented  of  his  labour,  and  altered  his 
counsel,  as  if  rashly  undertaken?  These  Romans  were  rugged 
pieces,  and  lay  in  a  filthy  quarry,  when  God  came  first  to 
smooth  them;  for  so  the  apostle  represents  them  with  the  rest 
of  the  heathen,  Rom.  i.;  and  would  he  throw  them  away,  or 
leave  them  to  the  power  of  his  enemy,  after  all  his  pains  he  had 

1  Gomatus  in  loc. 

Vol.  I.— 72 


570  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

taken  with  them,  to  fit  them  for  his  building?  Did  he  not  fore- 
see the  designs  of  Satan  against  them;  what  stratagems  he 
would  use  to  defeat  his  purposes  and  strip  him  of  the  honour  of 
his  work?  and  would  God  so  gratify  his  enemy,  and  disgrace 
his  own  wisdom?  The  deserting  of  what  has  been  acted  is  a 
real  repentance,  and  argues  an  imprudence  in  the  first  resolve 
and  attempt.  The  gospel  is  called  the  "  manifold  wisdom  of 
God,"  Eph.  iii.  10;  the  fruit  of  it  in  the  heart  of  any  person, 
which  is  a  main  design  of  it,  has  a  title  to  the  same  character; 
and  shall  this  grace,  which  is  the  product  of  this  gospel,  and 
therefore  the  birth  of  manifold  wisdom,  be  suppressed?  It  is 
at  God's  hand  we  must  seek  our  fixedness  and  establishment, 
and  act  faith  upon  these  two  attributes  of  God.  Power  is  no 
ground  to  expect  stability,  without  wisdom  interesting  the 
agent  in  it,  and  finding  out  and  applying  the  means  for  it. 
Wisdom  is  naked  without  power  to  act,  and  power  is  useless 
without  wisdom  to  direct.  They  are  these  two  excellencies  of 
the  Deity,  which  the  apostle  here  pitches  the  hope  and  faith  of 
the  converted  Romans  upon  for  their  stability. 

Again,  perseverance  of  believers  in  grace  is  a  gospel  doc- 
trine. "  According  to  my  gospel:"  my  gospel  ministerially, 
according  to  that  gospel  doctrine  I  have  taught  you  in  this 
epistle;  (for,  as  the  prophets  were  comments  upon  the  law,  so 
are  the  epistles  upon  the  gospel;)  this  very  doctrine  he  had 
discoursed  of,  Rom.  viii.  38,  39;  where  he  tells  them,  that 
neither  death  nor  life,  the  terrors  of  a  cruel  death,  or  the  allure- 
ments of  an  honourable  and  pleasant  life,  nor  principalities  and 
powers,  with  all  their  subtlety  and  strength;  not  the  things  we 
have  before  us,  nor  the  promises  of  a  future  felicity,  by  either 
angels  in  heaven  or  devils  in  hell;  not  the  highest  angel,  nor 
the  deepest  devil,  is  able  to  separate  us,  us  Romans,  from  the 
love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  So  that,  "  according  to 
my  gospel,"  may  be  according  to  that  declaration  of  the  gos- 
pel, which  I  have  made  in  this  epistle,  which  does  not  only 
promise  the  first  creating  grace,  but  the  perfecting  and  crown- 
ing grace;  for  not  only  the  being  of  grace,  but  the  health,  live- 
liness, and  perpetuity  of  grace  is  the  fruit  of  the  new  covenant, 
Jer.  xxxii.  40. 

Once  more  observe,  that  the  gospel  is  the  sole  means  of  a 
Christian's  establishment.  "  According  to  my  gospel,"  that  is, 
by  my  gospel.  The  gospel  is  the  instrumental  cause  of  our 
spiritual  life,  it  is  the  cause  also  of  the  continuance  of  it;  it  is 
the  seed  whereby  we  were  born,  and  the  milk  whereby  we 
are  nourished,  1  Pet.  i.  23;  ii.  2;  it  is  the  power  of  God  to  sal- 
vation, and  therefore  to  all  the  degrees  of  it.  "Sanctify  them 
by  thy  truth,"  or  "through  thy  truth,"  John  xvii.  17;  by  or 
through  his  truth  he  sanctifies  us,  and  by  the  same  truth  he 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  57  j 

establishes  us:  the  first  sanctihcation,  and  the  progress  of  it, 
the  first  lineaments  and  the  last  colours,  are  wrought  by  the 
gospel.  The  gospel  therefore  ought  to  be  known,  studied, and 
considered  by  us;  it  is  the  charter  of  our  inheritance,  and  the 
security  for  our  standing.  The  law  acquaints  us  with  our 
duty,  but  contributes  nothing  to  our  strength  and  settlement. 

Observe  also,  the  gospel  is  nothing  else  but  the  revelation  of 
Christ.  "  According  to  my  gospel,  and  the  preaching  of  Jesus 
Christ,"  ver.  25,  the  discovery  of  the  mystery,  and  redemption, 
and  salvation,  in  and  by  him.  It  is  genitivua  object i,  "  the 
genitive  of  the  object,"  that  preaching  wherein  Christ  is  de- 
clared and  set  out,  with  the  benefits  accruing  by  him.  This  is 
the  privilege  the  wisdom  of  God  reserved  for  the  latter  times, 
which  the  Old  Testament  church  had  only  under  a  veil. 

Again,  it  is  a  part  of  the  excellency  of  the  gospel,  that  it  had 
the  Son  of  God  for  its  publisher.  "  The  preaching  of  Jesus 
Christ."  It  was  first  preached  to  Adam  in  paradise  by  God, 
and  afterwards  published  by  Christ  in  person  to  the  inhabitants 
of  Judea.  It  was  not  the  invention  of  man,  but  copied  from 
the  bosom  of  the  Father  by  him  that  lay  in  his  bosom.  The 
gospel  we  have,  is  the  same  which  our  Saviour  himself  preach- 
ed when  he  was  in  the  world.  He  preached  it  not  to  the 
Romans;  but  the  same  gospel  he  preached  is  transmitted  to 
the  Romans.  It  therefore  commands  our  respect:  whoever 
slights  it,  it  is  as  much  as  if  he  slighted  Jesus  Christ  himself, 
were  he  in  person  to  sound  it  from  his  own  lips.  The  validity 
of  a  proclamation  is  derived  from  the  authority  of  the  prince 
that  dictates  it  and  orders  it;  yet  the  greater  the  person  that 
publishes  it,  the  more  dishonour  is  cast  upon  the  authority  of 
the  prince  that  enjoins  it,  if  it  be  contemned.  The  everlasting 
God  ordained  it,  and  the  eternal  Son  published  it. 

The  gospel,  moreover,  was  of  an  eternal  resolution,  though 
of  a  temporary  revelation.  "According  to  the  revelation  of 
the  mystery,  which  was  kept  secret  since  the  world  began," 
ver.  25.  It  is  an  everlasting  gospel.  It  was  a  promise  before 
the  world  began,  Tit.  i.  2.  It  was  not  a  new  invention,  but 
only  kept  secret  among  the  arcana,  in  the  breast  of  the  Al- 
mighty. It  was  hidden  from  angels,  for  the  depths  of  it  are 
not  yet  fully  made  known  to  them;  their  desire  to  look  into  it, 
speaks  yet  a  deficiency  in  their  knowledge  of  it.  1  Pet.  i.  12. 
It  was  published  in  paradise,  but  in  such  words  as  Adam  did 
not  fully  understand.  It  was  both  discovered  and  clouded  in 
the  smoke  of  sacrifices.  It  was  wrapped  up  in  a  veil  under 
the  law,  but  not  opened  till  the  death  of  the  Redeemer:  it  was 
then  plainly  said  to  the  cities  of  Judah,  Behold,  your  God 
comes.  The  whole  transaction  of  it  between  the  Father  and 
the  Son,  which  is  the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  was  from  eternitv; 


572 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 


the  creation  of  the  world  was  in  order  to  the  manifestation  of 
it.  Let  us  not  then  regard  the  gospel  as  a  novelty;  the  consi- 
deration of  it,  as  one  of  God's  cabinet  rarities,  should  enhance 
our  estimation  of  it.  No  traditions  of  men,  no  invention  of 
vain  wits,  that  pretend  to  be  wiser  than  God,  should  have  the 
same  credit  with  that  which  bears  date  from  eternity. 

Observe  yet  again,  that  Divine  truth  is  mysterious.  "Ac- 
cording to  the  revelation  of  the  mystery,  Christ  manifested  in 
the  flesh."  The  whole  scheme  of  godliness  is  a  mystery.  No 
man  or  angel  could  imagine,  how  two  natures  so  distant  as  the 
Divine  and  human,  should  be  united;  how  the  same  person 
should  be  criminal  and  righteous;  how  a  just  God  should  have 
a  satisfaction,  and  sinful  man  a  justification;  how  the  sin  should 
be  punished  and  the  sinner  saved.  None  could  imagine  such 
a  way  of  justification,  as  the  apostle  in  this  epistle  declares: 
it  was  a  mystery,  when  hid  under  the  shadows  of  the  law;  and 
a  mystery  to  the  prophets,  when  it  sounded  from  their  mouths; 
they  searched  it,  without  being  able  to  comprehend  it,  1  Pet.  i. 
10,  11. 

If  it  be  a  mystery,  it  is  humbly  to  be  submitted  to.  Myste- 
ries surmount  human  reason.  The  study  of  the  gospel  must 
not  be  with  a  yawning  and  careless  frame.  Trades  you  call 
"  mysteries,"  are  not  learned  sleeping  and  nodding;  diligence 
is  required;  we  must  be  disciples  at  God's  feet.  As  it  had  God 
for  the  author,  so  we  must  have  God  for  the  teacher  of  it;  the 
contrivance  was  his,  and  the  illumination  of  our  minds  must  be 
from  him.  As  God  only  manifested  the  gospel,  so  he  only  can 
open  our  eyes  to  see  the  mysteries  of  Christ  in  it. 

In  ver.  26,  we  may  observe, 

The  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament  verify  the  substance  of 
the  New,  and  the  New  does  evidence  the  authority  of  the  Old. 
"  By  the  Scriptures  of  the  prophets  made  known."  The  Old 
Testament  credits  the  New,  and  the  new  illustrates  the  Old; 
the  New  Testament  is  a  comment  upon  the  prophetic  part  of 
the  Old;  the  Old  shows  the  promises  and  predictions  of  God, 
and  the  New  shows  the  performance:  what  was  foretold  in  the 
Old,  is  fulfilled  in  the  New;  the  predictions  are  cleared  by  the 
events.  The  predictions  of  the  Old  are  divine,  because  they 
are  above  the  reason  of  man  to  foreknow:  none  but  an  infinite 
knowledge  could  foretell  them,  because  none  but  an  infinite 
wisdom  could  order  all  things  for  the  accomplishment  of  them. 

The  Christian  religion  has  then  the  surest  foundation;  since 
the  Scriptures  of  the  prophets,  wherein  it  is  foretold,  are  of 
undoubted  antiquity,  and  owned  by  the  Jews  and  many  hea- 
then, which  are  and  were  the  great  enemies  of  Christ.  The 
Old  Testament  is  therefore  to  be  read  for  the  strengthening  of 
our  faith.     Our  blessed  Saviour  himself  draws  the  streams  of 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  573 

his  doctrine  from  the  Old  Testament:  he  clears  up  the  pr<  mise 
of  eternal  life,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  from  the 
words  of  the  covenant,  "I  am  the  God  of  Abraham/'  &c. 
Matt.  xxii.  32.  And  our  apostle  clears  np  the  doctrine  of  jus- 
tification by  faith  from  God's  covenant  with  Abraham,  Rom. 
iv.  It  must  be  read,  and  it  must  be  read  as  it  is  written:  it  was 
written  to  a  gospel  end,  it  must  be  studied  with  a  gospel  spirit. 
The  Old  Testament  was  written  to  give  credit  to  the  New, 
when  it  should  be  manifested  in  the  world.  It  must  be  read 
by  us,  to  give  strength  to  our  faith,  and  establish  us  in  the  doc- 
trine of  Christianity.  How  many  view  it  as  a  bare  story,  an 
almanack  out  of  date,  and  regard  it  as  a  dry  bone,  without 
sucking  from  it  the  evangelical  marrow  !  Christ  is,  in  Genesis, 
Abraham's  Seed;  in  David's  Psalms  and  the  prophets,  the  Mes- 
siah and  Redeemer  of  the  world. 

Again,  observe,  the  antiquity  of  the  gospel  is  made  manifest 
by  the  Scriptures  of  the  prophets.  It  was  of  as  ancient  a  date 
as  any  prophecy:  the  first  prophecy  was  nothing  else  but  a  gos- 
pel charter;  it  was  not  made  at  the  incarnation  of  Christ,  but 
made  manifest.  It  then  rose  up  to  its  meridian  lustre,  and 
sprung  out  of  the  clouds,  wherewith  it  was  before  obscured. 
The  gospel  was  preached  to  the  ancients  by  the  prophets,  as 
well  as  to  the  Gentiles  by  the  apostles;  "  Unto  us  was  the  gos- 
pel preached,  as  well  as  unto  them,"  Heb.  iv.  2.  To  them  first, 
to  us  after;  to  them  indeed  more  cloudy,  to  us  more  clear; 
but  they,  as  well  as  we,  were  evangelized,  as  the  word  signifies. 

The  covenant  of  grace  was  the  same  in  the  writings  of  the 
prophets,  and  the  declarations  of  the  evangelists  and  apostles. 
Though  by  our  Saviour's  incarnation  the  gospel  light  was 
clearer,  and  by  his  ascension  the  etl'usions  of  the  Spirit  fuller 
and  stronger,  yet  the  believers  under  the  Old  Testament  saw 
Christ  in  the  swaddling-bands  of  legal  ceremonies,  and  the  lat- 
tice of  prophetical  writings:  they  could  not  oiler  one  sacrifice 
or  read  one  prophecy  with  a  faith  of  the  right  stamp.  Abra- 
ham's justifying  faith  had  Christ  for  its  object,  though  it  was 
not  so  explicit  as  ours,  because  the  manifestation  was  not  so 
clear  as  ours. 

Observe  also,  all  truth  is  to  be  drawn  from  Scripture.  The 
apostle  refers  them  here  to  the  gospel  and  the  prophets.  The 
Scripture  is  the  source  of  divine  knowledge;  not  the  tradi- 
tions of  men,  nor  reason  separate  from  Scripture.  Whosoever 
brings  another  doctrine,  coins  another  Christ;  nothing  is  to  be 
added  to  what  is  written,  nothing  detracted  from  it.  He  does 
not  send  us  for  truth  to  the  puddles  of  human  inventions,  to 
the  enthusiasms  of  our  brain;  nor  to  the  see  of  Rome,  no,  nor 
to  the  instructions  of  angels;  but  the  writings  of  the  prophets, 
as  they  clear  up  the  declarations  of  the  apostles.     The  church 


574  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

of  Rome  is  not  made  here  the  standard  of  truth;  but  the  Scrip- 
tures of  the  prophets  are  to  be  the  touchstone  to  the  Romans, 
for  the  trial  of  the  truth  of  the  gospel. 

Again,  how  great  is  the  goodness  of  God!  The  borders  of 
grace  are  enlarged  to  the  gentiles,  and  not  hid  under  the  skirts 
of  the  Jews.  He  that  was  so  long  the  God  of  the  Jews,  is  now 
also  manifest  to  be  the  God  of  the  gentiles:  the  gospel  is  now 
made  known  to  all  nations,  "according  to  the  commandment 
of  the  everlasting  God."  Not  only  in  a  way  of  common  pro- 
vidence, but  special  grace;  in  calling  them  to  the  knowledge  of 
himself,  and  a  justification  of  them  by  faith.  He  has  brought 
strangers  to  him,  to  the  adoption  of  children,  and  lodged  them 
under  the  wings  of  the  covenant,  that  were  before  alienated 
from  him  through  the  universal  corruption  of  nature.  Now  he 
has  manifested  himself  a  God  of  truth,  mindful  of  his  promise 
in  blessing  all  nations  in  the  Seed  of  Abraham.  The  fury  of 
devils,  and  the  violence  of  men,  could  not  hinder  the  propaga- 
tion of  this  gospel;  its  light  has  been  dispersed  as  far  as  that  of 
the  sun;  and  that  grace  that  sounded  in  the  gentiles'  ears,  has 
bent  many  of  their  hearts  to  the  obedience  of  it. 

Observe,  that  libertinism  and  licentiousness  find  no  encour- 
agement in  the  gospel.  It  was  made  known  to  all  nations  for 
the  obedience  of  faith.  The  goodness  of  God  is  published,  that 
our  enmity  to  him  maybe  parted  with.  Christ's  righteousness 
is  not  offered  to  us  to  be  put  on,  that  we  may  roll  more  warmly 
in  our  lusts.  The  doctrine  of  grace  commands  us  to  give  up 
ourselves  to  Christ,  to  be  accepted  through  him,  and  to  be  ruled 
by  him.  Obedience  is  due  to  God,  as  a  sovereign  Lord  in  his 
law;  and  it  is  due  out  of  gratitude,  as  he  is  a  God  of  grace  in 
the  gospel.  The  discovery  of  a  further  perfection  in  God 
weakens  not  the  right  of  another,  nor  the  obligation  of  the 
duty  the  former  attribute  claims  at  our  hands.  The  gospel 
frees  us  from  the  curse,  but  not  from  the  duty  and  service;  we 
are  delivered  from  the  hands  of  our  enemies,  that  we  might 
serve  God  in  holiness  and  righteousness,  Luke  i.  74,  75.  This 
is  the  will  of  God  in  the  gospel,  even  our  sanctilication.  When 
a  prince  strikes  off  a  malefactor's  chains,  though  he  deliver  him 
from  the  punishments  of  his  crime,  he  frees  him  not  from  the 
duty  of  a  subject.  His  pardon  adds  a  greater  obligation  than 
his  protection  did  before,  while  he  was  loyal.  Christ's  right- 
eousness gives  us  a  title  to  heaven;  but  there  must  be  a  holi- 
ness to  give  us  a  fitness  for  heaven. 

Observe  also,  that  evangelical  obedience,  or  the  obedience 
of  faith,  is  alone  acceptable  to  God.  "Obedience  of  faith;" 
genetivus  speciei,  "the  genitive  of  the  kind"  noting  the  kind 
of  obedience  God  requires;  an  obedience  springing  from  faith, 
animated  and  influenced  by  faith.     Not  obedience  of  faith,  as 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  575 

though  faith  were  the  rule,  and  the  law  were  abrogated ;  but 
to  the  law  as  a  rule,  and  from  faith  as  a  principle.  There  is 
no  true  obedience  before  faith:  without  faith  it  is  impossible  to 
please  God,  Heb.  xi.  G;  and  therefore  without  faith  impossible 
to  obey  him.  A  good  work  cannot  proceed  from  a  defiled 
mind  and  conscience;  and  without  faith  every  man's  mind  is 
darkened,  and  his  conscience  polluted,  Tit.  i.  15.  Faith  is  the 
band  of  union  to  Christ,  and  obedience  is  the  fruit  of  union: 
we  cannot  bring  forth  fruit  without  being  branches,  John  xv. 
4,  5;  and  we  cannot  be  branches  without  believing.  Legiti- 
mate fruit  follows  upon  marriage  to  Christ,  not  before  it: 
"That  ye  should  be  married  to  another,  even  to  him  who  is 
raised  from  the  dead,  that  we  should  bring  forth  fruit  unto 
God,"  Rom.  vii.  4.  All  fruit  before  marriage  is  bastard,  and 
bastards  were  excluded  from  the  sanctuary.  Our  persons 
must  be  first  accepted  in  Christ,  before  our  services  can  be 
acceptable :  those  works  are  not  acceptable  where  the  person 
is  not  pardoned.  Good  works  How  from  a  pure  heart;  but  the 
heart  cannot  be  pure  before  faith.  All  the  good  works  reck- 
oned up  in  the  11th  chapter  of  the  Hebrews  were  from  this 
spring;  those  heroes  first  believed,  and  then  obeyed.  By  faith 
Abel  was  righteous  before  God;  without  it  his  sacrifice  had 
been  no  better  than  Cain's:  by  faith  Enoch  pleased  God,  and 
had  a  Divine  testimony  to  his  obedience  before  his  translation: 
by  faith  Abraham  offered  up  Isaac,  without  which  he  had 
been  no  better  than  a  murderer.  All  obedience  has  its  root  in 
faith,  and  is  not  done  in  our  own  strength,  but  in  the  strength 
and  virtue  of  another,  of  Christ,  Avhom  God  has  set  forth  as  our 
Head  and  Root. 

Lastly,  observe,  faith  and  obedience  are  distinct,  though  in- 
separable. "The  obedience  of  faith."  Faith  indeed  is  obe- 
dience to  a  gospel  command,  which  enjoins  us  to  believe;  but 
it  is  not  all  our  obedience.  Justification  and  sanctification  are 
distinct  acts  of  God;  justification  respects  the  person,  sanctifi- 
cation the  nature;  justification  is  first  in  order  of  nature,  and 
sanctification  follows.  They  are  distinct,  but  inseparable; 
every  justified  person  hath  a  sanctified  nature,  and  every  sanc- 
tified nature  supposeth  a  justified  person.  So  faith  and  obe- 
dience are  distinct;  faith  as  the  principle,  obedience  as  the  pro- 
duct; faith  as  the  cause,  obedience  as  the  effect;  the  cause  and 
the  effect  are  not  the  same.  By  faith  we  own  Christ  as  our 
Lord ;  by  obedience  we  regulate  ourselves  according  to  his 
command.  The  acceptance  of  the  relation  to  him  as  a  subject, 
precedes  the  performance  of  our  duty:  by  faith  we  receive  his 
law,  and  by  obedience  we  fulfil  it.  Faith  makes  us  God's 
children,  Gal.  iii.  26.  Obedience  manifests  us  to  be  Christ's 
disciples,  John  xv.  8.     Faith  is  the  touchstone  of  obedience ; 


576  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

the  touchstone  and  that  which  is  tried  by  it,  are  not  the  same. 
But  though  they  are  distinct,  yet  they  are  inseparable.  Faith 
and  obedience  are  joined  together;  obedience  follows  faith  at 
the  heels.  Faith  purifies  the  heart,  and  a  pure  heart  cannot 
be  without  pure  actions.  Faith  unites  us  to  Christ,  whereby 
we  partake  of  his  life;  and  a  living  branch  cannot  be  without 
fruit  in  its  season,  and  much  fruit,  John  xv.  5;  and  that  natu- 
rally from  a  newness  of  spirit,  Rom.  vii.  6;  not  constrained  by 
the  rigours  of  the  law,  but  drawn  forth  from  a  sweetness  of 
love;  for  faith  works  by  love.  The  love  of  God  is  the  strong 
motive,  and  love  to  God  is  the  quickening  principle;  as  there 
can  be  no  obedience  without  faith,  so  no  faith  without  obe- 
dience. 

After  all  this,  the  apostle  ends  with  the  celebration  of  the 
wisdom  of  God;  "To  God  only  wise,  be  glory  through  Jesus 
Christ  for  ever."  The  rich  discovery  of  the  gospel  cannot  be 
thought  of  by  a  gracious  soul,  without  a  return  of  praise  to 
God,  and  admiration  of  his  singular  wisdom. 

"  Wise  God."  His  power  before,  and  his  wisdom  here,  are 
mentioned  in  conjunction,  (in  which  his  goodness  is  included, 
as  interested  in  his  establishing  power,)  as  the  ground  of  all 
the  glory  and  praise  God  hath  from  his  creatures. 

"  Only  wise."  As  Christ  says,  None  is  good,  but  God, 
Matt.  xix.  17;  so  the  apostle  says,  None  wise,  but  God. 
As  all  creatures  are  unclean  in  regard  of  his  purity;  so  they 
are  all  fools  in  regard  of  his  wisdom,  yea,  the  glorious  angels 
themselves,  Job  iv.  18.  Wisdom  is  the  royalty  of  God;  the 
proper  dialect  of  all  his  ways  and  works.  No  creature  can 
lay  claim  to  it;  he  is  so  wise,  that  he  is  wisdom  itself. 

"  Be  glory  through  Jesus  Christ."  As  God  is  known  only 
in  and  by  Christ,  so  he  must  be  worshipped  and  celebrated 
only  in  and  through  Christ.  In  him  we  must  pray  to  him,  and 
in  him  we  must  praise  him.  As  all  mercies  flow  from  God 
through  Christ  to  us,  so  all  our  duties  are  to  be  presented  to 
God  through  Christ. 

In  the  Greek,  verbatim,  it  runs  thus:  "To  the  alone  wise 
God,  through  Jesus  Christ,  to  him  be  glory  for  ever."  But  we 
must  not  understand  it,  as  if  God  were  wise  by  Jesus  Christ; 
but  that  thanks  is  to  be  given  to  God  through  Christ,  because 
in  and  by  Christ  God  has  revealed  his  wisdom  to  the  world. 
The  Greek  has  a  repetition  of  the  article  f  not  expressed  in  the 
translation,  To  him  be  glory.  Beza  expunges  this  article,  but 
without  reason,  for  f  is  as  much  as  avtZ,  to  him;  and  joining 
this,  "  the  only  wise  God,"  with  the  25th  verse,  "  to  him  that 
is  of  power  to  stablish  you;"  reading  it  thus,  To  him  that  is  of 
power  to  establish  you,  the  only  wise  God,  leaving  the  rest  in 
a  parenthesis,  it  runs  smoothly, "  to  him  be  glory  through  Jesus 


ON  THB  WISDOM  OF  liOD.  577 

Christ."  And  Crellius  the  Socinian  observes,  that  this  article 
a>,  which  some  leave  out,  might  be  industriously  inserted  by 
the  apostle,  to  show,  that  the  glory  we  ascribe  to  God  is  also 
given  to  Christ. 

We  may  observe,  that  neither  in  this  place,  nor  any  where 
in  Scripture,  is  the  virgin  Mary,  or  any  of  the  saints,  associated 
with  Cod  or  Christ  in  the  glory  ascribed  to  them. 

In  the  words  there  is, 

An  appropriation  of  wisdom  to  God,  and  a  remotion  of  it 
from  all  creatures:  "only  wise  God." — A  glorifying  him  for  it. 

Doctrine.     The  point  I  shall  insist  upon  is, 

That  wisdom  is  a  transcendent  excellency  of  the  Divine  na- 
ture. We  have  before  spoken  of  the  knowledge  of  God,  and 
the  infiniteness  of  it:  the  next  attribute  is  the  wisdom  of  God. 
Most  confound  the  knowledge  and  wisdom  of  God  together; 
but  there  is  a  manifest  distinction  between  them  in  our  con- 
ception. 

I  shall  handle  it  thus; — Show  what  wisdom  is. — Then  lay 
down  some  propositions  about  the  wisdom  of  God. — And  show, 
that  God  is  wise,  and  only  wise. — Wherein  his  wisdom  ap- 
pears.— Lastly,  the  use. — 

1.  What  wisdom  is.  Wisdom  among  the  Greeks  first  signi- 
fied an  eminent  perfection  in  any  art  or  mystery;  so  a  good 
statuary,  engraver,  or  limner,  was  called  wise,  as  having  an 
excellent  knowledge  in  his  particular  art.  But  afterwards  the 
title  of  wise  was  appropriated  to  those  that  devoted  themselves 
to  the  contemplation  of  the  highest  things,  that  served  for  a 
foundation  to  speculative  sciences.'  But  ordinarily  we  count 
a  man  a  wise  man,  when  he  conducts  his  affairs  with  discretion, 
and  governs  his  passions  with  moderation,  and  carries  himself 
with  a  due  proportion  and  harmony  in  all  his  concerns. 

But  in  particular,  wisdom  consists, 

(1.)  In  acting  for  a  right  end.  The  chiefest  part  of  prudence 
is  in  fixing  a  right  end,  and  in  choosing  lit  means,  and  directing 
them  to  that  scope:  to  shoot  at  random  is  a  mark  of  folly.  As 
he  is  the  wisest  man,  that  has  the  noblest  end  and  fittest  means, 
so  God  is  infinitely  wise;  as  he  is  the  most  excellent  Being,  so 
he  has  the  most  excellent  end.  As  there  is  none  more  excellent 
than  himself,  nothing  can  be  his  end  but  himself:  as  he  is  the 
cause  of  all,  so  he  is  the  end  of  all;  and  he  puts  a  true  bias 
into  all  the  means  he  uses  to  hit  the  mark  he  aims  at:  "  Of  him, 
and  through  him,  and  to  him  arc  all  things,"  Rom.  xi.  3G. 

(2.)  Wisdom  consists,  in  observing  all  circumstances  for 
action.  He  is  counted  a  wise  man,  that  lays  hold  of  the  fittest 
opportunities  to   bring  his  designs  about,  that  has  the  fullest 

1    \  my  rant.  Moral,  torn.  3.  p.  123. 
Vol.  I.— 73 


578  0N  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

foresight  of  all  the  little  intrigues  which  may  happen  in  a  busi- 
ness he  is  to  manage,  and  times  every  part  of  his  action  in  an 
exact  harmony  with  the  proper  minutes  of  it.  God  has  all  the 
circumstances  of  things  in  one  entire  image  before  him;  he  has 
a  prospect  of  every  little  creek  in  any  design.  He  sees  what 
second  causes  will  act,  and  when  they  will  act  this  or  that;  yea, 
he  determines  them  to  such  and  such  acts:  so  that  it  is  impos- 
sible he  should  be  mistaken,  or  miss  of  the  due  season  of  bring- 
ing about  his  own  purposes.  As  he  has  more  goodness  than  to 
deceive  any;  so  he  has  more  understanding  than  to  be  mistaken 
in  any  thing.  Hence  the  time  of  the  incarnation  of  our  blessed 
Saviour,  is  called  the  fulness  of  time,  the  proper  season  for  his 
coming.  Every  circumstance  about  Christ  was  timed  according 
to  the  predictions  of  God;  even  so  little  a  thing  as  not  parting 
his  garment,  and  the  giving  him  gall  and  vinegar  to  drink.  And 
all  the  blessings  he  showers  down  upon  his  people,  according 
to  the  covenant  of  grace,  are  said  to  come  in  his  due  season, 
Ezek.  xxxiv.  25,  26. 

(3.)  Wisdom  consists  in  willing  and  acting  according  to  the 
right  reason,  according  to  a  right  judgment  of  things.  We 
never  count  a  wilful  man  a  wise  man,  but  him  only  that  acts 
according  to  a  right  rule,  when  right  counsels  are  taken  and 
vigorously  executed.  The  resolves  and  ways  of  God  are  not 
mere  will,  but  will  guided  by  the  reason  and  counsel  of  his  own 
infinite  understanding;  "Who  worketh  all  things  after  the 
counsel  of  his  own  will,"  Eph.  i.  11.  The  motions  of  the 
Divine  will  are  not  rash,  but  follow  the  proposals  of  the  Divine 
mind:  he  chooses  that  which  is  fittest  to  be  done,  so  that  all  his 
works  are  graceful,  and  all  his  ways  have  a  comeliness  and 
decorum  in  them.  Henee  all  his  ways  are  said  to  be  judgment, 
Deut.  xxxii.  4,  not  mere  will. 

Hence  it  appears,  that  wisdom  and  knowledge  are  two  dis- 
tinct perfections.  Knowledge  has  its  seat  in  the  speculative 
understanding,  wisdom  in  the  practical.  Wisdom  and  know- 
ledge are  evidently  distinguished  as  two  several  gifts  of  the 
Spirit  in  man ;  "  To  one  is  given  by  the  Spirit  the  word  of  wis- 
dom; to  another  the  word  of  knowledge  by  the  same  Spirit," 
1  Cor.  xii.  8.  Knowledge  is  an  understanding  of  general  rules, 
and  wisdom  is  a  drawing  conclusions  from  those  rules  in  order 
to  particular  cases.  A  man  may  have  the  knowledge  of  the 
whole  Scripture,  and  have  all  learning  in  the  treasury  of  his 
memory,  and  yet  be  destitute  of  skill  to  make  use  of  them  upon 
particular  occasions,  and  unite  those  knotty  questions  which 
may  be  proposed  to  him,  by  a  ready  application  of  those  rules. 

Again,  knowledge  and  wisdom  may  be  distinguished  in  our 
conception,  as  two  distinct  perfections  in  God:  the  knowledge 
of  God  is  his  understanding  of  all  things;  his  wisdom  is  the 


ON  THE  wisdom  OF  GOD.  57<j 

skilful  resolving  and  acting  of  all  things.  A.nd  the  apostle,  in 
his  admiration  of  him,  owns  them  as  distinct:  "  0  the  depth  of 
the  riches,  both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God,"  Rom. 
xi.  33.  Knowledge  is  the  foundation  of  wisdom,. and. antece- 
dent to  it;  wisdom,  the  superstructure  upon  knowledge:  men 
may  have  knowledge  without  wisdom,  but  nol  wisdom  without 
knowledge;  according  to  our. common  proverb.  The  greatest 
clerks  are  not  the  wisest  men.  AN  practical  knowledge  is 
founded  in  speculation,  cither  secundum  rem,  as  in  a  man;  or 
secundum  rationem,  as  in  God.  They  agree  in  this,  that  they 
are  both  acts  of  the  understanding;  but  knowledge  is  the  appre- 
hension of  a  thing,  and  wisdom  is  the  appointing  and  ordering 
of  things.  Wisdom  is  the  splendour  and  lustre  of  knowledge 
shining  forth  in  operations,  and  is  an  act  both  of  understanding 
and  will;  understanding  in  counselling  and  contriving,  will  in 
resolving  and  executing:  counsel  and  will  are  linked  together, 
Eph.  i.  11. 

2.  The  second  thing  is  to  lay  down  some  propositions  in  ge- 
neral, concerning  the  wisdom  of  God. 

(1.)  There  is  an  essential  and  a  personal  wisdom  of  God. 
The  essential  wisdom,  is  the  essence  of  God;  the  personal  Wis- 
dom, is  the  Son  of  God.  Christ  is  called  Wisdom  by  himself, 
Luke  vii.  35.  The  Wisdom  of  God,  by  the  apostle,  1  Cor.  i. 
24.  The  wisdom  I  speak  of  belongs  to  the  nature  of  God,  and 
is  considered  as  a  necessary  perfection.  The  personal  Wisdom 
is  called  so,  because  he  opens  to  us  the  secrets  of  God.  If  the 
Son  were  that  wisdom  whereby  the  Father  is  wise,  the  Son 
would  be  also  the  essence  whereby  the  Father  is  God.  If  the 
Son  were  the  wisdom  of  the  Father,  whereby  he  is  essentially 
wise;  the  Son  would  be  the  essence  of  the  Father,  and  the 
Father  would  have  his  essence  from  the  Son,  since  the  wisdom 
of  God  is  the  essence  of  God;  and  so  the  Son  would  be  the 
Father,  if  the  wisdom  and  power  of  the  Father  were  originally 
in  the  Son. 

(2.)  Therefore,  secondly,  The  wisdom  of  God  is  the  same 
with  the  essence  of  God.  Wisdom  in  God  is  not  a  habit  added 
to  his  essence,  as  it  is  in  man,  but  it  is  his  essence.  It  is  like 
the  splendour  of  the  sun,  the  same  with  the  sun  itself;  or  like 
the  brightness  of  crystal,  which  is  not  communicated  to  it  by 
any  thing  else,  as  the  brightness  of  a  mountain  is  by  the  beam 
of  the  sun,  but  it  is  one  with  the  crystal  itself.  It  is  not  a  habit 
superadded  to  the  Divine  essence;  that  would  be  repugnant  to 
the  simplicity  of  God,  and  speak  him  compounded  of  divers 
'principles;  it  would  be  contrary  to  the  eternity  of  his  perfec- 
tions. If  he  he  eternally  wise,  his  wisdom  is  his  essence;  lor 
there  is  nothing  eternal  hut  the  essence  of  God.  As  the  sun 
melts  some  things  and  hardens  others,  blackens  some  things 


5S()  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

and  whitens  others,  and  produces  contrary  qualities  in  different 
subjects,  yet  is  but  one  and  the  same  quality  in  the  sun,  which 
is  the  cause  of  those  contrary  operations;  so  the  perfections  of 
God  seem  to  be  diverse  in  our  conceptions,  yet  they  are  but 
one  and  the  same  in  God.1  The  wisdom  of  God,  is  God  acting 
prudently;  as  the  power  of  God,  is  God  acting  powerfully,  and 
the  justice  of  God,  is  God  acting  righteously:  and  therefore  it  is 
more  truly  said,  that  God  is  wisdom,  justice,  truth,  power,  than 
that  he  is  wise,  just,  true,  powerful,  as  if  he  were  compounded 
of  substance  and  qualities.  All  the  operations  of  God  proceed 
from  one  simple  essence;  as  all  the  operations  of  the  mind  of 
man,  though  various,  proceed  from  one  faculty  of  understand- 
ing. 

(3.)  Wisdom  is  the  property  of  God  alone.  He  is  only  wise. 
It  is  an  honour  peculiar  to  him.  Upon  the  account  that  no 
man  deserved  the  title  of  Wise,  but  that  it  was  a  royalty  be- 
longing to  God,2  Pythagoras  would  not  be  called  2o$«j,  a  title 
given  to  their  learned  men;  but  <£ao<jo<}>os.  The  name  philoso- 
pher arose  out  of  a  respect  to  this  transcendent  perfection  of 
God. 

[1.]  God  only  is  wise  necessarily.  As  he  is  necessarily  God, 
so  he  is  necessarily  wise;  for  the  notion  of  wisdom  is  insepara- 
ble from  the  notion  of  a  Deity.  When  we  say  God  is  a  Spirit,  is 
true,  righteous,  wise;  we  understand  that  he  is  transcendently 
these,  by  an  intrinsic  and  absolute  necessity,  by  virtue  of  his 
own  essence,  without  the  efficiency  of  any  other,  or  any  effi- 
ciency in  and  by  himself.  God  does  not  make  himself  wise,  no 
more  than  he  makes  himself  God.  As  he  is  a  necessary  Being 
in  regard  of  his  life,  so  he  is  necessarily  wise  in  regard  of  his 
understanding.  Synesius  says  that  God  is  essentiated,  ovaiova^ai, 
by  his  understanding.  He  places  the  substance  of  God  in  un- 
derstanding and  wisdom:  wisdom  is  the  first  vital  operation  of 
God.  He  can  no  more  be  unwise  than  he  can  be  untrue;  for 
folly  in  the  mind  is  much  the  same  with  falsity  in  speech.  Wis- 
dom among  men  is  gained  by  age  and  experience,  furthered  by 
instructions  and  exercise;  but  the  wisdom  of  God  is  his  nature. 
As  the  sun  cannot  be  without  light,  while  it  remains  a  sun,  and 
as  eternity  cannot  be  without  immortality,  so  neither  can  God 
be  without  wisdom.  As  he  only  has  immortality,  1  Tim.  vi. 
16,  not  arbitrarily,  but  necessarily;  so  he  only  has  wisdom,  not 
because  he  will  be  wise,  but  because  he  cannot  but  be  wise. 
He  cannot  but  contrive  counsels,  and  exert  operations,  becom- 
ing the  greatness  and  majesty  of  his  nature. 

[2.]  Therefore  only  wise  originally.  God  is  avtoS/Saxtos, 
avtiaoyo;,  "  self-taught,"  and  "  naturally  wise."  Men  acquire 
wisdom  by  the  loss  of  their  fairest  years;  but  his  wisdom  is  the 

Maimon.  Mor.  part  1.  cap.  53.  J  Lacrt.  lib.  1.  Proem. 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  5Q] 

perfection  of  the  Divine  nature,  not  the  birth  of  study  or  the 
growth  of  experience,  hut  as  necessary,  as  eternal,  as  his  es- 
sence. He  goes  not  out  of  himself  to  search  for  wisdom;  he 
needs  no  more  the  brains  of  creatures  in  the  contrivance  of  his 
purposes,  than  he  docs  then  arm  in  the  execution  of  (hem.  He 
needs  no  counsel,  he  receives  no  counsel  from  any  ;  "  Who  hath 
been  his  counsellor?"  Rom.  xi.  34;  and,  "  With  whom  took  he 
counsel,  and  who  instructed  him,  and  taught  him  in  the  path  of 
judgment,  and  taught  him  knowledge,  and  showed  to  him  the 
way  of  understanding?"  Isa.  xl.  14.  He  is  the  only  fountain 
of  wisdom  to  others;  angels  and  men  have  what  wisdom  they 
have  by  communication  from  him.  All  created  wisdom  is  a 
spark  of  the  Divine  light,  like  that  of  the  stars  borrowed  from 
the  sun.  He  that  borrows  wisdom  from  another,  and  does  not 
originally  possess  it  in  his  own  nature,  cannot  properly  be  called 
wise.  As  God  is  the  only  Being,  in  regard  that  all  other  beings 
arc  derived  from  him;  so  he  is  only  wise,  because  all  other  wis- 
dom flows  from  him.  He  is  the  spring  of  wisdom  to  all;  none 
the  original  of  wisdom  to  him. 

[3.]  Therefore  only  wise  perfectly.  There  is  no  cloud  upon 
his  understanding.  Ife  has  a  distinct  and  certain  knowledge 
of  all  things  that  can  fall  under  action.  Ashe  has  a  perfect 
knowledge  without  ignorance,  so  he  has  a  beautiful  wisdom 
without  mole  or  wart.  Men  are  wise,  yet  have  not  an  under- 
standing so  vast  as  to  grasp  all  things;  nor  a  perspicacity  so 
clear,  as  to  penetrate  into  the  depths  of  all  beings.  Angels  have 
more  delightful  and  lively  sparks  of  wisdom,  yet  so  imperfect, 
that  in  regard  of  the  wisdom  of  God  they  are  charged  with  folly, 
Job.  iv.  IS.  Their  wisdom  as  well  as  their  holiness,  is  veiled 
in  the  presence  of  God.  It  vanishes,  as  the  glowing  of  a  fire 
does  before  the  beauty  of  the  sun;  or  as  a  light  of  a  candle  in 
the.  midst  of  a  sun-shine  contracts  itself,  and  none  of  its  rays  arc 
seen,  but  in  the  body  of  the  llame.  The  angels  are  not  perfectly 
wise,  because  they  are  not  perfectly  knowing:  the  gospel,  the 
great  discovery  of  God's  wisdom,  was  hid  from  them  for  ages. 
[4.]  Therefore  only  wise  universally.  Wisdom  in  one  man 
is  of  one  sort,  in  another  of  another  sort;  one  is  a  wise  trades- 
man, another  a  wise  statesman,  and  another  a  wise  philosopher: 
one  is  wise  in  the  business  of  the  world,  another  is  wise  in 
Divine  concerns.  One  has  not  so  much  of  plenty  of  one  sort, 
but  he  may  have  a  scantiness  in  another;  one  may  be  wise  for 
invention,  and  foolish  in  execution;  an  artificer  may  have  skill 
to  frame  an  engine,  and  not  skill  to  use  it:  the  ground  that 
is  fit  for  olives,  may  not  be  fit  for  vines;  that  will  bear  one  sort 
of  grain  and  not  another,  lint  God  lias  a  universal  wisdom, 
because,  his  nature  is  wise;  it  is  not  limited,  but  hovers  over 
every  thing,  shines  in  every  being.     His  executions  are  as  wise 


582  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

as  his  contrivances;  he  is  wise  in  his  resolves,  and  wise  in  his 
ways;  wise  in  all  the  varieties  of  his  works  of  creation,  govern- 
ment, redemption.  As  his  will  wills  all  things,  and  his  power 
effects  all  things;  so  his  wisdom  is  the  universal  director  of  the 
motions  of  his  will  and  the  executions  of  his  power:  as  his 
righteousness  is  the  measure  of  the  matter  of  his  actions,  so  his 
wisdom  is  the  rule  that  directs  the  manner  of  his  actions.  The 
absolute  power  of  God  is  not  an  unruly  power:  his  wisdom 
orders  all  things,  so  that  nothing  is  done  but  what  is  fit  and  con- 
venient, and  agreeable  to  so  excellent  a  Being.  As  he  cannot 
do  an  unjust  thing  because  of  his  righteousness,  so  he  cannot 
do  an  unwise  act  because  of  his  infinite  wisdom.  Though  God 
be  not  necessitated  to  any  operation  without  himself,  as  to  the 
creation  of  any  thing,  yet  supposing  he  will  act,  his  wisdom  ne- 
cessitates him  to  do  that  which  is  congruous,  as  his  righteous- 
ness necessitates  him  to  do  that  which  is  just:  so  that  though  the 
will  of  God  be  the  principle,  yet  his  wisdom  is  the  rule  of  his 
actions.  We  must  in  our  conceiving  of  the  order,  suppose  wis- 
dom antecedent  to  will:  none  that  acknowledges  a  God,  can 
have  such  an  impious  thought,  as  to  affix  temerity  and  rashness 
to  any  of  his  proceedings. 

All  his  decrees  are  drawn  out.  of  the  infinite  treasury  of  wis- 
dom in  himself.  He  resolves  nothing  about  any  of  his  creatures 
without  reason;  but  the  reason  of  his  purposes  is  in  himself, 
and  springs  from  himself,  and  not  from  the  creatures:1  there  is 
not  one  thing  that  he  wills,  but  he  wills  by  counsel,  and  works  by 
counsel,  Eph.  i.  11.  Counsel  wrote  down  every  line,  every 
letter,  in  his  eternal  book;  and  all  the  orders  are  drawn  out 
from  thence  by  his  wisdom  and  will:  what  was  illustrious  in 
the  contrivance,  glitters  in  the  execution.  His  understanding 
and  will  are  infinite;  what  is  therefore  the  act  of  his  will  is  the 
result  of  his  understanding,  and  therefore  rational:  his  under- 
standing and  will  join  hands;  there  is  no  contest  in  God,  will 
against  mind,  and  mind  against  will;  they  are  one  in  God,  one 
in  his  resolves,  and  one  in  all  his  works. 

[5.]  Therefore  he  only  is  wise  perpetually.  As  the  wisdom 
of  man  is  got  by  ripeness  of  age,  so  it  is  lost  by  decay  of  years; 
it  is  got  by  instruction  and  lost  by  dotage.  The  most  perfect 
minds,  when  in  the  wane,  have  been  darkened  with  folly. 
Nebuchadnezzar,  that  was  wise  for  a  man,  became  as  foolish 
as  a  brute.  But  the  Ancient  of  days  is  an  unchangeable  pos- 
sessor of  prudence;  his  wisdom  is  a  mirror  of  brightness,  with- 
out a  defacing  spot.  It  was  possessed  by  him  "  in  the  beginning 
of  his  way,  before  his  works  of  old,"  Prov.  viii.  22,  and  he  can 
never  be  dispossessed  of  it  in  the  end  of  his  works.  It  is  inse- 
perable  from  him:  the  being  of  his  Godhead  may  as  soon  cease 

1  Polhil  against.  Sherlock,  p.  377. 


•  >\  Tin:  wisi'om  of  con.  5g3 

as  the  beauty  of  his  mind;  with  him  Ifl  wisdom,  Job  xii.  it. 
It  is  inseparable  from  him,  therefore  as  durable  as  his  essence. 
It  is  a  wisdom  infinite,  and  therefore  without  increase  or  de- 
crease in  itself.  The  experience  of  so  many  ages  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  world,  lias  added  nothing  to  the  immensity  of  it; 
as  the  shining  of  the  sun  since  the  creation  of  the  world  has 
added  nothing  to  the  light  of  that  glorious  body.  As  ignorance 
never  darkens  his  knowledge,  so  folly  never  disgraces  his  pru- 
dence; God  infatuates  men,  but  neither  men  nor  devils  can 
infatuate  God;  he  is  unerringly  wise;  his  counsel  does  not  vary 
and  flatter:  it  is  not  one  day  one.  counsel,  and  another  day  an- 
other, but  it  stands  like  an  immovable  rock,  or  a  mountain  of 
brass.  "  The  counsel  of  the  Lord  standeth  for  ever,  the  thoughts 
of  his  heart  to  all  generations,"  Psal.  xxxiii.  11. 

[fi.]  He  only  is  incomprehensibly  wise.  His  thoughts  are 
deep,  Psal.  xcii.  5;  his  judgments  unsearchable,  his  ways  past 
finding  out.  Rom.  xi.  33,  depths  that  cannot  be  fathomed.  A 
splendour  more  dazzling  to  our  dim  minds,  than  the  light  of 
the  sun  to  our  weak  eyes.  The  wisdom  of  one  man  may  be 
comprehended  by  another,  and  over-comprehended;  and  often 
men  are  understood  by  others  to  be  wiser  in  their  actions  than 
they  understand  themselves  to  be.  And  the  wisdom  of  one 
angel  may  be  measured  by  another  angel  of  the  same  perfec- 
tion: but  as  the  essence,  so  the  wisdom  of  God  is  incompre- 
hensible to  any  creature;  God  is  comprehended  only  by  God. 
The  secrets  of  wisdom  in  God  are  double  to  the  expressions  of 
it  in  his  works;  "Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out  God,"  Job 
xi.  G,  7.  There  is  an  unfathomable  depth  in  all  his  decrees,  in 
all  bis  works;  we  cannot  comprehend  the  reason  of  his  works, 
much  less  that  of  his  decrees,  much  less  that  in  his  nature;  be- 
cause his  wisdom  being  infinite  as  well  as  his  power,  can  no 
more  act  to  the  highest  pitch  than  his  power.  As  his  power  is 
not  terminated  by  what  he  has  wrought,  but  he  could  give  fur- 
ther testimonies  of  it,  so  neither  is  his  wisdom,  but  he  could 
furnish  us  with  infinite  expressions  and  pieces  of  his  skill.  As 
in  regard  of  his  immensity,  he  is  not  bounded  by  the  limits  of 
place;  in  regard  of  his  eternity,  not  measured  by  the  minutes 
of  time;  in  regard  of  his  power,  not  terminated  with  this  or 
that  number  of  objects;  so  in  regard  of  his  wisdom,  he  is  not 
confined  to  this  or  that  particular  mode  of  working:  so  that  in 
regard  of  the  reason  of  his  actions,  as  well  as  the  glory  and 
majesty  of  his  nature,  he  dwells  in  unapproachable  light,  l 
Tim.  vi.  10;  and  whatsoever  we  understand  of  Ins  wisdom  in 
creation  and  providence,  is  infinitely  less  than  what  is  in  him- 
self and  his  own  unbounded  nature. 

Many  things  in  Scripture  are  declared  chiefly  to  be  the  acts 
of  the  Divine  will,  yet  we  must  not  think  that   they  were  acts 


584  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

of  mere  will  without  wisdom,  but  they  are  represented  so  to 
us,  because  we  are  not  capable  of  understanding  the  infinite 
reason  of  its  acts.  His  sovereignty  is  more  intelligible  to  us 
than  his  wisdom.  We  can  better  know  the  commands  of  a 
superior,  and  the  laws  of  a  prince,  than  understand  the  reason 
that  gave  birth  to  those  laws.  We  may  know  the  orders  of  the 
Divine  will,  as  they  are  published,  but  not  the  sublime  reason 
of  his  will.  Though  election  be  an  act  of  God's  sovereignty, 
and  he  has  no  cause  from  without  to  determine  him,  yet  his 
infinite  wisdom  stood  not  silent  while  mere  dominion  acted. 
Whatsoever  God  does  he  does  wisely,  as  well  as  sovereignly; 
though  that  wisdom  which  lies  in  the  secret  places  of  the  Di- 
vine Being,  be  as  incomprehensible  to  us  as  the  effects  of  his 
sovereignty  and  power  in  the  world  are  visible:  God  can  give 
a  reason  of  his  proceeding,  and  that  drawn  from  himself,  though 
we  understand  it  not. 

The  causes  of  things  visible  lie  hid  from  us.  Does  any  man 
know  how  to  distinguish  the  seminal  virtue  of  a  small  seed 
from  the  body  of  it,  and  in  what  nook  and  corner  that  lies,  and 
what  that  is  that  spreads  itself  in  so  fair  a  plant,  and  so  many 
flowers?  Can  we  comprehend  the  justice  of  God's  proceed- 
ings in  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked,  and  the  afflictions  of  the 
godly?  Yet  as  we  must  conclude  them  the  fruits  of  an  unerr- 
ing righteousness,  so  we  must  conclude  all  his  actions  the  fruits 
of  an  unspotted  wisdom,  though  the  concatenation  of  all  his 
counsels  is  not  intelligible  to  us;  for  he  is  as  essentially  and 
necessarily  wise,  as  he  is  essentially  and  necessarily  good  and 
righteous. 

God  is  not  only  so  wise  that  nothing  more  wise  can  be  con- 
ceived, but  he  is  more  wise  than  can  be  imagined;  something 
greater  in  all  his  perfections  than  can  be  comprehended  by  any 
creature.  It  is  a  foolish  thing  therefore  to  question  that  which 
we  cannot  comprehend:  we  should  adore,  instead  of  disputing 
against  it;  and  take  it  for  granted,  that  God  would  not  order 
any  thing,  were  it  not  agreeable  to  the  sovereignty  of  his  wis- 
dom, as  well  as  that  of  his  will.  Though  the  reason  of  man 
proceed  from  the  wisdom  of  God,  yet  there  is  more  difference 
between  the  reason  of  man  and  the  wisdom  of  God,  than  be- 
tween the  light  of  the  sun  and  the  feeble  shining  of  the  glow- 
worm; yet  we  presume  to  censure  the  ways  of  God,  as  if  our 
purblind  reason  had  a  reach  above  him. 

[7.]  God  only  is  wise  infallibly.  The  wisest  men  meet  with 
rubs  in  the  way,  that  make  them  fall  short  of  what  they  aim 
at;  they  often  design,  and  fail;  then  begin  again,  and  yet  all 
their  counsels  end  in  smoke,  and  none  of  them  arrive  at  perfec- 
tion. If  the  wisest  angels  lay  a  plot,  they  may  be  disappointed ; 
for  though  they  arc  higher  and  wiser  than  man,  yet  there  is 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  <;<>|>.  5Q5 

one  higher  and  wiser  than  they,  that  can  check  their  projects. 
God  always  compasses  his  end,  never  fails  of  any  thing  he  de- 
signs and  aims  at;  all  his  undertakings  are  counsel  and  will ; 
as  nothing  can  resist  the  ellicacy  of  his  will,  so  nothing  can 
countermine  the  skill  of  his  counsel;  "There  is  no  wisdom  nor 
understanding  nor  counsel  against  the  Lord,"  Prov.  xxi.  30. 
He  compasses  his  ends  by  those  actions  of  men  and  devils, 
wherein  they  think  to  cross  him;  they  shoot  at  their  own  mark, 
and  hit  his.  Lucifer's  plot  by  Divine  wisdom  fulfilled  God's 
purpose  against  Lucifer's  mind.  The  counsel  of  redemption 
by  Christ,  the  end  of  the  creation  of  the  world,  rode  into  the 
world  upon  the  back  of  the  serpent's  temptation.  God  never 
mistakes  the  means,  nor  can  there  be  any  disappointments,  to 
make  him  vary  his  counsels,  and  pitch  upon  other  means  than 
what  before  he  had  ordained.  His  word  that  goes  forth  of  his 
mouth  shall  not  return  to  him  void,  but  it  shall  accomplish 
that  which  he  pleases,  and  it  shall  prosper  in  the  thing  whereto 
he  sent  it,  Isa.  lv.  11.  What  is  said  of  his  word,  is  true  of  his 
counsel,  it  shall  prosper  in  the  thing  for  which  it  is  appointed; 
it  cannot  be  defeated  by  all  the  legions  of  men  and  devils;  for 
as  he  thinks,  so  shall  it  come  to  pass;  and  as  he  has  purposed, 
so  shall  it  stand.  The  Lord  has  purposed,  and  who  shall  dis- 
annul it?  Isa.  xiv.  24.  27.  The  wisdom  of  the  creature  is  a 
drop  from  the  wisdom  of  God,  and  is  like  a  drop  to  the  ocean, 
and  a  shadow  to  the  sun;  and  therefore  is  not  able  to  match 
the  wisdom  of  God,  which  is  infinite  and  boundless.  No  wis- 
dom is  exempted  from  mistakes,  but  the  Divine:  he  is  wise  in 
all  his  resolves,  and  never  calls  back  his  words  and  purposes, 
Isa.  xxxi.  2. 

3.  The  third  general  is  to  prove  that  God  is  wise. 

This  is  ascribed  to  God  in  Scripture;  "Wisdom  and  might 
are  his,"  Dan.  ii.  20,  wisdom  to  contrive,  and  power  to  effect. 
Where  should  wisdom  dwell,  but  in  the  head  of  Deity?  and 
where  should  power  triumph,  but  in  the  arm  of  Omnipotence?1 
All  that  God  does,  he  does  artificially,  skilfully:  whence  he  is 
called  the  builder  of  the  heavens,  Heb.  xi.  10.  T^tV^s',  an 
artificial  and  curious  builder,  a  builder  by  art.  And  that  word, 
Prov.  viii.  30,  meant  of  Christ,  "  Then  I  was  by  him,  as  one 
brought  up  with  him;"  some  render  it,  Then  was  I  the  curious 
artificer;  and  the  same  word  is  translated,  a  cunning  workman, 
Cant.  vii.  1.  For  this  cause  counsel  is  ascribed  to  God,  Isa. 
xlvi.  10;  not  properly,  for  counsel  implies  something  of  igno- 
rance, or  irresolution,  antecedent  to  the  consultation,  and  a  pos- 
ture of  will  afterwards,  which  was  not  before.2    Counsel  is  pro- 

1  Culverwell,  Light  of  Nature,  p.  30. 

2  "Great  in  counsel,"  Jer.  xxxii.  l'J.  "  He  huth  counsel  and  understanding," 
Job  xii.  13. 

Vol.  I.— 74 


586  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

perly  a  laborious  deliberation,  and  a  reasoning  of  things:  an 
invention  of  means  for  the  attainment  of  the  end,  after  a  dis- 
cussing and  reasoning  of  all  the  doubts  which  arise  pro  re  net  la, 
on  the  occasion,  about  the  matter  in  counsel.  But  God  has  no 
need  to  deliberate  in  himself,  what  are  the  best  means  to 
accomplish  his  ends;  he  is  never  ignorant,  or  undetermined, 
what  course  he  should  take,  as  men  are  before  they  consult. 
But  it  is  an  expression  in  condescension  to  our  capacity,  to  sig- 
nify that  God  does  nothing  but  with  reason  and  understanding, 
with  the  highest  prudence,  and  for  the  most  glorious  ends,  as 
men  do  after  consultation,  and  the  weighing  of  every  foreseen 
circumstance. 

Though  he  acts  all  things  sovereignly  by  his  will,  yet  he  acts 
all  things  wisely  by  his  understanding;  and  there  is  not  a  decree 
of  his  will,  but  he  can  render  a  satisfactory  reason  for  in  the 
face  of  men  and  angels.  As  he  is  the  cause  of  all  things,  so  he 
has  the  highest  wisdom  for  the  ordering  of  all  things.  If  wis- 
dom among  men  be  the  knowledge  of  Divine  and  human  things, 
God  must  be  infinitely  wise,  since  knowledge  is  most  radiant 
in  him;  he  knows  what  angels  and  men  do,  and  infinitely 
more;  what  is  known  by  them  obscurely,  is  known  by  him 
clearly;  what  is  known  by  man  after  it  is  done,  was  known 
by  God  before  it  was  wrought.  By  his  wisdom,  as  much  as 
by  any  thing,  he  infinitely  differs  from  all  his  creatures;  as 
by  wisdom  man  differs  from  a  brute.  We  cannot  frame  a 
notion  of  God,  without  conceiving  him  infinitely  wise.  We 
should  render  him  very  inconsiderable,  to  imagine  him  fur- 
nished with  an  infinite  knowledge,  and  not  have  an  infinite 
wisdom  to  make  use  of  that  knowledge:  or  to  fancy  him  witli 
a  mighty  power,  destitute  of  prudence.  Knowledge  without 
prudence,  is  an  eye  without  motion;  and  power  without  dis- 
cretion, is  an  arm  without  a  head;  a  hand  to  act,  without  un- 
derstanding to  contrive  a  model;  a  strength  to  act,  without 
reason  to  know  how  to  act:  it  would  be  a  miserable  notion  of 
a  God,  to  fancy  him  with  a  brutish  and  unguided  power.  The 
heathens  therefore  had,  and  could  not  but  have  this  natural  no- 
tion of  God.  Plato  therefore  calls  him  Mens,'  and  Cleanthes 
used  to  call  God  Reason,  and  Socrates  thought  the  title  of  So^oj- 
too  magnificent  to  be  attributed  to  any  thing  else  but  God 
alone. 

Arguments  to  prove  that  God  is  wise. 

Reason  (1.)  God  could  not  be  infinitely  perfect  without  wis- 
dom. A  rational  nature  is  better  than  an  irrational  nature.  A 
man  is  not  a  perfect  man  without  reason;  how  can  God  without 
it  be  an  infinitely  perfect  God?  Wisdom  is  the  most  eminent  of 
all  virtues;  all  the  other  perfections  of  God  without  this,  would 

1  Eugub.  per.  Philosoph.  lib.  1.  cap.  5. 


■  \  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 


587 


be  as  a  body  without  au  eye,  a  soul  without  understanding. 
A  Christian's  graces  wanl  their  lustre  when  they  are  destitute 
of  the  guidance  of  wisdom:  mercy  is  a  feebleness^  and  justice  a 
cruelty,  patience  a  timorousness,  and  courage  a  madness,  with- 
out the  conduct  of  wisdom;  BO  the  patience  of  God  would  he 
cowardice,  his  power  oppression,  his  justice  a  tyranny,  without 
wisdom  as  the  spring, and  holinessas  the  rule.  No  attribute  of 
God  could  shine  with  a  due  lustre  and  brightness  without  it. 
Power  is  a  great  perfection,  but  wisdom  a  greater.1  Wisdom 
may  he  without  much  power,  as  in  bees  and  ants;  but  power  is 
a  tyrannical  thing  without  wisdom  and  righteousness.  The 
pilot  is  more  valuable  because  of  his  skill,  than  the  galley  slave 
because  of  his  strength;  and  the  conduct  of  a  general  more  esti- 
mable than  the  might  of  a  private  soldier.  Generals  are  chosen 
more  by  their  skill  to  guide,  than  their  strength  to  act.  What 
a  clod  is  a  man  without  prudence!  what  a  nothing  would  God 
be  without  it!  This  is  the  salt  that  gives  relish  to  all  other  perfec- 
tions in  a  creature;  this  is  the  jewel  in  the  ring  of  alTthe  excel- 
lencies of  the  Divine  nature,  and  holiness  is  the  splendour  of 
that  jewel. 

Now  God  being  the  First  Being,  possesses  whatsoever  is  most 
noble  in  any  being.  If  therefore  wisdom,  which  is  the  most 
noble  perfection  in  any  creature,  were  wonting  to  God,  he 
would  be  deficient  in  that  which  is  the  highest  excellency.  God 
being  the  living  God,  as  he  is  frequently  termed  in  Scripture, 
he  has  therefore  the  most  perfect  manner  of  living,  and  that 
must  be  a  pure  and  intellectual  life:  being  essentially  living,  he 
is  essentially  in  the  highest  degree  of  living.  As  he  has  an  infi- 
nite life  above  all  creatures;  so  he  has  an  infinite  intellectual 
life,  and  therefore  an  infinite  wisdom;  whence  some  have  called 
God  not  sapienlem,  but  super-sapientem,  not  only  wise,  but 
above  all  wisdom.2 

Reason  (2.)  Without  infinite  wisdom  he  could  not  govern 
the  world.  Without  wisdom  in  forming  the  matter,  which  was 
made  by  Divine  power,  the  world  could  have  been  no  other 
than  a  chaos;  and  without  wisdom  in  government,  it  could 
have  been  no  other  than  a  heap  of  confusion;  without  wisdom 
the  world  could  not  have  been  created  in  the  posture  it  is. 
Creation  supposes  a  determination  of  the  will  putting  power 
upon  acting;  the  determination  of  the  will  supposes  the  coun- 
sel of  the  understanding  determining  the  will;  no  work  but 
supposes  understanding  as  well  as  will  in  a  rational  agent.  As 
without  skill  things  could  not  be  created,  so  without  it  things 
cannot  be  governed.  Reason  is  a  necessary  perfection  to  him 
that  presides  over  all  things:  without  knowledge  there  could 

1   Licet  mncnum  sit  pnssc,  ma  jus  l;imrn  est  sn|>ero. 
*  Boares.  vol.  1.  lib.  1.  cap.  3.  p.  10. 


588  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

not  be  in  God-  a  foundation  for  government,  and  without  wis- 
dom there  could  not  be  an  exercise  of  government;  and  without 
the  most  excellent  wisdom,  he  could  not  be  the  most  excellent 
Governor.  He  could  not  be  a  universal  Governor  without  a 
universal  wisdom,  nor  the  soje  Governor  without  an  inimitable 
wisdom,  nor  an  independent  Governor  without  an  original  and 
independent  wisdom;  nor  a  perpetual  Governor  without  an 
incorruptible  wisdom.  He  would  not  be  the  Lord  of  the  world 
in  all  points,  without  skill  to  order  the  affairs  of  it.  Power 
and  wisdom  are  foundations  of  all  authority  and  government; 
wisdom  to  know  how  to  rule  and  command;  power  to  make 
those  commands  obeyed:  no  regular  order  could  issue  out 
without  the  first,  nor  could  any  order  be  enforced  without  the 
second.  A  feeble  wisdom  and  a  brutish  power,  seldom  or 
never  produce  any  good  effect;  magistracy  without  wisdom, 
would  be  a  frantic  power,  a  rash  conduct;  like  a  strong  arm 
when  the. eye  is  out,  strikes  it  knows  not  what,  and  leads  it 
knows  not  whither.  Wisdom  without  power,  would  be  like  a 
great  body  without  feet;1  like  the  knowledge  of  a  pilot  that 
has  lost  his  arm,  who  though  he  knows  the  rule  of  navigation, 
and  what  course  to  follow  in  his  voyage,  yet  cannot  manage 
the  helm:  but  when  those  two,  wisdom  and  power,  are  linked 
together,  there  arises  from  both  a  fitness  for  government;  there 
is  wisdom  to  propose  an  end,  and  both  wisdom  and  power  to 
employ  means  that  conduct  to  that  end.  And  therefore  when 
God  demonstrates  to  Job  his  right  of  government,  and  the 
unreasonableness  of  Job's  quarrelling  with  his  proceedings,  he 
Chiefly  urges  upon  him  the  consideration  of  those  two  excel- 
lencies of  his  nature,  power  and  wisdom,  which  are  expressed 
in  his  works,  chap,  xxxviii. — xli.  A  prince  without  wisdom, 
is  but  a  title  without  a  capacity  to  perform  the  office:  no  man 
without  it  is  fit  for  government;  nor  could  God,  without  wis- 
dom, exercise  a  just  dominion  in  the  world.  He  has  therefore 
the  highest  wisdom,  since  he  is  the  universal  Governor.  That 
wisdom  which  is  able  to  govern  a  family,  may  not  be  able  to 
govern  a  city;  and  that  wisdom  which  governs  a  city,  may  not 
be  able  to  govern  a  nation  or  kingdom,  much  less  a  world. 
The  bounds  of  God's  government  being  greater  than  any,  his 
wisdom  for  government  must  needs  surmount  the  wisdom  of 
all.  And  though  the  creatures  be  not  in  number  actually  infi- 
nite, yet  they  cannot  be  well  governed,  but  by  one  endowed 
with  infinite  discretion.  Providential  government,  can  be  no 
more  without  infinite  wisdom,  than  infinite  wisdom  can  be 
without  providence. 2 

Reason  (3.)  The  creatures  working  for  an  end,  without  their 
own  knowledge,  demonstrate  the  wisdom  of  God  that  guides 

1  Amyrnnt.  Moral.  -  Amyrald.  Desert.  Tlieol.  p.  111. 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  f>S<) 

them.  All  tilings  in  the  world  work  for  some  end;  the  ends 
are  unknown  to  them,  though  many  of  their  ends  are  visible  to 
us.  As  there  was  some  prime  cause,  which  by  his  power 
inspired  them  with  their  several  instincts,  so  there  must  be 
some  supreme  wisdom,  which  moves  and  guides  them  to  their 
end.  As  their  being  manifests  his  power  that  endowed  them, 
so  the  acting  according  to  the  rules  of  their  nature,  which  they 
themselves  understand  not,  manifests  his  wisdom  in  directing 
them.  Every  thing  that  acts  for  an  end,  must  know  that  end, 
or  be  directed  by  another  to  attain  that  end.  The  arrow  does 
not  know  who  shoots  it,  or  to  what  end  it  is  shot,  or  what  mark 
is  aimed  at;  but  the  archer  that  puts  it  in,  and  darts  it  out  of 
the  bow,  knows.  A  watch  has  a  regular  motion,  but  neither 
the  spring  nor  the  wheels  that  move,  know  the  end  of  their 
motion;  no  man  will  judge  a  wisdom  to  be  in  the  watch,  but 
in  the  artificer  that  disposed  the  wheels  and  spring,  by  a  joint 
combination  to  produce  such  a  motion  for  such  an  end.  Does 
either  the  sun  that  enlivens  the  earth,  or  the  earth  that  travails 
with  the  plant,  know  what  plant  it  produces  in  such  a  soil, 
what  temper  it  should  be  of,  what  fruit  it  should  bear,  and  of 
what  colour?  What  plant  knows  its  own  medicinal  qualities, 
its  own  beautiful  flowers,  and  for  what  use  they  are  ordained? 
When  it  strikes  up  its  head  from  the  earth,  does  it  know  what 
proportion  of  them  there  will  be?  Yet  it  produces  all  these 
things  in  a  state  of  ignorance.  The  sun  warms  the  earth,  con- 
cocts the  humours,  excites  the  virtue  of  it,  and  cherishes  the 
seeds,  which  are  cast  into  her  lap,  yet  all  unknown  to  the  sun 
or  the  earth.  Since  therefore  that  nature,  that  is  the  imme- 
diate cause  of  those  things,  does  not  understand  its  own  quality, 
nor  operation,  nor  the  end  of  its  action,  that  which  thus  directs 
them  must  be  conceived  to  have  an  infinite  wisdom.  When 
things  act  by  a  rule  they  know  not,  and  move  for  an  end  they 
understand  not,  and  yet  work  harmoniously  together  for  one 
end,  that  all  of  them,  we  are  sure,  are  ignorant  of  it,  it  mounts 
up  our  minds  to  acknowledge  the  wisdom  of  that  Supreme 
Cause,  that  has  ranged  all  these  inferior  causes  in  their  order, 
and  imprinted  upon  them  the  laws  of  their  motions,  according 
to  the  ideas  in  his  own  mind,  who  orders  the  rule  by  which 
they  act,  and  the  end  for  which  they  act,  and  directs  every 
motion  according  to  their  several  natures,  and  therefore  is  pos- 
sessed with  infinite  wisdom  in  his  own  nature. 

Reason  (4.)  God  is  the  fountain  of  all  wisdom  in  the  crea- 
tures, and  therefore  is  infinitely  wise  himself.  As  he  has  a 
fulness  of  being  in  himself,  because  the  streams  of  being  are 
derived  to  other  things  from  him;  so  he  has  a  fulness  of  wisdom, 
because  he  is  the  spring  of  wisdom  to  angels  and  men.  That 
Being  must  be  infinitely  wise  from  whence  all  other  wisdom 


590  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

derives  its  original :  for  nothing  can  be  in  the  effect,  which  is 
not  eminently  in  the  cause;  the  cause  is  always  more  perfect 
than  the  effect.  If  therefore  the  creatures  are  wise,  the  Creator 
must  be  much  more  wise.  If  the  Creator  were  destitute  of 
wisdom,  the  creature  would  be  much  more  perfect  than  the 
Creator.  If  you  consider  the  wisdom  of  the  spider  in  her 
web,  which  is  both  her  house  and  net;  the  art  of  the  bee  in 
her  comb,  which  is  both  her  chamber  and  granary;  the  pro- 
vision of  the  ant  in  her  repositories  for  corn;  the  wisdom  of  the 
Creator  is  illustrated  by  them:  whatsoever  excellency  you  see 
in  any  creature,  is  an  image  of  some  excellency  in  God.  The 
skill  of  the  artificer  is  visible  in  the  fruits  of  his  art;  a  work- 
man transcribes  his  spirit  in  the  work  of  his  hands.  But  the 
wisdom  of  rational  creatures,  as  men,  does  more  illustrate  it: 
all  arts  among  men  are  the  rays  of  Divine  wisdom  shining 
upon  them,  and  by  a  common  gift  of  the  Spirit  enlightening 
their  minds  to  curious  inventions;  as,  "I  wisdom — find  out 
knowledge  of  witty  inventions,"  Prov.  viii.  12;  that  is,  I  give 
a  faculty  to  men  to  find  them  out;  without  my  wisdom,  all 
things  would  be  buried  in  darkness  and  ignorance:  whatsoever 
wisdom  there  is  in  the  world,  it  is  but  a  shadow  of  the  wisdom 
of  God,  a  small  rivulet  derived  from  him,  a  spark  leaping  out 
from  uncreated  wisdom.  He  created  the  smith  that  blows  the 
coals  in  the  fire,  and  makes  the  instruments;  the  skill  to  use 
those  weapons  in  warlike  enterprises  is  from  him,  "  I  have  cre- 
ated the  waster  to  destroy,"  Isa.  liv.  16;  it  is  not  meant  of 
creating  their  persons,  but  communicating  to  them  their  art; 
he  speaks  it  there  to  expel  fear  from  the  Church  of  all  warlike 
preparations  against  them:  he  had  given  men  the  skill  to  form 
and  use  weapons,  and  could  as  well  strip  them  of  it,  and  defeat 
their  purposes.  The  art  of  husbandry  is  a  fruit  of  Divine 
teaching,  Isa.  xxviii.  24 — 26.  If  those  lower  kinds  of  know- 
ledge that  are  common  to  all  nations,  and  easily  learned  by  all, 
are  discoveries  of  Divine  wisdom,  much  more  the  nobler 
sciences,  intellectual  and  political  wisdom:  "He  giveth  wis- 
dom unto  the  wise,  and  knowledge  to  them  that  know  under- 
standing," Dan.  ii.  21;  speaking  of  the  more  abstruse  parts  of 
knowledge;  "  The  inspiration  of  the  Almighty  giveth  them  un- 
derstanding," Job  xxxii.  S.  Hence  the  wisdom  which  Solomon 
expressed  in  the  harlots'  case,  1  Kings  iii.  28,  was,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  all  Israel,  the  wisdom  of  God;  that  is,  a  fruit  of  Divine 
wisdom,  a  beam  communicated  to  him  from  God.  Every  man's 
soul  is  endowed  more  or  less  with  those  noble  qualities:  the 
soul  of  every  man  exceeds  that  of  a  brute;  if  the  streams  be 
so  excellent,  the  fountain  must  be  fuller  and  clearer.  The  first 
Spirit  must  infinitely  more  possess  what  other  spirits  derive 
from  him  by  creation;  were  the  wisdom  of  all   the  angels  in 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  ,-,«!| 

heaven  and  men  on  earth  collected  in  one  spirit,  it  must  be  in- 
finitely less  tlian  what  is  in  the  spring;  for  no  creature  can  be 
gquftl  to  tin1  Creator.  As  the  highest  creature  already  made, 
or  that  we  can  conceive  may  be  made!  by  infinite  power,  would 
be  infinitely  below  God  in  the  notion  of  a  creature,  so  it  would 
be  infinitely  below  God  in  the  notion  of  wisdom. 

4.  The  fourth  thing  is,  wherein  the  wisdom  of  God  appears. 

It  appears — In  creation — In  government — In  redemption. 

(1.)  In  creation.  As  in  a  musical  instrument,  there  is  first 
the  skill  of  the  workman  in  the  frame;  then  the  skill  of  the 
musician  in  stringing  it  properly  for  such  musical  notes  as  he 
will  express  upon  it;  and  after  that  the  tempering  of  the  strings 
by  various  stops  to  a  delightful  harmony:  so  is  the  wisdom  of 
God  seen  in  framing  the  world,  then  in  tuning  it,  and  after- 
wards in  the  motion  of  several  creatures.  The  fabric  of  the 
world  is  called  the  wisdom  of  God;  "  After  that  in  the  wisdom 
of  God  the  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God,"  1  Cor.  i.  21;  that 
is,  by  the  creation  the  world  knew  not  God;  the  framing  cause 
is  there  put  for  the  effect  and  the  work  framed:  because  the 
Divine  wisdom  stepped  forth  in  the  creatures  to  a  public  ap- 
pearance, as  if  it  had  presented  itself  in  a  visible  shape  to  man, 
giving  instructions  in  and  by  the  creatures,  to  know  and  adore 
him.  What  we  translate,  "  In  the  beginning  God  created  the 
heaven  and  the  earth,"1  Gen.  i.  1;  the  Targum  expresseth,  In 
the  wisdom  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth:  both  bear  a 
stamp  of  this  perfection  on  them.  And  when  the  apostle  tells 
the  Romans,  the  invisible  things  of  God  were  clearly  under- 
stood by  the  things  that  are  made,  Rom.  i.  20;  the  word  he 
uses  is,  rtoinViafu,  not  spy0'?*  this  signifies  a  work  of  labour,  but 
ftoirfta,  a  work  of  skill,  or  a  poem.  The  whole  creation  is  a 
poem,  every  species  a  stanza,  and  every  individual  creature  a 
verse  in  it.  The  creation  presents  us  with  a  prospect  of  the 
wisdom  of  God,  as  a  poem  does  the  reader  with  the  wit  and 
fancy  of  the  composer:  by  wisdom  he  created  the  earth,  Prov. 
iii.  19,  and  stretched  out  the  heavens  by  discretion,  Jer.  x. 
12.  There  is  not  any  thing  so  mean,  so  small,  but  glitters  with 
a  beam  of  Divine  skill;  and  the  consideration  of  them  would 
justly  make  every  man  subscribe  to  that  of  the  psalmist,  "0 
Lord  how  manifold  are  thy  works!  in  wisdom  hast  thou  made 
them  all,"  Psal.  civ.  24.  All,  the  least  as  well  as  the  greatest, 
and  the  meanest  as  well  as  the  noblest;  even  those  creatures 
which  seem  ugly  and  deformed  to  us,  as  toads,  &c,  because 
they  fall  short  of  those  perfections  which  are  the  dowry  of 
other  animals.  In  these  there  is  a  footstep  of  Divine  wisdom, 
since  they  were  not  produced  by  him  at  random,  but  deter- 

'  Orrmc  opus  natunc  est  opus  intelligentia.  "  Every  work  of  nature  is  a  work 
of  intelligence." 


592  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

mined  to  some  particular  end,  and  designed  to  some  usefulness, 
as  parts  of  the  world  in  their  several  natures  and  stations.  God 
could  never  have  had  a  satisfaction  in  the  review  of  his  works, 
and  pronounced  them  good  or  comely,  as  he  did,  Gen.  i.  31, 
had  they  not  been  agreeable  to  that  eternal  original  copy  in  his 
own  mind:  it  is  said  he  was  refreshed,  namely,  with  that  review, 
Exod.  xxxi.  17;  which  could  not  have  been,  if  his  piercing  eye 
had  found  any  defect  in  any  thing  which  had  sprung  out  of  his 
hand,  or  an  unsuitableness  to  that  end  for  which  he  created 
them.  He  seems  to  do  as  a  man  that  has  made  a  curious  and 
polite  work,  with  exact  care  to  peer  about  every  part  and  line, 
if  he  could  perceive  any  imperfection  in  it,  to  rectify  the  mis- 
take. But  no  defect  was  found  by  the  infinitely  wise  God  upon 
his  second  examination. 

This  wisdom  of  the  creation  appears, 

In  the  variety — In  the  beauty — The  fitness  of  every  creature 
for  its  use — The  subordination  of  one  creature  to  another,  and 
the  joint  concurrence  of  all  to  one  common  end. 

[1.]  In  the  variety.  "  0  Lord,  how  manifold  are  thy  works!" 
Psal.  civ.  24.  How  great  a  variety  is  there  of  animals  and 
plants,  with  a  great  variety  of  forms,  shapes,  figurations,  co- 
lours, various  smells,  virtues,  and  qualities!  and  this  variety  is 
produced  from  one  and  the  same  matter,  as  beasts  and  plants 
from  the  earth:  "Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  living  crea- 
ture;— and  the  earth  brought  forth  grass,  and  herb  yielding 
seed  after  his  kind,"  Gen.  i.  12.  24.  Such  diversity  of  fowl 
and  fish  from  the  water;  "Let  the  waters  bring  forth  abun- 
dantly the  moving  creature  that  hath  life,  and  fowl  that  may 
fly,"  Gen.  i.  20.  Such  a  beautiful  and  active  variety  from  so 
dull  a  matter  as  the  earth ;  so  solid  a  variety  from  so  fluid  a 
matter  as  the  water;  so  noble  a  piece  as  the  body  of  man,  with 
such  variety  of  members,  fit  to  entertain  a  more  excellent  soul 
as  a  guest,  from  so  mean  a  matter  as  the  dust  of  the  ground, 
Gen.  ii.  7.  This  extraction  of  such  variety  of  forms  out  of 
one  single  and  dull  matter,  is  the  chemistry  of  Divine  wisdom: 
it  is  a  greater  skill  to  frame  noble  bodies  of  vile  matter,  as 
varieties  of  precious  vessels  of  clay  and  earth,  than  of  a  nobler 
matter,  as  gold  and  silver. 

Again,  all  those  varieties  propagate  their  kind  in  every  par- 
ticular and  quality  of  their  nature,  and  uniformly  bring  forth 
exact  copies  according  to  the  first  pattern  God  made  of  the 
kind,  Gen.  i.  11,  12.  24.  Consider  also  how  the  same  piece  of 
ground  is  garnished  with  plants  and  flowers  of  several  virtues, 
fruits,  colours,  scents,  without  our  being  able  to  perceive  any 
variety  in  the  earth  that  breeds  them,  and  not  so  great  a  diffe- 
rence in  the  roots  that  bear  them.  Add  to  this  the  diversities 
of  birds  of  different  colours,  shapes,  notes,  consisting  of  various 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  ;,();; 

parts,  wings  like  oars  to  cut  the  air,  and  tails  as  the  rudder  of  a 
ship  to  guide  their  motion. 

How  various  also  are  the  endowments  of  the  creatines!  some 
have  vegetation,  and  the  power  of  growth;  others  have  the 
addition  of  sense,  and  others  the  excellency  of  reason;  some- 
thing wherein  all  agree,  and  something  wherein  all  differ; 
variety  in  unity,  and  unity  in  variety.  The  wisdom  of  the 
Workman  had  not  heen  so  conspicuous,  had  there  been  only 
one  degree  of  goodness:  the  greatest  skill  is  seen  in  the  great- 
est variety. 

The  comeliness  of  the  body  is  visible  in  the  variety  of  mem- 
bers, and  their  usefulness  to  one  another.  What  an  ill-formed 
thing  had  man  been,  had  he  been  all  ear,  or  all  eye!  If  God 
had  made  all  the  stars  to  be  suns,  it  would  have  been  a  demon- 
stration of  his  power,  but  perhaps  less  of  his  wisdom:  no 
creatures,  with  the  natures  they  now  have,  could  have  con- 
tinued in  being  under  so  much  heat.  There  was  no  less  wis- 
dom went  to  the  frame  of  the  least,  than  to  the  greatest  creature. 
It  speaks  more  art  in  a  limner  to  paint  a  landscape  exactly, 
than  to  draw  the  sun,  though  the  sun  be  a  more  glorious  body. 

I  might  instance  also  in  the  different  characters  and  features 
imprinted  upon  the  countenances  of  men  and  women,  the  dif- 
ferences of  voices  and  statures,  whereby  they  are  distinguished 
from  one  another.  These  are  the  foundations  of  order  and  of 
human  society  and  administration  of  justice.  What  confusion 
would  have  been  if  a  grown-up  son  could  not  be  known  from 
his  father,  the  magistrate  from  the  subject,  the  creditor  from  the 
debtor,  the  innocent  from  the  criminal !  The  laws  God  has  given 
to  mankind  could  not  have  been  put  in  execution.  This  variety 
speaks  the  wisdom  of  God. 

[2.]  The  wisdom  of  the  creation  appears  in  the  beauty,  and 
order,  and  situation  of  the  several  creatures.  "  He  hath  made 
every  thing  beautiful  in  his  time,"  Eccles.  iii.  11.  As  their 
being  was  a  fruit  of  Divine  power,  so  their  order  is  a  fruit  of 
Divine  wisdom.  All  creatures  are  as  members  in  the  great 
body  of  the  world,  proportioned  to  one  another,  and  contribut- 
ing to  the  beauty  of  the  whole;'  so  that  if  the  particular  forms 
of  every  thing,  the  union  of  all  for  the  composition  of  the  world, 
and  the  laws  which  are  established  in  the  order  of  nature  for 
its  conservation,  be  considered,  it  would  ravish  us  with  an  ad- 
miration of  God:  all  the  creatures  are  so  many  pictures  or 
statues,  exactly  framed  by  line;  "  Their  line  is  gone  out  through 
all  the  earth,"  Psal.  xix.  4.  Their  line,  a  measuring  line,  or  a 
carpenter's  rule,  whereby  he  proportions  several  pieces  to  be 
exactly  linked  and  coupled  together.  "Their  line,"  that  is, 
their  harmonious  proportion,  and  the  instruction  from  it  is  gone 

'  Amyrant.  Moral,  v.. I.  l.j>.  2."»7. 

Vol.  [.— 75 


594  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

forth  through  all  the  earth.  Upon  the  account  of  this  harmony, 
some  of  the  ancient  heathens  framed  the  images  of  their  gods 
with  musical  instruments  in  their  hands,  signifying  that  God 
wrought  all  things  in  a  due  proportion.1 

The  heavens  speak  this  wisdom  in  their  order. 

The  revolutions  of  the  sun  and  moon  determine  the  seasons 
of  the  year,  and  make  day  and  night  in  an  orderly  succession. 
The  stars  beautify  the  heavens,  and  influence  the  earth,  and 
keep  their  courses,  Judg.  v.  20.  They  keep  their  stations  with- 
out interfering  with  one  another;  and  though  they  have  rolled 
about  for  so  many  ages,  they  observe  their  distinct  laws,  and 
in  the  variety  of  their  motions  have  not  disturbed  one  another's 
functions. 

The  sun  is  set  as  the  heart  in  the  midst  of  this  great  body, 
to  afford  warmth  to  all:  had  it  been  set  lower,  it  had  long  since 
turned  the  earth  into  flame  and  ashes:  had  it  been  placed  higher, 
the  earth  would  have  wanted  the  nourishment  and  refreshment 
necessary  for  it.2  Too  much  nearness  had  ruined  the  earth  by 
parching  heat,  and  too  great  a  distance  had  destroyed  the  earth 
by  starving  it  with  cold. 

The  sun  has  also  its  appointed  motion:  had  it  been  fixed 
without  motion,  half  of  the  earth  had  been  unprofitable:  there 
had  been  perpetual  darkness  in  a  moiety  of  it;  nothing  had 
been  produced  for  nourishment,  and  so  it  had  been  rendered 
uninhabitable:  but  now  by  this  motion,  it  visits  all  the  climates 
of  the  world,  runs  its  circuit,  so  that  nothing  is  hid  from  the 
heat  thereof,  Psal.  xix.  6.  It  imparts  its  virtue  to  every  corner 
of  the  world  in  its  daily  and  yearly  visits.  Had  it  been  fixed, 
the  fruits  of  the  earth  under  it  had  been  parched  and  destroyed 
before  their  maturity;  but  all  those  inconveniences  are  provided 
against  by  the  perpetual  motion  of  the  sun. 

Tins  motion  is  orderly;3  it  makes  its  daily  course  from  east 
to  west,  its  yearly  motion  from  north  to  south:  it  goes  to  the 
north,  till  it  comes  to  the  point  God  has  set  it,  and  then  turns 
back  to  the  south,  and  gains  some  point  every  day:  it  never 
rises  nor  sets  in  the  same  place  one  day  where  it  did  the  day 
before.  The  world  is  never  without  its  light;  some  see  its  rising 
the  same  moment  we  see  its  setting. 

The  earth  also  speaks  the  Divine  wisdom;  it  is  the  pavement 
of  the  world,  as  the  heaven  is  the  ceiling  of  fretwork.  It  is 
placed  lowermost,  as  being  the  heaviest  body,  and  fit  to  receive 
the  weightiest  matter;  and  provided  as  a  habitation  proper  for 
those  creatures  which  derive  the  matter  of  their  bodies  from  it, 

1  Montag.  against  Selden,  p.  281.  Plutarch  calls  God  ap^ovixoj  xat.  ^Btrtxoj; 
lie  says,  nothing  was  made  without  music. 

2  Charlton,  Light  of  Nature,  p.  57. 

3  Daille  Mel.  part.  1.  p.  483. 


on  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  595 

;iinl  partake  of  its  earthy  nature;  and  garnished  with  other 
creatures  for  the  profit  and  pleasure  of  man.' 

The  sea  also  speaks  the  same  Divine  wisdom.  He  strength- 
ened the  fountains  of  the  deep,  and  gave  die  sea  a  decree,  that 
it  should  not  pass  his  command,  Prov.  viii.  28,  2D.  He  has 
given  it  certain  hounds,  that  it  should  not  overflow  the  earth, 
Job  xxviii.  11.  It  contains  itself  in  the  situation  wherein  God 
has  placed  it,  and  does  not  transgress  its  bounds.  What  if  some 
part  of  a  country,  a  little  spot,  has  been  overflowed  by  it,  and 
groaned  under  its  waves;  yet  for  the  main,  it  retains  the  same 
channels  wherein  it  was  at  first  lodged. 

All  creatures  are  clothed  with  an  outward  beauty,  and  en- 
dowed with  an  inward  harmony;  there  is  an  agreement  in  all 
parts  of  this  great  body;  every  one  is  beautiful  and  orderly;  but 
the  beauty  of  the  world  results  from  all  of  them  disposed  and 
linked  together. 

[3.]  This  wisdom  is  seen  in  the  fitness  of  every  thing  for  its 
end,  and  the  usefulness  of  it.  Divine  wisdom  is  more  illustri- 
ous in  the  fitness  and  usefulness  of  this  great  variety,  than  in 
the  composure  of  their  distinct  parts;  as  the  artificer's  skill  is 
more  eminent  in  fitting  the  wheels,  and  setting  them  in  order 
for  their  due  motion,  than  in  the  external  fabric  of  the  materials 
which  compose  the  clock. 

After  the  most  diligent  inspection,  there  can  be  found  nothing 
in  the  creation  unprofitable;  nothing  but  is  capable  of  some 
service,  either  for  the  support  of  our  bodies,  recreation  of  our 
senses,  or  moral  instruction  of  our  minds.  Not  the  least  crea- 
ture but  is  formed,  and  shaped,  and  furnished  with  members 
and  parts,  in  a  due  proportion  for  its  end  and  service  in  the 
world;  nothing  is  superfluous,  nothing  defective. 

The  earth  is  fitted  in  its  parts;  the  valleys  are  appointed  for 
granaries,  the  mountains  to  shadow  them  from  the  scorching 
heat  of  the  sun;  the  rivers,  like  veins,  carry  refreshment  to 
every  member  of  this  body;  plants  and  trees  thrive  on  the  face 
of  the  earth,  and  metals  are  engendered  in  the  bowels  of  it,  for 
materials  for  building  and  other  uses  for  the  service  of  man.2 
There  "  he  causeth  the  grass  to  grow  for  the  cattle,  and  herb 
for  the  service  of  man:  that  he  may  bring  forth  food  out  of  the 
earth,"  Psal.  civ.  14. 

The  sea  is  fitted  for  use:  it  is  a  fish-pond  for  the  nourishment 
of  man;  a  boundary  for  the  dividing  of  lands  and  several  do- 
minions; it  joins  together  nations  far  distant:  a  great  vessel  for 
commerce:  "There  go  the  ships,"  Psal.  civ.  26.  It  affords 
vapours  to  the  clouds,  wherewith  to  water  the  earth,  which  the 
sun  draws  .up,  separating  the  finer  from  the  salter  parts,  that 
the  earth  may  be  fruitful,  without  being  burdened  with  barren- 

1  AmyrzuU.  Predcstin.  p.  '.'.  Ainyrant.  Mir  Diverse*  Text.  p.  127. 


596  0N  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

ness  by  the  salt.  The  sea  has  also  its  salt,  its  ebbs  and  floods, 
the  one  as  brine,  the  other  as  motion,  to  preserve  it  from  putre- 
faction, that  it  may  not  be  contagious  to  the  rest  of  the  world. 

Showers  are  appointed  to  refresh  the  bodies  of  living  crea- 
tures, to  open  the  womb  of  the  earth,  and  water  the  ground  to 
make  it  fruitful.  The  clouds,  therefore,  are  called  the  chariots 
of  God,  Psal.  civ.  3;  he  rides  in  them  in  the  manifestation  of 
his  goodness  and  wisdom. 

Winds  are  fitted  to  purify  the  air,  to  preserve  it  from  putre- 
faction; to  carry  the  clouds  to  several  parts,  to  refresh  the 
parched  earth,  and  assist  her  fruits;  and  also  to  serve  for  the 
commerce  of  one  nation  with  another  by  navigation.1  God  in 
his  wisdom  and  goodness  "  walketh  upon  the  wings  of  the 
wind,"  Psal.  civ.  3. 

Rivers  are  appointed  to  bathe  the  ground,  and  render  it  fresh 
and  lively;  they  fortify  cities,  are  the  limits  of  countries,  serve 
for  commerce,  they  are  the  watering-pots  of  the  earth,  and  the 
vessels  for  drink  for  the  living  creatures  that  dwell  upon  the 
earth.2  God  cut  those  channels  for  the  wild  asses,  the  beasts  of 
the  desert,  which  are  his  creatures  as  well  as  the  rest,  Psal.  civ. 
10—12. 

Trees  are  appointed  for  the  habitation  of  birds,  shadows  for 
the  earth,  nourishment  for  the  creatures,  materials  for  building, 
and  fuel  for  the  relief  of  man  against  cold. 

The  seasons  of  the  year  have  their  use.  The  winter  makes 
the  juice  retire  into  the  earth,  fortifies  plants,  and  fixes  their 
roots;  it  moistens  the  earth,  that  was  dried  before  by  the  heat 
of  the  summer,  and  cleanses  and  prepares  it  for  a  new  fruitful- 
ness.  The  spring  calls  out  the  sap  in  new  leaves  and  fruit. 
The  summer  consumes  the  superfluous  moisture,  and  produces 
nourishment  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  world. 

The  day  and  night  have  also  their  usefulness.3  The  day 
gives  life  to  labour,  and  is  a  guide  to  motion  and  action.  "  The 
sun  arises — man  goes  forth — to  his  labour  until  the  evening," 
Psal.  civ.  22,  23.  It  warms  the  air  and  quickens  nature. 
Without  day  the  world  would  be  a  chaos,  an  unseen  beauty. 
The  night  indeed  casts  a  veil  upon  the  bravery  of  the  earth, 
but  it  draws  the  curtains  from  that  of  heaven;  though  it  dark- 
ens below,  it  makes  us  see  the  beauty  of  the  world  above,  and 
discovers  to  us  a  glorious  part  of  the  creation  of  God,  the  tapes- 
try of  heaven,  and  the  motion  of  the  stars,  hid  from  us  by  the 
eminent  light  of  the  day.  It  procures  a  truce  from  labour,  and 
refreshes  the  bodies  of  creatures,  by  recruiting  the  spirits  which 
are  scattered  by  watching.  It  prevents  the  ruin  of  life,  by  a 
reparation  of  what  was  wasted  in  the  day.     It  takes  from  us 

1  Less)  us.  2  Daillc  Mclan.  part  2.  p.  472,  473. 

3  Daille  Melang.  part.  1.  p.  477,  &c. 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  597 

the  sight  of  flowers  and  plants,  but  it  washes  their  face  with 
dews  for  a  new  appearance  next  morning!     The  length  of  the 

day  and  night  is  not  without  a  mark  of  wisdom:  were  they 
of  a  greater  length,  as  the  length  of  B  week  or  month,  the 
one  would  too  much  dry,  and  the  other  too  much  moisten; 
and  for  want  o(  action,  the  members  would  be  stupified. 
The  perpetual  succession  of  day  and  night,  is  an  evidence 
of  the  Divine  wisdom,  in  tempering  the  travail  and  rest  of 
creatures.  Hence  the  psalmist  tells  us,  "The  day  is  thine, 
the  night  also  is  thine:  thou  hast  prepared  the  light  and  the 
sun:  thou  hast  made  summer  and  winter,"  Psal.  lxxiv.  16,  17; 
that  is,  they  are  of  God's  framing,  not  without  a  wise  counsel 
and  end. 

Hence  let  us  ascend  to  the  bodies  of  living  creatures,  and  we 
shall  find  every  member  fitted  for  use.  What  a  curiosity  is 
there  in  every  member!  every  one  fitted  to  a  particular  use  in 
their  situation,  form,  temper,  and  mutual  agreement  for  the 
good  of  the  whole;  the  eye  to  direct,  the  ear  to  receive  direc- 
tions from  others,  the  hands  to  act,  the  feet  to  move.  Every 
creature  has  members  fitted  for  that  element  wherein  it  resides. 
And  in  the  body,  some  parts  are  appointed  to  change  the  food 
into  blood,  others  to  refine  it,  and  others  to  distribute  and  con- 
vey it  to  several  parts  for  the  maintenance  of  the  whole:  the 
heart  to  mint  vital  spirits  for  preserving  life,  and  the  brain  to 
coin  animal  spirits  for  life  and  motion;  the  lungs  to  serve  for 
the  cooling  the  heart,  which  else  would  be  parched  as  the 
ground  in  summer.  The  motion  of  the  members  of  the  body 
by  one  act  of  the  will,  and  also  without  the  will  by  a  natural 
instinct,  is  an  admirable  evidence  of  Divine  skill  in  the  struc- 
ture of  the  body;  so  that  well  might  the  psalmist  cry  out,  "  I 
am  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made,"  Psal.  exxxix.  It. 

But  how  much  more  of  this  Divine  perfection  is  seen  in  the 
soul!  A  nature  furnished  with  a  faculty  of  understanding  to 
judge  of  things,  to  gather  in  things  that  are  distant,  and  to 
reason  and  draw  conclusions  from  one  thing  to  another;  with 
a  memory  to  treasure  up  things  that  are  past,  with  a  will  to 
apply  itself  so  readily  to  what  the  mind  judges  fit  and  comely, 
and  ily  so  speedily  from  what  it  judges  ill  and  hurtful.  The 
whole  world  is  a  stage,  every  creature  in  it  has  a  part  to  act, 
and  a  nature  suited  to  that  part  and  end  it  is  designed  for,  and 
all  concur  in  a  joint  language  to  publish  the  glory  of  Divine 
wisdom;  they  have  a  voice  to  proclaim  the  glory  of  God," 
Psal.  xix.  1,  3.  And  it  is  not  the  least  part  of  God's  skill,  in 
fianiing  the  creatures  so,  that  upon  man's  obedience  they  are 
the  channels  of  his  goodness;  and  upon  man's  disobedience 
they  can  in  their  natures  be  the  ministers  of  his  justice  for  the 
punishing  of  offending  creatures. 


598  ON.  TJLE  WISDOM  OF  (iOD 

[4.]  The  wisdom  is. apparent  in  the  linking  all  these  useful 
parts  together,  so  that  one  is  subordinate  to  the  other  for  a  com- 
mon end.  All  parts  are  exactly  suited  to  one  another,  and 
every  part  to  the  whole;  though  they  are  of  different  natures, 
as  lines  distant  in  themselves,  yet  they  meet  in  one  common 
centre,  the  good  and  the  preservation  of  the  universe;  they  are 
all  jointed  together,  as  the  vyord  translated/rame^/,  Heb.  xi.  3, 
signifies;  knit  by  fit  bands  and  ligaments  to  contribute  mutual 
beauty,  strength,  and  assistance  to  one  another;  like  so  many 
links  of  a  chain  coupled  together,  that  though  there  be  a  dis- 
tance in  place,  there  is  a  unity  in  regard  of  connexion  and  end, 
there  is  a  consent  in  the  whole.  The  heavens  hear  the  earth, 
and  the  earth  hears  the  corn,  and  the  wine,  and  the  oil,  Hos.  ii. 
21,  22.  The  heavens  communicate  their  qualities  to  the  earth, 
and  the  earth  conveys  them  to  the  fruits  she  bears:  the  air  dis- 
tributes light,  wind,  and  rain  to  the  earth;  the  earth  and  the 
sea  render  to  the  air  exhalations  and  vapours,  and  all  together 
charitably  give  to  the  plants  and  animals  that  which  is  neces- 
sary for  their  nourishment  and  refreshment.1  The  influences 
of  the  heavens  animate  the  earth,  and  the  earth  affords  matter 
in  part  for  the  influences  it  receives  from  the  regions  above. 
Living  creatures  are  maintained  by  nourishment;  nourishment 
is  conveyed  to  them  by  the  fruits  of  the  earth;  the  fruits  of  the 
earth  are  produced  by  means  of  rain  and  heat;  matter  for  rain 
and  dew  is  raised  by  the  heat  of  the  sun;  and  the  sun  by  its 
motion  distributes  heat  and  quickening  virtue  to  all  parts  of  the 
earth.  So  colours  are  made  for  the  pleasure  of  the  eye,  sounds 
for  the  delight  of  the  ear;  light  is  formed,  whereby  the  eye 
may  see  the  one,  and  air  to  convey  the  species  of  colours  to 
the  eye,  and  sound  to  the  ear;  all  tilings  are  like  the  wheels  of 
a  watch  compacted.  And  though  many  of  the  creatures  be 
endowed  with  contrary  qualities,  yet  they  are  joined  in  a  mar- 
riage-knot for  the  public  security,  and  subserviency  to  the  pre- 
servation and  order  of  the  universe;  as  the  variety  of  strings 
upon  an  instrument,  sending  forth  various  and  distinct  sounds, 
are  tempered  together,  for  the  framing  excellent  and  delightful 
airs.  In  this  universal  conspiring  of  the  creatures  together  to 
one  end,  is  the  wisdom  of  the  Creator  apparent;  in  tuning  so 
many  contraries  as  the  elements  are,  and  preserving  them  in 
their  order,  which  if  once  broken,  the  whole  frame  of  nature 
would  crack,  and  fall  in  pieces;  all  are  so  interwoven  and  in- 
laid together,  by  the  Divine  workmanship,  as  to  make  up  one 
entiro  beauty  in  the  whole  fabric:  as  every  part  in  the  body  of 
man  has  a  distinct  comeliness,  yet  there  is  besides,  the  beauty 
of  the  whole,  that  results  from  the  union  of  divers  parts  exactly 
fashioned  to  one  another,  and  linked  together. 

'  Daillc.  15.  Scrm.  p.  170. 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  <:<>]>.  it[)\) 

By  the  way,  \vc  may  observe, 

ll'iu  much  may  we  see  of  the  perfection  of  God  in  every 
thing  that  presents  itself  to  onr  eyes!  And  Imw  should  we  he 
convinced  of  onr  unworthy  neglect  of  ascending  to  him  with 
reverent  and  admiring  thoughts,  upon  the  prospect  of  the 
creatures!  What  dull  scholars  are  we,  when  every  creature  is 
our  teacher,  every  part  of  the  creature  a  lively  instruction! 
Those  things  that  we  tread  under  our  feet,  if  used  hy  us  ac- 
cording to  the  full  design  of  their  creation,  would  afford  rich 
matter,  not  only  for  our  heads,  but  our  hearts.  As  grace  does 
not  destroy  nature,  but  elevate  it,  so  neither  should  the  fresher 
and  fuller  discoveries  of  Divine  wisdom  in  redemption,  deface 
our  thoughts  of  his  wisdom  in  creation.  Though  the  greater 
light  of  the  sun  obscures  the  lesser  sparkling  of  the  stars,  yet  it 
gives  way  in  the  night  to  the  discovery  of  them,  that  God  may 
be  seen,  known,  and  considered  in  all  his  works  of  wonder  and 
miracles  of  nature.  No  part  of  Scripture  is  more  spiritual  than 
the  Psalms;  none  filled  with  clearer  discoveries  of  Christ  in  the 
Old  Testament;  yet  how  often  do  the  penmen  consider  the 
creation  of  God,  and  find  their  meditations  on  him  to  be  sweet, 
as  considered  in  his  works!  "  My  meditation  of  him  shall  be 
sweet,"  Psal.  civ.  34.  When?  why,  after  a  short  history  of 
the  goodness  and  wisdom  of  God  in  the  frame  of  the  world, 
and  the  species  of  the  creatures.  * 

(2.)  The  wisdom  of  God  appears  in  his  government  of  his 
creatures.  The  regular  motion  of  the  creatures  speaks  for  this 
perfection,  as  well  as  the  exact  composition  of  them.  If  the 
exquisiteness  of  the  frame  conducts  us  to  the  skill  of  the  con- 
triver; the  exactness  of  their  order,  according  to  his  will  and 
law,  speaks  no  less  the  wisdom  of  the  Governor.  It  cannot  be 
thought  that  a  rash  and  irrational  power  presides  over  a  world 
so  well  disposed  :  the  disposition  of  things  has  no  less  charac- 
ters of  skill,  than  the  creation  of  them.  No  man  can  hear  an 
excellent  lesson  upon  a  lute,  but  «rnust  presently  reflect  upon 
the  art  of  the  person  that  touches  it.  The  prudence  of  man 
appears  in  wrapping  up  the  concerns  of  a  kingdom  in  his  mind. 
for  the  well  ordering  of  it;  and  shall  not  the  wisdom  of  God 
shine  forth,  as  he  is  the  Director  of  the  world? 

1  shall  omit  his  government  of  inanimate  creatures,  and  con- 
fine the  discourse  to  his  government  of  man,  as  rational,  as  sin- 
ful, as  restored. 

[1.]  In  his  government  of  man  as  a  rational  creature. 

This  is  seen  in  the  law  he  drives  to  man.  Wisdom  framed 
it,  though  will  enacted  it.  The  will  of  God  is  the  rule  of 
righteousness  to  us,  but  the  wisdom  of  God  is  the  foundation 
of  that  rule  of  righteousness  which  he  prescribes  us.  The 
composure  of  a  musician  is  the  rule  of  singing  to  his  scholars; 


(300  ON  TIIE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

yet  the  consent  and  harmony  in  that  composure,  derives  not 
itself  from  his  will,  but  from  his  understanding;  he  would  not 
be.  a  musician,  if  his  composures  were  contrary  to  the  rules  of 
true  harmony;  so  the  laws  of  men  are  composed  by  wisdom, 
though  they  are  enforced  by  will  and  authority.1 

The  moral  law,  which  was  the  law  of  nature,  the  law  im- 
printed upon  Adam,  is  so  framed,  as  to  secure  the  rights  of 

"  God  as  supreme,  and  the  rights  of  men  in  their  distinctions  of 
superiority  and  equality:  it  is  therefore  called  holy  and  good, 
Rom.  vii.  12;  holy,  as  it  prescribes  our  duty  to  God  in  his 
worship;  good,  as  it  regulates  the  ollices  of  human  life,  and 
preserves  the  common  interest  of  mankind. 

This  law  is  suited  to  the  nature  of  man.  As  God  has  given 
a  law  of  nature,  a  fixed  order  to  inanimate  creatures,  so  he  has 
given  a  law  of  reason  to  rational  creatures:  other  creatures  are 
not  capable  of  a  law  differencing  good  and  evil,  because  they 
are  destitute  of  faculties  and  capacities  to  make  distinction  be- 
tween them.  It  had  not  been  agreeable  to  the  wisdom  of  God 
to  propose  any  moral  law  to  them,  who  had  neither  understand- 
ing to  discern  nor  will  to  choose.  It  is  therefore  to  be  observed, 
that  while  Christ  exhorted  others  to  the  embracing  his  doctrine, 
yet  he  exhorted  not  little  children,  though  he  took  them  in  his 
arms,  because  though  they  had  faculties,  yet  they  were  not  come 

'to  such  a  maturity,  as  to  be  capable  of  a  rational  instruction. 
But  there  was  a  necessity  for  some  command  for  the  govern- 
ment of  man;  since  God  had  made  him  a  rational  creature,  it 
was  not  agreeable  to  his  wisdom  to  govern  him  as  a  brute,  but 
as  a  rational  creature,  capable  of  knowing  his  precepts,  and  vol- 
untarily walking  in  them;  and  without  a  law,  he  had  not  been 
capable  of  any  exercise  of  his  reason  in  services  respecting 
God. 

He  therefore  gives  him  a  law  with  a  covenant  annexed  to  it, 
whereby  man  is  obliged  to  obedience,  and  secured  of  a  reward. 
This  was  enforced  with  severe  penalties,  death,  with  all  the 
horrors  attending  it,  to  deter  him  from  transgression,  Gen.  ii. 
17;  wherein  is  implied  a  promise  of  continuance  of  life,  and  all 
its  felicities,  to  allure  him  to  a  mindfulness  of  his  obligation. 
So  perfect  a  hedge  did  Divine  wisdom  set  about  him,  to  keep 
him  within  the  bounds  of  that  obedience,  which  was  both  his 
debt  and  security,  that  wheresoever  he  looked,  he  saw  either 
something  to  invite  him,  or  something  to  drive  him  to  the  pay- 
ment of  his  duty,  and  perseverance  in  it.  Thus  the  law  was 
exactly  framed  to  the  nature  of  man;  man  had  twisted  in  him 
a  desire  of  happiness;  the  promise  was  suited  to  cherish  this 
natural  desire.  He  had  also  the  passion  of  fear;  the  proper  ob- 
ject of  this  was  any  thing  destructive  to  his  being,  nature,  and 

»  Castcllio  Dialog.  1.  4.  p.  66. 


ON  TIHE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (;()[ 

felicity;  this  the  threatening  met  with.  In  the  whole  it  vat 
accommodated  to  man  as  rational;  precepts  to  the  law  in  his 
mind,  promises  to  the  natural  appetite,  threatenings  of  the  most 
prevailing  affection,  and  to  the  implanted  desires  of  preserving 
both  his  heing  and  happiness  in  that  being.  These  were  rational 
motives  fitted  to  the  nature  of  Adam,  which  was  above  the  life 
God  had  given  plants,  and  the  sense  he  had  given  animals. 

The  command  given  man  in  innocence,  was  suited  to  his 
strength  and  power;  God  gave  him  not  any  command,  but  what 
he  had  ability  to  observe:  and  since  we  want  not  power  to  for- 
bear an  apple  in  onr  corrupted  and  impotent  state,  he  wanted 
not  strength  in  his  state  of  integrity.  The  wisdom  of  God  com- 
manded nothing,  but  what  was  very  easy  to  be  observed  by  him, 
and  inferior  to  his  natural  ability.  It  had  been  both  unjust  and 
unwise  to  have  commanded  him  to  fly  up  to  the  sun,  when  he 
had  not  wings;  or  stop  the  course  of  the  sea,  when  he  had  not 
strength. 

It  is  suited  to  the  happiness  and  benefit  of  man.  God's  laws 
are  not  an  act  of  mere  authority  respecting  his  own  glory,  but 
of  wisdom  and  goodness  respecting  man's  benefit.  They  are 
perfective  of  man's  nature,  conferring  a  wisdom  upon  him,  re- 
joicing his  heart,  enlightening  his  eyes,  Psal.  xix.  7,  8,  afford- 
ing him  both  a  knowledge  of  God  and  of  himself.  To  be  with- 
out a  law,  is  for  man  to  be  as  beasts,  without  justice  and  without 
religion:  other  things  are  for  the  good  of  the  body,  but  the  laws 
of  God  for  the  good  of  the  soul:  the  more  perfect  the  law,  the 
greater  the  benefit.  The  laws  given  to  the  Jews  were  the  hon- 
our and  excellency  of  that  nation:  "What  nation  is  there  so 
great,  that  has  statutes  and  judgments  so  righteous?"  Dent.  iv. 
8.  They  were  made  statesmen  in  the  judicial  law,  ecclesiastics 
in  the  ceremonial,  honest  men  in  the  second  table,  and  divine  in 
the  first.  All  his  laws  are  suited  to  the  true  satisfaction  of  man, 
and  the  good  of  human  society.  Had  God  framed  a  law  only 
for  one  nation,  there  would  have  been  the  characters  of  a  par- 
ticular wisdom;  but  now  a  universal  wisdom  appears,  in  accom- 
modating his  law,  not  only  to  this  or  that  particular  society  or 
corporation  of  men,  but  to  the  benefit  of  all  mankind  in  the 
variety  of  climates  and  countries  wherein  they  live.  Every 
thing  that  is  disturbing  to  human  society  is  provided  against; 
nothing  is  enjoined,  but  what  is  sweet,  rational,  and  useful :  it 
orders  us  not  to  attempt  any  thing  against  the  life  of  our  neigh* 
bour,  the  honour  of  his  bed,  propriety  in  his  goods,  and  the 
clearness  of  his  reputation;  and  if  well  observed,  would  alter 
the  face  of  the  world,  and  make  it  look  with  another  hue.  The 
world  would  be  altered  from  a  brutish  to  a  human  world;  it 
would  change  lions  and  wolves,  men  of  lion-like  and  wollish 
dispositions,  into  reason  and  sweetness.  And  because  the 
Vol.  I.— 76 


602  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

whole  law  is  summed  up  in  love,  it  obliges  us  to  endeavour 
the  preservation  of  one  another's  beings,  the  favouring  of  one 
another's  interests,  and  increasing  the  goods  as  much  as  jus- 
tice will  permit,  and  keeping  up  one  another's  credits;  because 
love,  which  is  the  soul  of  the  law,  is  not  shown  by  a  cessa- 
tion from  action,  but  signifies  an  order  upon  all  occasions  in 
doing  good.  I  say,  were  this  law  well  observed,  the  world 
would  be  another  thing  than  it  is.  It  would  become  a  religi- 
ous fraternity;  the  voice  of  enmity  and  the  noise  of  groans 
and  cursings  would  not  be  heard  in  our  streets;  peace  would 
be  in  all  borders;  plenty  of  charity  in  the  midst  of  cities  and 
countries;  joy  and  singing  would  sound  in  all  habitations. 
Man's  advantage  was  designed  in  God's  laws,  and  does  natu- 
rally result  from  the  observance  of  them.  God  so  ordered  them 
by  his  wisdom,  that  the  obedience  of  man  should  draw  forth  his 
goodness,  and  prevent  those  smarting  judgments,  which  were 
necessary  to  reduce  the  creature  to  order,  that  would  not  volun- 
tarily continue  in  the  order  God  had  appointed.  The  laws  of 
men  are  often  unjust,  oppressive,  cruel;  sometimes  against  the 
law  of  nature ;  but  a  universal  wisdom  and  righteousness  glitters 
in  the  Divine  law.  There  is  nothing  in  it,  but  what  is  worthy  of 
God,  and  useful  for  the  creature;  so  that  we  may  well  say  with 
Job,  Who  teaches  like  God?  Job  xxxvi.  22;  or  as  some  render 
it,  Who  is  a  law-giver  like  God?  Who  can  say  to  him,  Thou 
hast  wrought  iniquity  or  folly  among  men?  His  precepts  were 
framed  for  the  preservation  of  man  in  that  rectitude  wherein  he 
was  created,  in  that  likeness  to  God  wherein  he  was  first  made, 
that  there  might  be  a  correspondence  between  the  integrity  of 
the  creature  and  the  goodness  of  his  Creator,  by  the  obedience 
of  man;  that  man  might  exercise  his  faculties  in  operations 
worthy  of  him,  and  beneficial  to  the  world. 

The  wisdom  of  God  is  seen  in  suiting  his  laws  to  the  con- 
sciences as  well  as  the  interest  of  all  mankind.  The  gentiles 
do  by  nature  the  things  contained  in  the  law,  Rom.  ii.  14;  so 
great  an  affinity  there  is  between  the  wise  law  and  the  reason 
of  man. 

There  is  a  natural  beauty  emerging  from  them,  and  darting 
upon  the  reason  and  consciences  of  men,  which  dictates  to 
them  that  this  law  is  worthy  to  be  observed  in  itself.  The  two 
main  principles  of  the  law,  athe  love  and  worship  of  God,  and 
doing  as  we  would  be  done  by,"  have  an  indelible  impression 
in  the  consciences  of  all  men  in  regard  of  the  principle;  though 
they  are  not  suitably  expressed  in  the  practice.  Were  there  no 
law  outwardly  published,  yet  every  man's  conscience  would 
dictate  to  him,  that  God  was  to  be  acknowledged,  worshipped, 
loved,  as  naturally  as  his  reason  would  acquaint  him  that  there 
was  such  a  being  as  God.     The  suitableness  of  them  to  the 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (,()'> 

consciences  of  men,  is  manifest,  in  that  the  laws  of  the  best 
governed  nations  among  the  heathen  have  had  an  agreement 
with  them.  Nothing  can  be  more  exactly  composed,  accord- 
ing to  the  rules  of  right  ami  exacl  reason,  than  this;  ho  man 
but  approves  of  something  in  it,  yea,  of  the  whole,  when  he 
exercises  that  dim  reason  which  he  has.  Suppose  any  man, 
(not  an  absolute  atheist.)  he  cannot  but  acknowledge  the  rea- 
sonableness  of  worshipping  God.  Grant  God  to  be  a  Spirit, 
and  it  will  presently  appear  absurd  to  represent  him  by  any 
corporeal  image,  and  derogate  from  his  excellency  by  so  mean 
a  resemblance;  with  the  same  easiness  he  will  grant  a  reve- 
rence due  to  the  name  of  God;  that  we  must  not  serve  our 
turn  of  him,  by  calling  him  to  witness  to  a  lie  in  a  solemn  oath; 
that  as  worship  is  due  to  him,  so  some  stated  time  is  a  circum- 
stance necessary  to  the  performance  of  that  worship.  And  as 
to  the  second  table,  will  any  man  in  his  right  reason  quarrel 
with  that  command  that  engages  his  inferiors  to  honour  him; 
that  secures  his  being  from  a  violent  murder,  and  his  goods 
from  unjust  rapine?  And  though  by  the  fury  of  his  lusts  he 
breaks  the  laws  of  wedlock  himself,  yet  he  cannot  but  approve 
of  that  law,  as  it  prohibits  every  man  from  doing  him  the  like 
injury  and  disgrace.  The  suitableness  of  the  law  to  the  con- 
sciences of  men,  is  further  evidenced  by  those  furious  reflec- 
tions and  strong  alarms  of  conscience  upon  a  transgression  of 
it,  and  that  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  more  or  less  in  all  men; 
so  exactly  has  Divine  wisdom  fitted  the  law  to  the  reason  and 
consciences  of  men,  as  one  tally  to  another.  Indeed,  without 
such  an  agreement,  no  man's  conscience  could  have  any  ground 
for  a  "hue  and  cry,"  nor  indeed  any  man  be  startled  with  the 
records  of  it.  This  manifests  the  wisdom  of  God  in  framing 
his  law  so,  that  the  reasons  and  consciences  of  all  men  do  one 
time  or  other  subscribe,  to  it.  What  governor  in  the  world  is 
able  to  make  any  law  distinct  from  this  revealed  by  God,  that 
shall  reach  all  places,  all  persons,  all  hearts? 

We  may  add  to  this  the  extent  of  his  commands  in  ordering 
goodness  at  the  root,  not  only  in  action,  but  affection;  not  only 
in  the  motion  of  the  members,  but  the  disposition  of  the  soul; 
which  suiting  of  a  law  to  the  inward  frame  of  man,  is  quite 
out  of  the  compass  of  the  wisdom  of  any  creature. 

His  wisdom  is  seen  in  the  encouragements  he  gives  for  the 
studying  and  observing  his  will:  In  keeping  the  commandments 
there  is  great  reward,  Psal.  xix.  11.  The  variety  of  them; 
there  is  not  any  particular  genius  in  man,  but  may  find  some- 
tiling  suitable  to  win  upon  him  in  the  revealed  will  of  God. 
There  is  a  strain  of  reason,  to  satisfy  the  rational;  of  eloquence, 
to  gratify  the  fanciful;  of  interest,  to  allure  the  selfish;  of  terror, 
to  startle  the  obstinate.     As  a  skilful  angler  stores  himself  with 


f>()  {  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

baits,  according  to  the  appetites  of  the  sorts  of  fish  he  intends 
to  catch;  so  in  the  word  of  God,  there  are  varieties  of  baits, 
according  to  the  varieties  of  the  inclinations  of  men;  threaten- 
ings  to  wotk  upon  fear,  promises  to  work  upon  love,  examples 
of  holy  men  set  out  for  imitation;  and  those  plainly,  for  neither 
his  threatenings  nor  his  promises  are  dark,  as  the  heathen  ora- 
cles, but  peremptory,  as  becomes  a  sovereign  Lawgiver,  and 
plain,  as  was  necessary  for  the  understanding  of  a  creature.  As 
he  deals  graciously  with  men  in  exhorting  and  encouraging 
them;  so  he  deals  wisely  herein,  by  taking  away  all  excuse  from 
them  if  they  ruin  the  interest  of  their  souls  by  denying  obe- 
dience to  their  Sovereign. 

Again,  the  rewards  God  purposes  are  accommodated,  not  to 
the  brutish  parts  of  man,  his  carnal  sense  and  fleshly  appetite; 
but  to  the  capacity  of  a  spiritual  soul,  which  admits  only  of 
spiritual  gratifications;  and  cannot  in  its  own  nature,  without  a 
sordid  subjection  to  the  humours  of  the  body,  be  moved  by 
sensual  proposals.  God  backs  his  precepts  with  that  which  the 
nature  of  man  longed  for,  and  with  spiritual  delights,  which 
only  can  satisfy  a  rational  appetite;  and  thereby  did  as  well 
gratify  the  noblest  desires  in  man,  as  oblige  him  to  the  noblest 
service  and  work.1  Indeed  virtue  and  holiness  being  perfectly 
amiable,  ought  chiefly  to  affect  our  understandings,  and  by 
them  draw  our  wills  to  the  esteem  and  pursuit  of  them.  But 
since  the  desire  of  happiness  is  inseparable  from  the  nature  of 
man,  as  impossible  to  be  disjoined,  as  an  inclination  to  descend 
to  be  severed  from  heavy  bodies,  or  an  instinct  to  ascend  from 
light  and  airy  substances;  God  serves  himself  of  the  inclination 
of  our  natures  to  happiness,  to  engender  in  us  an  esteem  and 
affection  to  the  holiness  he  does  require.  He  purposes  the  en- 
joyment of  a  supernatural  good  and  everlasting  glory,  as  a  bait 
to  that  insatiable  longing  our  natures  have  for  happiness,  to  re- 
ceive the  impression  of  holiness  into  our  souls.  And  besides, 
he  does  proportion  rewards  according  to  the  degrees  of  men's 
industry,  labour,  and  zeal  for  him;  and  weighs  out  a  recom- 
pense, not  only  suited  to,  but  above  the  service.  He  that  im- 
proves five  talents,  is  to  :be  ruler  over  five  cities;  that  is,  a 
greater  proportion  of  hpnpur-  and  glory  than  another,  Luke  xix. 
18,  19;  as  a  wise  father  .excites  the  affection  of  his  children  to 
things  worthy  of  praise,  by  varieties;of  recompenses  according 
to  their  several  actions.  And  it  was  the  wisdom  of  the  steward, 
in  the  judgment  of  our  Saviour,  to  give  every  one  the  portion 
that  belonged  to  him,  Luke  xii.  42.  There  is  no  part  of  the 
word  wherein  we  meet  not  with  the  will  and  wisdom  of  God, 
varieties  of  duties  and  varieties  of  encouragement  mingled  to- 
gether. \ 

s  '  Amyrant.  \  • 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (J(j5 

The  wisdom  of  God  is  seen  in  fitting  the  revelations  of  his 
will  to  after-times,  and  for  the  preventing  of  the  foreseen  cor- 
ruptions of  men.  The  whole  revelation  of  the  mind  of  God  is 
stored  with  wisdom  in  the  words,  connexion,  sense;  it  looks 
backwards  to  past,  and  forwards  to  ages  to  come.  A  hidden 
wisdom  lies  in  die  bowels  of  it,  like  gold  in  a  mine. 

The  Old  Testament  was  so  composed,  as  to  fortify  the  New, 
when  God  should  bring  it  to  light.  The  foundations  of  the 
gospel  were  laid  in  the  law:  the  predictions  of  tin-  prophets, 
and  figures  of  the  law,  were  so  wisely  framed,  and  laid  down 
in  such  clear  expressions,  as  to  be  proofs  of  the  authority  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  convictions  of  Jesus  being  the  Messiah. 
Things  concerning  Christ  were  written  in  Moses,  the  Prophets, 
and  Psalms,  Luke  xxiv.  27,  and  do  to  this  day  stare  the  Jews 
so  in  the  face,  that  they  are  fain  to  invent  absurd  and  nonsen- 
sical interpretations  to  excuse  their  unbelief,  and  continue  them- 
selves in  their  obstinate  blindness.  And  in  pursuance  of  the 
efficacy  of  those  predictions,  it  was  a  part  of  the  wisdom  of  God 
to  bring  forth  the  translation  of  the  Old  Testament  (by  the 
means  of  Ptolemy,  king  of  Egypt,  some  hundreds  of  years  be- 
fore the  coming  of  Christ)  into  the  Greek  language,  the  tongue 
the  most  known  in  the  world.  And  why?  To  prepare  the 
gentiles  by  the  reading  of  it,  for  that  gracious  call  he  intended 
them,  and  for  the  entertainment  of  the  gospel,  which  some  few 
years  after  was  to  be  published  among  them;  that  by  reading 
the  predictions  so  long  before  made,  they  might  more  readily 
receive  the  accomplishment  of  them  in  their  due  time. 

The  Scripture  is  written  in  such  a  manner  as  to  obviate  errors 
foreseen  by  God  to  enter  into  the  church.  It  may  be  wondered 
why  the  universal  particle  should  be  inserted  by  Christ,  in  the 
giving  the  cup  in  the  supper,  which  was  not  in  the  distributing 
the  bread;  "Drink  ye  all  of  it,"  Matt.  xxvi.  27;  not  at  the  dis- 
tributing the  bread,  Eat  you  all  of  it.  And  Mark  in  his  rela- 
tion tells  us  "they  all  drank  of  it,"  Mark  xiv.  23.  The  church 
of  Rome  has  been  the  occasion  of  discovering  to  us  the  wis- 
dom of  our  Saviour  in  inserting  that  particle  all,  since  they 
were  so  bold  to  exclude  the  communicants  from  the  cup  by  a 
trick  of  concomitancy.  Christ  foresaw  the  error,  and  therefore 
put  in  a  little  word  to  obviate  a  great  invasion:  and  the  Spirit 
of  God  has  particularly  left  upon  record  that  particle,  as  we 
may  reasonably  suppose,  to  such  a  purpose.  And  so  in  the 
description  of  the  blessed  virgin,  Luke  i.  27.  There  is  nothing 
of  her  holiness  mentioned,  which  is  with  much  diligence  re- 
corded of  Elizabeth,  ver.  6.  "  Righteous — walking  in  all  the 
commandments  of  the  Lord  blameless;"  probably  to  prevent 
the  superstition  which  God  foresaw  would  arise  in  the  world. 
And  we  do  not  find  more  undervaluing  speeches,  uttered  by 


GOG  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

Christ  to  any  of  his  disciples  in  the  exercise  of  his  office,  than 
to  her,  except  to  Peter;  as  when  she  acquainted  him  with  the 
waul  of  wine  at  the  marriage  in  Cana,  she  receives  a  slighting 
answer,  "Woman,  what  have  I  to  do  with  thee?"  John  ii.  4; 
and  when  one  was  admiring  the  blessedness  of  her  that  bare 
him,  he  turns  the  discourse  another  way,  to  pronounce  a  bless- 
edness rather  belonging  to  them  that  hear  the  word  of  God 
and  keep  it,  Luke  xi.  21,  2S;  in  a  mighty  wisdom  to  furnish 
an  antidote  to  his  people  against  any  conceit  of  the  prevalency 
of  the  virgin  over  him  in  heaven,  in  the  exercise  of  his  medi- 
atory office. 

As  his  wisdom  appears  in  his  government  by  his  laws,  so  it 
appears  in  the  various  inclinations  and  conditions  of  men.  As 
there  is  a  distinction  of  several  creatures,  and  several  qualities 
in  them,  for  the  common  good  of  the  world,  so  among  men 
there  are  several  inclinations  and  several  abilities,  as  donatives 
from  God,  for  the  common  advantage  of  human  society.  Just 
as  several  channels  cut  out  from  the  same  river  run  several 
ways,  and  refresh  several  soils;  one  man  is  qualified  for  one 
employment,  and  another  marked  out  by  God  for  a  different 
work,  yet  all  of  them  fruitful  to  bring  in  a  revenue  of  glory  to 
God,  and  a  harvest  of  profit  to  the  rest,  of  mankind.  How  use- 
less would  the  body  be,  if  it  had  but  one  member!  1  Cor.  xii. 
19.  How  unprovided  would  a  house  be,  if  it  had  not  vessels 
of  dishonour  as  well  as  of  honour!  The  corporation  of  man- 
kind would  be  as  much  a  chaos,  as  the  matter  of  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  was,  before  it  was  distinguished  by  several  forms 
breathed  into  it  at  the  creation.  Some  are  inspired  with  a  par- 
ticular genius  for  one  art,  some  for  another:  every  man  has  a 
distinct  talent.  If  all  were  husbandmen,  where  would  be  the 
instruments  to  plough  and  reap?  If  all  were  artificers,  where 
would  they  have  corn  to  nourish  themselves?  All  men  are  like 
vessels,  and  parts  in  the  body,  designed  for  distinct  offices  and 
functions  for  the  good  of  the  whole,  and  mutually  return  an 
advantage  to  one  another. 

As  the  variety  of  gifts  in  the  church  is  a  fruit  of  the  wisdom 
of  God,  for  the  preservation  and  increase  of  the  church,  so  the 
variety  of  inclinations  and  employments  in  the  world  is  a  fruit 
of  the  wisdom  of  God,  for  the  preservation  and  subsistence  of 
the  world  by  mutual  commerce:  what  the  apostle  largely  dis- 
courses of  the  former  in  1  Cor.  xii.,  may  be  applied  to  the 
other. 

The  various  conditions  of  men  is  also  a  fruit  of  Divine  wis- 
dom. Some  are  rich,  and  some  poor;  the  rich  have  as  much 
need  of  the  poor  as  the  poor  have  of  the  rich:  if  the  poor  de- 
pend upon  the  rich  for  their  livelihood,  the  rich  depend  upon 
the  poor  for  their  conveniencies.     Many  arts  would  not  be 


ON  TDK  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (307 

learned  by  men,  if  poverty  did  not  oblige  them  to  it;  and  many 
would  faint  in  the  Learning  of  them,  if  they  were  not  thereunto 
encouraged  by  the  rich. 

The  poor  labour  for  the  rich,  as  the  earth  scuds  vapours  into 
the  vaster  and  fuller  air;  ami  the  rich  return  advantages  again 
to  the  poor,  as  the  clouds  do  the  vapours  in  rain  upon  the  earth. 
As  meat  would  not  afford  a  nourishing  juice  without  bread, 
and  bread  without  other  food  would  immoderately  fdl  the  sto- 
mach, and  not  be  well  digested  :  SO  the  rich  would  be  unprofit- 
able in  the  commonwealth  without  the  poor,  and  the  poor 
would  be  burdensome  to  a  commonwealth  without  the  rich. 
The  poor  could  not  be  easily  governed  without  the  rich,  nor 
the  rich  sufficiently  and  conveniently  provided  for  without  the 
poor.  If  all  were  rich,  there  would  be  no  objects  for  the  exer- 
cise of  a  noble  part  of  charity,  if  all  were  poor,  there  were  no 
matter  for  the  exercise  of  it.  Thus  the  Divine  wisdom  planted 
various  inclinations,  and  diversified  the  conditions  of  men  for 
the  public  advantages  of  the  world. 

[2.]  God's  wisdom  appears,  in  the  government  of  men,  as 
fallen  and  sinful;  or  in  the  government  of  sin.  After  the  law 
of  God  was  broken,  and  sin  invaded  and  conquered  the  world; 
Divine  wisdom  had  another  scene  to  act  in,  and  other  methods 
of  government  were  necessary.  The  wisdom  of  God  is  then 
seen  in  ordering  those  jarring  discords,  drawing  good  out  of 
evil,  and  honour  to  himself  out  of  that,  which  in  its  own  nature 
tended  to  the  supplanting  of  his  glory.  God  being  a  sovereign 
good,  would  not  suffer  so  great  an  evil  to  enter,  but  to  serve 
himself  of  it  for  some  greater  end;  for  all  his  thoughts  are  full 
of  goodness  and  wisdom. 

Now  though  the  permission  of  sin  be  an  act  of  his  sove- 
reignty, and  the  punishment  of  sin  be  an  act  of  his  justice;  yet 
the  ordination  of  sin  to  good  is  an  act  of  his  wisdom,  whereby 
he  does  dispose  the  evil,  overrules  the  malice,  and  orders  the 
events  of  it  to  his  own  purposes.  Sin  in  itself  is  a  disorder,  arid 
therefore  God  does  not  permit  sin  for  itself;  for  in  its  own  na- 
ture it  has  nothing  of  amiableness;  but  he  wills  it  for  some 
righteous  end,  which  belongs  to  the  manifestation  of  his  glory, 
which  is  his  aim  in  all  the  acts  of  his  will:  he  wills  it,  not  as 
sin,  but  as  his  wisdom  can  order  it  to  some  greater  good  than 
was  before  in  the  world,  and  make  it  contribute  to  the  beauty 
of  the  order  he  intends.  As  a  dark  shadow  is  not  delightful 
and  pleasant  in  itself,  nor  is  drawn  by  a  painter  for  any  amia- 
bleness there  is  in  the  shadow  itself,  but  as  it  serves  to  set  forth 
thai  beauty,  which  is  the  main  design  of  his  art;  so  the  glo- 
rious effects  which  arise  from  the  entrance  of  sin  into  the  world, 
are  not  from  the  creature's  evil,  but  from  the  depths  of  Divine 
wisdom. 


608  0N  TIIE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

Particularly, 

God's  wisdom  is  seen  in  the  bounding  of  sin.  As  it  is  said 
of  the  wrath  of  man,  it  shall  praise  him,  and  the  remainder  of 
wrath  God  does  restrain,  Psal.  lxxvi.  10.  He  sets  limits  to  the 
boiling  corruption  of  the  heart,  as  he  does  to  the  boisterous 
waves  of  the  sea,  Hitherto  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  further.  As 
God  is  the  Rector  of  the  world,  he  does  so  restrain  sin,  so  tem- 
per and  direct  it,  as  that  human  society  is  preserved,  which 
else  would  be  overflowed  with  a  deluge  of  wickedness,  and 
ruin  would  be  brought  upon  all  communities.  The  world 
would  be  a  shambles,  a  brothel-house,  if  God,  by  his  wisdom 
and  goodness,  did  not  set  bars  to  that  wickedness  which  is  in 
the  hearts  of  men:  the  whole  earth  would  be  as  bad  as  hell. 
Since  the  heart  of  man  is  a  hell  of  corruption,  by  that  the  souls 
of  all  men  would  be  excited  to  the  acting  of  the  worst  villanies: 
since  every  thought  of  the  heart  of  man  is  only  evil,  and  that 
continually,  Gen.  vi.  5 — if  the  wisdom  of  God  did  not  stop 
these  floodgates  of  evil  in  the  hearts  of  men,  it  would  over- 
flow the  world,  and  frustrate  all  the  gracious  designs  he  carries 
on  among  the  sons  of  men.  Were  it  not  for  this  wisdom,  every 
house  would  be  filled  with  violence,  as  well  as  every  nature  is 
with  sin.  What  harm  would  not  strong  and  furious  beasts  do, 
did  not  the  skill  of  man  tame  and  bridle  them!  How  often  has 
Divine  wisdom  restrained  the  viciousness  of  human  nature,  and 
let  it  run,  not  to  that  point  they  designed,  but  to  the  end  he 
proposed!  Laban's  fury,  and  Esau's  enmity  against  Jacob, 
were  pent  in  within  bounds  for  Jacob's  safety,  and  their  hearts 
overruled  from  an  intended  destruction  of  the  good  man  to  a 
perfect  amity,  Gen.  xxxi.  29,  and  xxxiii. 

God's  wisdom  is  seen,  in  the  bringing  glory  to  himself  out 
of  sin. 

Out  of  sin  itself.  God  erects  the  trophies  of  honour  upon 
that,  which  is  a  natural  means  to  injure  and  deface  it.  His 
glorious  attributes  are  drawn  out  to  our  view,  upon  the  occa- 
sion of  sin,  which  otherwise  had  lain  hid  in  his  own  being. 
Sin  is  altogether  black  and  abominable;  but  by  the  admirable 
wisdom  of  God,  he  has  drawn  out  of  the  dreadful  darkness  of 
sin,  the  saving  beams  of  his  mercy,  and  displayed  his  grace  in 
the  incarnation  and  passion  of  his  Son  for  the  atonement  of 
sin.  Thus  he  permitted  Adam's  fall,  and  wisely  ordered  it, 
for  a  fuller  discovery  of  his  own  nature,  and  a  higher  elevation 
of  man's  good;  that  "as  sin  hath  reigned  unto  death,  even  so 
might  grace  reign  through  righteousness  unto  eternal  life  by 
Jesus  Christ,"  Rom.  v.  21.  The  unbounded  goodness  of  God 
could  not  have  appeared  without  it.  His  goodness  in  reward- 
ing innocent  obedience,  would  have  been  manifested;  but  not 
his  mercy,  in  pardoning  rebellious  crimes.     An  innocent  crea- 


OH  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD  (jq<j 

tun:  is  the  object  of  the  rewards  of  grace,  as  tin'  standing  angels 
are  under  the  beams  of  grace;  but  ool  under  the  beams  of 
mercy,  beeause  they  were  never  sinful,  and  consequently  never 
miserable.  Without  sin  Ihe  creature  had  not  been  miserable. 
Had  man  remained  innocent,  he  had  nol  been  the  subject  of 
punishment;  and  without  the  creature's  misery,  God's  mercy 
in  sending  his  Son  to  save  his  enemies,  could  not  have  appeared. 
The  abundance  of  sin  is  a  passive  occasion  for  God  to  manifest 
the  abundance  of  his  grace. 

The  power  of  God  in  the  changing  the  heart  of  a  rebellious 
creature,  had  not  appeared,  had  not  sin  infected  onr  nature. 
We  had  not  clearly  known  the  vindictive  justice  of  God,  had 
no  crime  been  committed;  for  that  is  the  proper  ohject  of  Di- 
vine wrath.  The  goodness  of  God  could  never  have  permitted 
justice  to  exercise  itself  upon  an  innocent  creature,  that  was 
not  guilty  cither  personally,  or  by  imputation.  "The  righteous 
Lord  loveth  righteousness;  his  countenance  doth  behold  the 
upright,"  Psal.  xi.  7.  Wisdom  is  illustrious  hereby.  God  suf- 
fered man  to  fall  into  a  mortal  disease,  to  show  the  virtue  of 
his  own  restoratives  to  cure  sin,  which  in  itself  is  incurable  by 
the  art  of  any  creature.  And  otherwise  this  perfection  whereby 
God  draws  good  out  of  evil,  had  been  utterly  useless,  and 
would  have  been  destitute  of  an  object  wherein  to  discover 
itself. 

Again,  wisdom  in  ordering  a  rebellious  headstrong  world  to 
its  own  ends,  is  greater  than  the  ordering  an  innocent  world, 
exactly  observant  of  his  precepts,  and  complying  with  the  end 
of  the  creation.  Now,  without  the  entrance  of  sin,  this  wis- 
dom had  wanted  a  stage  to  act  upon.  Thus  God  raised  the 
honour  of  his  wisdom,  while  man  ruined  the  integrity  of  his 
nature;  and  made  use  of  the  creature's  breach  of  his  Divine 
law,  to  establish  the  honour  of  it  in  a  more  signal  and  stable 
manner,  by  the  active  and  passive  obedience  of  the  Son  of  his 
bosom.  Nothing  serves  God  so  much,  (as  an  occasion  of  glo- 
rifying himself.)  as  the  entrance  of  sin  into  the  world;  by  this 
occasion  God  communicates  to  us  the  knowledge  of  those  per- 
fections of  his  nature,  which  had  else  been  folded  up  from  us 
in  an  eternal  night;  his  justice  had  lain  in  the  dark,  as  having 
nothing  to  punish;  his  mercy  had  been  obscure,  as  having 
none  to  pardon;  a  great  part  of  his  wisdom  had  been  silent,  as 
having  no  such  object  to  order. 

Ills  wisdom  appeals,  in  making  use  of  sinful  instruments. 
He  uses  the  malice  and  enmity  of  the  devil  to  bring  about  his 
own  purposes,  and  make  the  sworn  enemy  of  his  honour  con- 
tribute  to  the  illustrating  of  it  against  his  will.  This  gr»  at 
crafts-master  he  took  in  his  own  net,  and  defeated  the  devil  by 
the  devil's  malice;  by  turning  the  contrivances  he  had  hatched 
Vol.   I.— 77 


6|Q  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

and  accomplished  against  man,  against  himself.  He  used  him 
as  a  tempter,  to  grapple  with  our  Saviour  in  the  wilderness, 
whereby  to  make  him  fit  to  succour  us;  and  as  the  god  of  this 
world,  to  inspire  the  wicked  Jews  to  crucify  him,  whereby  to 
render  him  actually  the  Redeemer  of  the  world,  and  so  made 
him  an  ignorant  instrument  of  that  Divine  glory  he  designed  to 
ruin. 

It  is  more  skill  to  make  a  curious  piece  of  workmanship  with 
ill-conditioned  tools,  than  with  instruments  naturally  fitted  for 
the  work:  it  is  no  such  great  wonder  for  a  limner  to  draw  an 
exact  piece  with  a  fit  pencil  and  suitable  colours,  as  to  begin 
and  perfect  a  beautiful  work  with  a  straw  and  water,  things 
improper  for  such  a  design. l  This  wisdom  of  God  is  more 
admirable  and  astonishing,  than  if  a  man  were  able  to  rear  a 
vast  palace  by  fire,  whose  nature  is  to  consume  combustible 
matter,  not  to  erect  a  building. 

To  make  things  serviceable  contrary  to  their  own  nature,  is 
a  wisdom  peculiar  to  the  Creator  of  nature.  God's  making 
use  of  devils,  for  the  glory  of  his  name,  and  the  good  of  his 
people,  is  a  more  amazing  piece  of  wisdom,  than  his  goodness 
in  employing  the  blessed  angels  in  his  work.  To  promise, 
that  the  world,  (which  includes  the  god  of  the  world.)  and 
death,  and  things- present,  let  them  be  as  evil  as  they  will, 
should  be  ours,  that  is,  for  our  good,  and  for  his  glory,  is  an 
act  of  goodness;  but  to  make  them  serviceable  to  the  honour 
of  Christ,  and  the  good  of  his  people,  is  a  wisdom  that  may 
well  raise  our  highest  admiration,  1  Cor.  iii.  22.  They  are  for 
believers,  as  they  are  for  the  glory  of  Christ,  and  as  Christ  is 
for  the  glory  of  God. 

To  chain  up  Satan  wholly,  and  frustrate  his  wiles,  would  be 
an  argument  of  Divine  goodness;  but  to  suffer  him  to  run  his 
risk,  and  then  improve  all  his  contrivances  for  glorious  and 
gracious  ends  and  purposes,  manifests,  besides  his  power  and 
goodness,  his  wisdom  also.  He  uses  the  sins  of  evil  instru- 
ments for  the  glory  of  his  justice,  Isa.  x.  5 — 7.  Thus  he  served 
himself  of  the  ambition  and  covetousness  of  the  Assyrians, 
Chaldeans,  and  Romans,  for  the  correction  of  his  people  and 
punishment  of  his  rebels;  just  as  the  Roman  magistrates  used 
the  fury  of  lions  and  other  wild  beasts,  in  their  theatres,  for  the 
punishment  of  criminals.  The  lions  acted  their  natural  temper 
in  tearing  those  that  were  exposed  to  them  for  a  prey;  but  the 
intent  of  the  magistrates  was  to  punish  their  crimes.  The 
magistrate  inspired  not  the  lions  with  their  rage;  that  they  had 
from  their  natures;  but  served  themselves  of  that  natural  rage, 
to  execute  justice. 

God's  wisdom  is  seen  in  bringing  good  to  the  creature  out  of 

i  Moulins  Serm.  decad,  10.  p.  231,  232. 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  ,;|| 

sin.  He  has  ordered  sin  to  such  an  end  as  man  never  dreamed 
of,  the  devil  never  imagined,  and  sin  in  its  own  nature  could 
never  attain.  Sin  in  its  own  nature  tends  to  no  good,  but  that 
of  punishment,  whereby  Che  creature  is  brought  into  order.  It 
has  no  relation  to  the  creature's  good  in  itself,  but  to  the  crea- 
ture's mischief:  but  God,  by  an  act  of  infinite  wisdom,  brings 
good  out  of  it  to  the  creature,  as  well  as  glory  to  bis  name,  con- 
trary to  the  nature  of  tbe  crime,  the  intention  of  the  criminal, 
and  the  design  of  the  tempter. 

God  willed  sin,  that  is,  he  willed  to  permit  it,  that  he  might 
communicate  himself  to  the  creature  in  the  most  excellent  man- 
ner. He  willed  the  permission  of  sin,  as  an  occasion  to  bring 
forth  the  mystery  of  the  incarnation  and  passion  of  our  Saviour; 
as  he  permitted  the  sin  of  Joseph's  brethren,  that  he  might  use 
their  evil  to  a  good  end.  He  never,  because  of  his  holiness, 
wills  sin  as  an  end;  but  in  regard  of  his  wisdom,  he  wills  to 
permit  it  as  a  means  and  occasion.  And  thus,  to  draw  good 
out  of  those  things  which  are  in  their  own  nature  most  contrary 
to  good,  is  the  highest  pitch  of  wisdom.     To  particularize — 

The  redemption  of  man  in  so  excellent  a  way,  was  drawn 
from  the  occasion  of  sin.  The  greatest  blessing  that  ever  tbe 
world  was  blessed  with,  was  ushered  in  by  contrarieties:  by 
the  lust  and  irregular  affection  of  man;  the  first  promise  of  the 
Redeemer  by  the  fall  of  Adam,  Gen.  iii.  15,  and  the  bruising 
the  heel  of  that  promised  Seed  by  the  blackest  tragedy  acted 
by  wicked  rebels,  the  treachery  of  Judas  and  the  rage  of  the 
Jews;  the  highest  good  has  been  brought  forth  by  the  greatest 
wickedness.  As  God  out  of  the  chaos  of  rude  and  indigested 
matter  framed  the  first  creation,  so  from  the  sins  of  men,  and 
malice  of  Satan,  he  has  erected  the  everlasting  scheme  of  ho- 
nour in  a  new  creation  of  all  things  by  Jesus  Christ. 

The  devil  inspired  man,  to  content  his  own  fury  in  the  death 
of  Christ;  and  God  ordered  it  to  accomplish  his  own  design  of 
redemption  in  the  passion  of  the  Redeemer.  The  devil  had  bis 
diabolical  ends,  and  God  overpowers  his  action  to  serve  bis 
own  divine  ends.  The  person  that  betrayed  him,  was  admitted 
to  be  a  spectator  of  the  most  private  actions  of  our  Saviour, 
that  his  innocence  might  be  justified;  to  show  that  he  was  not 
afraid  to  have  his  enemies  judges  of  his  most  retired  privacies. 
While  they  all  thought  to  do  their  own  wills.  Divine  wisdom 
orders  them  to  do  God's  will.  "  Him  beimr  delivered  by  the 
determinate  counsel  and  foreknowledge  of  God,  ye  have  taken, 
and  by  wicked  hands  have  crucified  and  slain,''  Acts  ii.  23. 
And  wherein  tbe  erueiliers  of  Christ  sinned,  in  shedding  tbe 
richest  blood,  upon  their  repentance  they  found  the  expiation 
of  their  crimes,  and  the  discovery  of  a  superabundant  men  y. 
Nothing  but  blood  was  aimed  at  by  them;  the  best  blood  was 


612  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

shed  by  them;  but  infinite  wisdom  makes  the  cross  the  scene 
of  his  own  righteousness,  and  the  womb  of  man's  recovery. 

By  the  occasion  of  man's  lapsed  state,  there  was  a  way  open 
to  raise  man  to  a  more  excellent  condition,  than  that  whereinto 
he  was  put  by  creation:  and  the  depriving  man  of  the  happi- 
ness of  an  earthly  paradise,  in  a  way  of  justice,  was  an  occasion 
of  advancing  him  to  a  heavenly  felicity,  in  a  way  of  grace. 
The  violation  of  the  old  covenant,  occasionally  introduced  a 
better;  the  loss  of  the  first  integrity,  ushered  in  a  more  stable 
righteousness,  an  everlasting  righteousness,  Dan.  ix.  24;  and  the 
falling  of  the  first  head,  was  succeeded  by  one  whose  standing 
could  not  but  be  eternal. 

The  fall  of  the  devil  was  ordered  by  infinite  wisdom,  for  the 
good  of  that  body  from  which  he  fell.  It  is  supposed  by  some, 
that  the  devil  was  the  chief  angel  in  heaven,  the  head  of  all 
the  rest;  and  that  he  falling,  the  angels  were  left  as  a  body 
without  a  head;  and  after  he  had  politically  beheaded  the  an- 
gels, he  endeavoured  to  destroy  man,  and  root  him  out  of  para- 
dise: but  God  takes  the  opportunity  to  set  up  his  Son,  as  the 
head  of  angels  and  men.  And  thus,  whilst  the  devil  endea- 
voured to  spoil  the  corporation  of  angels,  and  make  them  a 
body  contrary  to  God,  God  makes  angels  and  men  one  body 
under  one  head,  for  his  service. 

The  angels,  in  losing  a  defectible  head,  attained  a  more  ex- 
cellent and  glorious  head  in  another  nature,  which  they  had 
not  before;  though  of  a  lower  nature  in  his  humanity,  yet  of  a 
more  glorious  nature  in  his  Divinity:  from  whence  many  sup- 
pose they  derive  their  confirming  grace,  and  the  stability  of 
their  standing.  All  things  in  heaven  and  earth  are  gathered 
together  in  Christ,  Eph.  i.  10;  ccvaxtrpaxaiasaa^cu,  all  united  in 
him,  and  reduced  under  one  head:  that  though  our  Saviour  be 
not  properly  their  Redeemer,  for  redemption  supposes  capti- 
vity, yet  in  some  sense  he  is  their  Head  and  Mediator;  so  that 
now  the  inhabitants  of  heaven  and  earth  are  but  one  family, 
Eph.  iii.  15.  And  the  innumerable  company  of  angels  are 
parts  of  that  heavenly  and  triumphant  Jerusalem,  and  that 
general  assembly,  whereof  Jesus  Christ  is  Mediator,  lieb.  xii. 
22—24. 

The  good  of  a  nation  often,  by  the  skill  of  Divine  wisdom, 
is  promoted  by  the  sins  of  some  men.  The  patriarchs'  selling 
Joseph  to  the  Midianites,  Gen.  xxxvii.  2S,  was  without  ques- 
tion a  sin,  and  a  breach  of  natural  affection;  yet  by  God's  wise 
ordination,  it  proved  the  safety  of  the  whole  church  of  God  in 
the  world,  as  well  as  the  Egyptian  nation,  Gen.  xlv.  5.  S,  and 
1.  20. 

The  Jews'  unbelief  was  a  step  whereby  the  gentiles  arose  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  gospel:  Matt.  xxii.  9;  as  the  setting  of 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  ,;j;> 

the  sun  in  one  place,  is  the  rising  of  it  in  another.  He  uses 
the  corruptions  of  men  instru  men  tally  to  propagate  liis  gospel: 
he  built  up  t ho  true  church  by  the  preaching  of  some  out  of 
envy,  Phil.  i.  15;  as  lit;  blessed  Israel  out  of  the  mouth  of  a 
false  prophet,  Numb,  xxiii.  How  often  have  the  heresies  of 
men  been  the  occasion  of  clearing  up  the  truth  of  God,  and  fix- 
ing the  more  lively  impressions  of  it  on  the  hearts  of  believers! 

Neither  Judah  nor  Tamar,  in  their  hist,  dreamed  of  a  stock 
for  the  Redeemer;  yet  God  gave  a  son  from  that  unlawful  bed, 
whereof  Christ  came  according  to  the  flesh,  Gen.  xxxviii.  29, 
compared  with  Matt.  i.  3. 

Jonah's  sin  was  probahly  the  first  and  remote  occasion  of 
the  Ninevites  giving  credit  to  his  prophecy:  his  sin  was  the 
cause  of  his  punishment,  and  his  being  flung  into  the  sea  might 
facilitate  the  reception  of  his  message, and  excite  the  Ninevites' 
repentance,  whereby  a  cloud  of  severe  judgment  was  blown 
away  from  them. 

It  is  thought  by  some,  that  when  Jonah  passed  through  the 
streets  of  Nineveh  with  his  proclamation  of  destruction,  he 
might  be  known  by  some  of  the  mariners  of  that  ship,  from 
whence  he  was  cast  overboard  into  the  sea,  and  might  after 
their  voyage  be  occasionally  in  that  city,  the  metropolis  of  the 
nation,  and  the  place  of  the  birth  of  some;  and  might  acquaint 
the  people  that  this  was  the  same  person  they  had  cast  into  the 
sea  by  his  own  consent,  for  his  acknowledged  running  from 
the  presence  of  the  Lord;  for  that  he  had  told  them,  Jonah  i. 
10,  and  the  mariners'  prayer,  ver.  14,  evidences  it;  whereupon 
they  might  conclude  his  message  worthy  of  belief,  since  they 
knew  from  such  evidences,  that  lie  had  sunk  into  the  bowels  of 
the  waters,and  now  saw  him  safe  in  their  streets,  by  a  deliver* 
ance  unknown  to  them;  and  that  therefore  that  Power  that 
delivered  him,  could  easily  verify  his  word  in  the  threatened 
judgment. 

Had  Jonah  gone  at  ffrst  without  committing  that  sin,  and 
receiving  that  punishment,  his  message  had  not  been  judged  a 
Divine  prediction,  but  a  fruit  of  some  enthusiastic  madness: 
his  sin  upon  this  account  was  the  first  occasion  of  averting  a 
judgment  from  so  great  a  city. 

The  good  of  the  sinner  himself  is  sometimes  promoted  by 
Divine  wisdom  ordering  the  sin.  As  God  had  not  permitted 
sin  to  enter  upon  the  world,  unless  to  bring  glory  to  himself  by 
it;  so  he  would  not  let  sin  remain  in  the  little  world  of  a  be- 
liever's heart,  if  lie  did  not  intend  to  order  it  for  his  good. 
What  is  done  by  man  to  his  damage  and  disparagement,  is 
directed  by  Divine  wisdom  to  his  advantage;  not  that  it  is  the 
intent  of  the  sin.  or  the  sinner;  but  it  is  the  event  of  the  sin,  by 
the  ordination  of  Divine  wisdom  and  grace. 


Q\4-  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

As  without  the  wisdom  of  God  permitting  sin  to  enter  into 
the  world,  some  attributes  of  God  had  not  been  experimentally 
known;  so  some  graces  could  not  have  been  exercised.  For 
where  had  there  been  an  object  for  that  noble  zeal,  in  vindi- 
cating the  glory  of  God,  had  it  not  been  invaded  by  an  enemy? 
The  intcnseness  of  love  to  him  could  not  have  been  so  strong, 
had  we  not  an  enemy  to  hate  for  his  sake.  Where  had  there 
been  any  place  for  that  noble  part  of  charity  in  holy  admoni- 
tions and  compassion  to  the  souls  of  our  neighbours,  and  endea- 
vours to  reduce  them  out  of  a  destructive  to  a  happy  path? 
Humility  would  not  have  had  so  many  grounds  for  its  growth 
and  exercise,  and  holy  sorrow  had  had  no  fuel. 

And  as  without  the  appearance  of  sin  there  had  been  no 
exercise  of  the  patience  of  God;  so  without  afflictions,  the 
fruits  of  sin,  there  had  been  no  ground  for  the  exercise  of  the 
patience  of  a  Christian,  one  of  the  noblest  parts  of  valour. 
Now  sin  being  evil,  and  such  as  cannot  but  be  evil,  has  no 
respect  in  itself  to  any  good,  and  cannot  work  a  gracious  end, 
or  any  thing  profitable  to  the  creature ;  nay,  it  is  a  hinderance  to 
any  good,  and  therefore  what  good  comes  from  it,  is  accidental, 
occasioned  indeed  by  sin,  but  efficiently  caused  by  the  over- 
ruling wisdom  of  God,  taking  occasion  thereby  to  display  itself 
and  the  Divine  goodness. 

The  sins  and  corruptions  remaining  in  the  heart  of  a  man, 
God  orders  for  good,  and  there  are  good  effects  by  the  direction 
of  his  wisdom  and  grace. 

A*  the  soul  respects  God. 

Good  often  brings  forth  a  sensibleness  of  the  necessity  of  de- 
pendence on  him.  The  nurse  often  lets  the  child  slip,  that  it 
may  the  better  know  who  supports  it,  and  may  not  be  too  ven- 
turous and  confident  of  its  own  strength.  Peter  would  trust  in 
habitual  grace,  and  God  suffers  him  to  fall,  that  he  might  trust 
more  in  assisting  grace;  "Though  I  should  die  with  thee,  yet 
will  I  not  deny  thee,"  Matt.  xxvi.  35.  God  leaves  sometimes 
the  brightest  souls  in  an  eclipse,  to  manifest,  that  their  holiness, 
and  the  preservation  of  it,  depend  upon  the  darting  out  his 
beams  upon  them. 

As  the  falls  of  men  are  the  effects  of  their  coldness  and  remiss- 
ness in  acts  of  faith  and  repentance;  so  the  fruit  of  these  falls  is 
often  a  running  to  him  for  refuge,  and  a  deeper  sensibleness 
where  their  security  lies.  It  makes  us  lower  our  swelling  sails, 
and  come  under  the  lee  and  protection  of  Divine  grace.  When 
the  pleasures  of  sin  answer  not  the  expectations  of  a  revolted 
creature,  he  reflects  upon  his  former  state,  and  sticks  more  close 
to  God,  when  before  God  had  little  of  his  company:  "  I  will  go 
and  return  to  my  first  husband;  for  then  was  it  better  with  me 
than  now,"  Iios.  ii.  7. 


on  Tin:  wisdom  ok  <;oi>.  gjg 

As  God  makes  the  sins  of  nun  sometimes  an  occasion  of  their 
conversion;  so  he  sometimes  makes  them  an  occasion  of  a  fur- 
ther conversion.  Onesimua  ran  from  Philemon,  and  was  met 
with  by  Paul,  who  proved  an  instrument  of  his  conversion: 
"My  son  Onesimns,  whom  I  have  begotten  in  my  bonds/' 
Philem.  LO.  I  lis  flight  from  his  master  was  the  occasion  of  his 
neration  by  Paul  a  prisoner. 

Tin'  fails  of  believers  God  orders  to  their  further  stability:  he 
that  is  fallen  for  want  of  using  Ins  stall',  will  lean  more  upon  it 
to  preserve  himself  from  the  like  disaster. 

God,  by  permitting  the  lapses  of  men,  does  often  make  them 
despair  of  their  own  strength  to  subdue  their  enemies,  and  rely 
upon  the  strength  of  Christ,  wherein  God  has  laid  up  power  for 
us,  and  so  becomes  stronger  in  that  strength  which  God  has 
ordained  lor  them. 

We  are  very  apt  to  trust  in  ourselves,  and  have  confidence 
in  our  own  worth  and  strength;  and  God  lets  loose  corruptions 
to  abate  this  swelling  humour.  This  was  the  reason  of  the 
apostle  Paul's  thorn  in  the  flesh,  2  Cor.  xii.  9;  whether  it  were 
a  temptation,  or  corruption,  or  sickness,  that  he  might  be  sensi- 
ble of  his  own  inability,  and  where  the  sufficiency  of  grace  for 
him  was  placed. 

lie  that  is  in  danger  of  drowning,  and  has  the  waves  come 
over  his  head,  will,  with  all  the  might  he  has,  lay  hold  upon  any 
thing  near  him,  which  is  capable  to  save  him.  God  lets  his 
people  sometimes  sink  into  such  condition,  that  they  may  lay 
the  faster  hold  on  him  who  is  near  to  all  that  call  upon  bun. 

God  hereby  raises  higher  estimations  of  the  value  and  virtue 
of  the  blood  of  Christ.  As  the  great  reason  why  God  permitted 
sin  to  enter  into  the  world,  was  to  honour  himself  in  the  Re- 
deemer; so  the  continuance  of  sin,  and  the  conquests  it  some- 
times makes  in  renewed  men,  are  to  honour  the  infinite  value 
and  virtue  of  the  Redeemer's  merit,  which  God  from  the  begin- 
ning intended  to  magnify;  the  value  of  it,  in  taking  off  so  much 
successive  guilt;  and  the  virtue  of  it,  in  washing  away  so  much 
daily  filth. 

The  wisdom  of  God  hereby  keeps  up  the  credit  of  imputed 
righteousness,  and  manifests  the  immense  treasure  of  the  Re- 
deemer's merit  to  pay  such  daily  debt-;.  Were  we  perfectly 
sanctified,  we  should  stand  upon  our  own  bottom,  and  imagine 
no  need  of  the  continual  and  repeated  imputation  of  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ  for  our  justification:  we  should  confide  in 
inherent  righteousness,  ami  slight  imputed. 

If  God  should  take  oil' all  remainders  of  sin,  as  well  as  the 
guilt  of  it,  we  should  be  apt  to  forget  that  we  are  fallen  crea- 
tures, and  that  we  had  a  Redeemer;  but  the  relics  of  sin  in  us, 
remind  us  of  the  necessity  of  some  higher  strength  to  set  us  right: 


61(3  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

they  remind  us  both  of  our  own  misery,  and  the  Redeemer's  per- 
petual benefit.  God  by  this  keeps  up  the  dignity  and  honour 
of  our  Saviour's  blood  to  the  height,  and  therefore  sometimes 
lets  us  see,  to  our  own  cost,  what  filth  yet  remains  in  us  for  the 
employment  of  that  blood,  which  we  should  else  but  little  think 
of,  and  less  admire.  Our  gratitude  is  so  small  to  God,  as  well 
as  man,  that  the  first  obligations  are  soon  forgotten,  if  we  stand 
not  in  need  of  fresh  ones  successively  to  second  them;  we  should 
lose  our  thankful  remembrance  of  the  first  virtue  of  Christ's 
blood  in  washing  us,  if  our  infirmities  did  not  mind  us  of  fresh 
reiterations  and  applications  of  it. 

Our  Saviour's  office  of  advocacy  was  erected  especially  for 
sins  committed  after  a  justified  and  renewed  state,  1  John  ii.  1. 
We  should  scarce  remember  we  had  an  Advocate,  and  scarce 
make  use  of  him  without  some  sensible  necessity;  but  our  re- 
mainders of  sin  discover  our  impotency,  and  an  impossibility 
for  us  either  to  expiate  our  sin,  or  conform  to  the  law,  which 
necessitates  us  to  have  recourse  to  that  person  whom  God  has 
appointed,  to  make  up  the  breaches  between  God  and  us. 

So  the  apostle  wraps  up  himself  in  the  covenant  of  grace  and 
his  interest  in  Christ,  after  his  conflict  with  sin,  "  I  thank  God 
through  Jesus  Christ,  Rom.  vii.  25.  Now,  after  such  a  body 
of  death,  a  principle  within  me  that  sends  up  daily  streams; 
yet  as  long  as  I  serve  God  with  my  mind,  as  long  as  I  keep  the 
main  condition  of  the  covenant,  there  is  no  condemnation,  Rom. 
viii.  1:  Christ  takes  my  part,  procures  my  acceptance,  and  holds 
the  band  of  salvation  firm  in  his  hands.  The  brightness  of 
Christ's  grace,  is  set  off  by  the  darkness  of  our  sin.  We  should 
not  understand  the  sovereignty  of  his  medicines,  if  there  were 
no  relics  of  sin  for  him  to  exercise  his  skill  upon.  The  physi- 
cian's art  is  most  experimented,  and  therefore  most  valued  in 
relapses,  as  dangerous  as  the  former  disease.  As  the  wisdom 
of  God  brought  our  Saviour  into  temptation,  that  he  might 
have  compassion  on  us;  so  it  permits  us  to  be  overcome  by 
temptation,  that  we  might  have  due  valuations  of  him. 

God  hereby  often  engages  the  soul  to  a  greater  industry  for 
his  glory.  The  highest  persecutors,  when  they  have  become 
converts,  have  been  the  greatest  champions  for  that  cause  they 
both  hated  and  oppressed.  The  apostle  Paul  is  such  an  instance 
of  this,  that  it  needs  no  enlargement.  By  how  much  they  have 
failed  of  answering  the  end  of  their  creation  in  glorifying  God; 
by  so  much  the  more  they  summon  up  a'kl  their  force  for  such 
an  end,  after  their  conversion;  to  restore  as  much  as  they  can 
of  that  glory  to  God,  which  they,  by  their  sin,  had  robbed  him 
of.  Their  sins,  by  the  order  of  Divine  wisdom,  prove  whet- 
stones to  sharpen  the  edge  of  their  spirits  for  God.  Paul  never 
remembered  his  persecuting  fury,  but  he  doubled  his  industry 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (JJ7 

for  the  service  of  God,  which  before  he  trampled  under  his  feet 
The  further  we  go  back,  the  greater  leap  many  times  we  take 
forward. 

Our  Saviour  after  his  resurrection,  put  Peter  upon  the  exer- 
cise of  that  love  to  him,  which  had  so  lately  shrunk  his  head 
out  of  suffering,  John  xxi.  15 — 17;  and  do  doubt  but  the  con- 
sideration of  his  base  denial,  together  with  a  reflection  upon  a 
gracious  pardon,  engaged  his  ingenuous  soul  to  stronger  and 
fiercer  flames  of  affection.  A  believer's  courage  for  God  is 
more  sharpened  oftentimes  by  the  shame  of  his  fall:  he  en- 
deavours Jo  repair  the  faults  of  his  ingratitude  and  disingenuily, 
by  larger  and  stronger  steps  of  obedience.  As  a  man  in  a  fight, 
having  been  foiled  by  his  enemy,  re-assumes  new  courage  by 
his  fall;  and  is  many  times  obliged  to  his  foil, both  for  his  spirit 
and  his  victory.  A  gracious  heart  will,  upon  the  very  motions 
to  sin,  double  its  vigour,  as  well  as  by  good  ones;  it  is  usually 
more  quickened  both  in  its  motion  to  God  and  for  God,  by  the 
temptations  and  motions  to  sin,  which  run  upon  it.  This  is 
another  good  the  wisdom  of  God  brings  forth  from  sin. 

Again,  humility'towards  God,  is  another  good  Divine  wisdom 
brings  forth  from  the  occasion  of  sin.  By  this  God  beats  down 
all  good  opinion  of  ourselves.  Hezekiah  was  more  humbled 
by  his  fall  into  pride,  than  by  all  the  distress  he  had  been  in  by 
Sennacherib's  army,  2  Chron.  xxxii.  26.  Peter's  confidence 
before  his  fall,  gave  way  to  an  humble  modesty  after  it:  you 
see  his  confidence,  "  Although  all  shall  be  offended,  yet  will 
not  I,"  Mark  xiv.  29;  and  you  have  the  mark  of  his  modesty, 
John  xxi.  17.  It  is  not  then — Lord,  I  will  love  thee  to  the 
death,  I  will  not  start  from  thee;  but,  "  Lord,  thou  knowest  that 
I  love  thee."  I  cannot  assure  myself  of  any  thing  after  this 
miscarriage;  but,  Lord,  thou  knowest  there  is  a  principle  of 
love  in  me  to  thy  name.  He  was  ashamed  that  himself,  who 
appeared  such  a  pillar,  should  bend  as  meanly  as  a  shrub,  to  a 
temptation. 

The  reilection  upon  sin,  lays  a  man  as  low  as  hell  in  his 
humiliation,  as  the  commission  of  sin  did  in  the  merit.  When 
David  comes  to  exercise  repentance  for  his  sin,  he  begins  it 
from  the  well-head  of  sin,  Psal.  li.  5,  his  original  corruption, 
and  draws  down  the  streams  of  it  to  the  last  commission.  Per- 
haps he  did  not  so  seriously  humble  himself  for  the  sin  of  his  na- 
ture all  his  days,  so  much  as  at  that  time;  at  least,  we  have  not 
such  evidences  of  it.  And  Hezekiah  humbled  himself  for  the 
pride  of  his  heart;  not  only  for  the  pride  of  his  act,  2  Chron. 
xxxii.  26,  but  for  the  pride  in  the  heart,  which  was  the  spring 
of  that  pride  in  act,  in  showing  his  treasures  to  the  Babylonish 
ambassadors.  God  lets  sin  continue  in  the  hearts  of  the  best 
in  this  world,  and  sometimes  gives  the  reins  to  Satan,  and  a 
Vol.  I.— 7S 


618  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

man's  own  corruption,  to  keep  up  a  sense  of  the  ancient  sale 
we  made  of  ourselves  to  both. 

In  regard  of  ourselves.  Herein,  is  the  wonder  of  Divine 
wisdom,  that  God  many  times  makes  a  sin,  which  meritori- 
ously fits  us  for  hell,  a  providential  occasion  to  fit  us  for 
heaven;  when  it  is  an  occasion  of  a  more  humble  faith  and 
believing  humility,  and  an  occasion  of  a  thorough  sanctifica- 
tion  and  growth  in  grace,  which  prepares  us  for  a  state  of 
glory. 

He  makes  use  of  one  sin's  breaking  out  to  discover  more; 
and  so  brings  us  to  a  self-abhorrence  and  indignation  against 
sin,  the  first  step  towards  heaven.  Perhaps  David,  before  his 
gross  fall,  thought  he  had  no  hypocrisy  in  him.  We  often  find 
him  appealing  to  God  for  his  integrity,  and  desiring  God  to  try 
him,  if  any  guile  could  be  found  in  his  heart,  as  if  he  could  find 
none  himself.  But  his  lapse  into  that  great  wickedness,  makes 
him  discern  much  falseness  in  his  soul,  when  he  desires  God  to 
renew  a  right  spirit  within  him,  and  speaks  of  truth  in  the 
inward  parts,  Psal.  li.  6.  10.  The  stirring  of  one  corruption 
makes  all  the  mud. at  the  bottom  appear,  which  before  a  soul 
did  not  suspect.  No  man  would  think  there  were  so  great  a 
cloud  of  smoke  contained  in  a  little  stick  of  wood,  were  it  not 
for  the  powerful  operation  of  the  fire,  that  both  discovers  and 
separates  it.  Job,  that  cursed  the  day  of  his  birth,  and  uttered 
many  impatient  expressions  against  God  upon  the  account  of 
his  own  integrity;  upon  his  recovery  from  his  affliction,  and 
God's  close  application  of  himself,  was  wrought  to  a  greater 
abhorrence  of  himself,  than  ever  we  read  he  was  exercised  in 
before,  Job.  xlii.  6.  The  hostile  acts  of  sin  increase  the  soul's 
hatred  of  it;  and  the  deeper  our  humiliations  are  for  it,  the 
stronger  impressions  of  abhorrence  are  made  upon  us. 

He  often  orders  it,  to  make  conscience  more  tender,  and  the 
soul  more  watchful.  He  that  finds  by  his  calamity,  his  enemy 
to  have  more  strength  against  him  than  he  suspected,  will 
double  his  guards  and  quicken  his  diligence  against  him.  A 
being  overtaken  by  some  sin  is  by  the  wisdom  of  God  disposed 
to  make  us  more  fearful  of  cherishing  any  occasion  to  inflame 
it,  and  watchful  against  every  motion  and  start  of  it.  By  a 
fall,  the  soul  has  more  experience  of  the  deceitfulness  of  the 
heart;  and  by  observing  its  methods,  is  rendered  better  able  to 
watch  against  them.  It  is  our  ignorance  of  the  devices  of 
Satan,  and  our  own  hearts,  that  makes  us  obnoxious  to  their 
surprises.  A  fall  into  one  sin  is  often  a  prevention  of  more 
which  lay  in  wait  for  us;  as  the  fall  of  a  small  body  into  an 
ambush,  prevents  the  design  of  the  enemy  upon  a  greater.  As 
God  suffers  heresies  in  the  church  to  try  our  faith;  so  he  suffers 
sins  to  remain,  and  sometimes  to  break  out,  to  try  our  watch- 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  G19 

fulness.  This  advantage  he  brings  from  them,  to  steel  our 
resolutions  against  the  same  sins,  and  quicken  our  circumspec- 
tion for  the  future  against  new  surprises  by  a  temptation. 
David's  sin  was  ever  before  him,  Psal.  li.  3,  and  made  his 
conscience  cry,  Blood,  blood,  upon  every  occasion:  he  refused 
the  water  of  the  well  of  Bethlehem,  8  Sam.  xxiii.  16?  17, 
because  it  was  gained  with  the  hazard  of  lives*  he  could  endure 
nothing  that  had  the  taste  of  blood  in  it.  Our  fear  of  a  thing 
depends  much  upon  the  trial  of  it:  a  child  will  not  fear  too 
near  approaches  to  the  fire,  till  he  feels  the  smart  of  it. 

Mortification  does  not  so  wholly  suppress  the  motions  of  sin, 
(though  it  does  the  resolutions  to  commit  it,)  but  that  there  will 
be  a  proneness  in  the  relics  of  it,  to  entice  a  man  into  those 
faults,  which  upon  sight  of  their  blemishes  cost  him  so  many 
tears;  as  great  sicknesses  after  the  cure,  are  more  watched, and 
the  body  humoured,  that  a  man  might  not  fall  from  the  crazi- 
ness  they  have  left  in  him;  which  he  is  apt  to  do,  if  relapses 
are  not  carefully  provided  against.  A  man  becomes  more 
careful  of  any  thing,  that  may  contribute  to  the  resurrection  of 
an  expired  disease. 

God  makes  it  an  occasion  of  the  mortification  of  that  sin, 
which  was  the  matter  of  the  fall.  The  liveliness  of  one  sin  in 
a  renewed  man,  many  times  is  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  it. 
A  wild  beast,  while  kept  close  in  a  den,  is  secure  in  its  life; 
but  when  it  breaks  out  to  rapine,  it  makes  the  master  resolve 
to  prevent  any  further  mischief  by  the  death  of  it.  The  im- 
petuous stirring  of  a  humour  in  a  disease,  is  sometimes  critical, 
and  a  prognostic  of  the  strength  of  nature  against  it,  whereby 
the  disease  loses  its  strength  by  its  struggling,  and  makes  room 
for  health  to  take  place  by  degrees.  One  sin  is  used  by  God 
for  the  destruction  both  of  itself  and  others;  as  the  flesh  of  a 
scorpion  cures  the  biting  of  it.  It  sometimes  by  wounding  us 
loses  its  sting,  and,  like  the  bee,  renders  itself  incapable  of  a 
second  revenge.  Peter,  after  Iris  gross  denial,  never  denied  his 
Master  afterwards.  The  sin  that  lay  undiscovered,  is  by  a  fall 
become  visible,  and  so  more  obvious  to  a  mortifying  stroke. 
The  soul  lays  the  faster  hold  on  Christ  and  the  promise,  and 
goes  out  against  that  enemy  in  the  name  of  that  Lord  of  hosts 
of  which  he  was  too  negligent  before;  and  therefore  as  he 
proves  more  strong,  so  more  successful:  he  has  more  strength, 
because  he  has  less  confidence  in  himself,  and  more  in  God,  the 
prime  strength  of  his  soul.  As  it  was  with  Christ,  so  it  is  with 
us;  while  the  devil  was  bruising  his  heel,  he  was  bruising  his 
head;  and  while  the  devil  is  bruising  our  heel,  the  God  of 
peace  and  wisdom  is  sometimes  bruising  his  head  both  in  us 
and  for  us;  so  that  the  strugglings  of  sin  are  often  as  the  faint 
groans  or  bitings  of  a  beast  that  is  ready  to  expire.     It  is  just 


620  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

with  a  man  sometimes,  as  with  a  running  fountain  that  has  mud 
at  the  bottom,  when  it  is  stirred  the  mud  tinctures  and  defiles 
it  all  over;  yet  some  of  that  mud  has  a  vent  with  the  streams 
which  run  from  it,  so  that  when  it  is  re-settled  at  the  bottom,  it 
is  not  so  much  in  quantity  as  it  was  before.  God  by  his  wis- 
dom weakens  the  sin,  by  permitting  it  to  stir  and  defile. 

Sometimes  Divine  wisdom  makes  it  an  occasion  to  promote 
a  sanctification  in  all  parts  of  the  soul:  as  the  working  of  one 
ill  humour  in  the  body  is  an  occasion  of  cashiering  not  only 
that,  but  the  rest,  by  a  sound  purge;  or  as  a  man  that  is  a  little 
cold  does  not  think  of  the  fire,  but  if  he  slips  with  one  foot 
into  an  icy  puddle,  he  hastens  to  the  fire,  whereby  not  only 
that  part,  but  all  the  rest  receive  a  warmth  and  strength  upon 
that  occasion:  or,  as  if  a  person  fall  into  the  mire,  his  clothes 
are  washed,  and  by  that  means  cleansed,  not  only  from  the 
filth  at  present  contracted,  but  from  the  former  spots  that  were 
before  unregarded.  God  by  his  wisdom  brings  secret  sins  to  a 
discovery,  and  thereby  cleanses  the  soul  of  them. 

David's  fall  might  be  ordered  as  an  answer  to  his  former 
petition,  "  Cleanse  thou  me  from  my  secret  faults,"  Psal.  xix. 
12:  and  as  he  did  earnestly  pray  after  his  fall,  so  no  doubt  but 
he  endeavoured  a  thorough  sanctification;  Purge  me,  wash  me, 
Psal.  li.  7 ;  and  that  he  meant  not  only  a  sanctification  from 
that  single  sin,  but  from  all,  root  and  branch,  is  evident  by  that 
complaint  of  the  flaw  in  his  nature,  ver.  5.  The  dross  and  chaff 
which  lies  in  the  heart  is  hereby  discovered,  and  an  opportu- 
nity administered  of  throwing  it  out,  and  searching  all  the  cor- 
ners of  the  heart  to  discover  where  it  lay.  As  God  sometimes 
takes  occasion  frorii  one  sin  to  reckon  with  men  in  a  way  of 
justice  for  others;  so  he  sometimes  takes  occasion  from  the 
commission  of  one  sin,  to  bring  out  all  the  actions  against  the 
sinner,  to  make  him,  in  a  way  of  gracious  wisdom,  set  more 
cordially  upon  the  work  of  sanctification. 

A  great  fall  sometimes  has  been  the  occasion  of  a  man's  con- 
version. The  fall  of  mankind  occasioned  a  more  blessed  res- 
toration; and  the  falls  of  particular  believers  oft  times  occasion 
a  more  extensive  sanctification.  Thus  the  only  wise  God  makes 
poisons  in  nature,  to  become  medicines  in  a  way  of  grace  and 
wisdom. 

Hereby  the  growth  in  grace  is  furthered.  It  is  a  wonder  of 
Divine  wisdom  to  subtract  sometimes  his  grace  from  a  person, 
and  let  him  fall  into  sin,  thereby  to  occasion  the  increase  of 
habitual  grace  in  him,  and  to  augment  it  by  those  ways  that 
seemed  to  depress  it.  By  making  sins  an  occasion  of  a  more 
vigorous  acting  the  contrary  grace,  the  wisdom  of  God  makes 
our  corruptions  (in  their  own  nature  destructive)  to  become 
profitable  to  us.     Grace  often  breaks  out  more  strongly  after- 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  QO\ 

wards,  as  the  sun  docs  with  its  beat,  after  it  has  been  masked 
and  interrupted  with  a  mist:  they  often,  through  the  mighty 
working  of  the  Spirit,  make  us  more  bumble,  and  humility  fits 
us  to  receive  more  grace  from  God,  James  iv.  6.  How  does 
faith,  that  sunk  under  the  waves,  lift  up  its  head  again,  and 
carry  the  soul  out  with  a  greater  liveliness!  what  ardours  of 
love,  what  floods  of  repenting  tears,  what  severity  of  revenge, 
what  horrors  at  the  remembrance  of  the  sin,  what  tremblings 
at  the  appearance  of  a  second  temptation!  so  that  grace  seems 
to  be  awakened  to  a  new  and  more  vigorous  life,  2  Cor.  vii.  1 1. 
The  broken  joint  is  many  times  stronger  in  the  rupture  than  it 
was  before.  The  luxuriancy  of  the  branches  of  corruption  is 
an  occasion  of  purging,  and  purging  is  with  a  design  to  make 
grace  more  fruitful;  "  He  purgeth  it,  that  it  may  bring  forth 
more  fruit,"  John  xv.  2. 

Thus  Divine  wisdom  does  both  sharpen  and  brighten  us  by 
the  dust  of  sin,  and  ripen  and  mellow  the  fruits  of»grace  by 
the  dung  of  corruption.  Grace  grows  the  stronger  by  opposi- 
tion, as  the  fire  burns  hottest  and  clearest  when  it  is  most  sur- 
rounded by  a  cold  air,  and  our  natural  heat  reassumes  a  new 
strength  by  the  coldness  of  the  winter.  The  soil  under  a  dia- 
mond, though  an  imperfection  in  itself,  increases  the  beauty 
and  lustre  of  the  stone.  The  enmity  of  man  was  a  commenda- 
tion of  the  grace  of  God;  it  occasioned  the  breaking  out  of  the 
grace  of  God  upon  us,  and  is  an  occasion,  by  the  wisdom  and 
grace  of  God,  of  the  increase  of  grace  many  times  in  us. 

How  should  the  consideration  of  God's  incomprehensible 
wisdom,  in  the  management  of  evil,  swallow  us  up  in  admira- 
tion; who  brings  forth  such  beauty,  such  eminent  discoveries 
of  himself,  such  excellent  good  to  the  creature,  out  of  the  bowels 
of  the  greatest  contrarieties,  making  dark  shadows  serve  to  dis- 
play and  beaut* fy  to  our  apprehensions  the  Divine  glory!  If 
evil  were  not  in  the  world,  men  would  not  know  what  good  is; 
they  would  not  behold  the  lustre  of  Divine  wisdom;  as  without 
night  we  could  not  understand  the  beauty  of  the  day. 

Though  God  is  not  the  author  of  sin,  because  of  his  holiness, 
yet  he  is  the  administrator  of  sin  by  his  wisdom,  and  accom- 
plishes his  own  purposes,  by  the  iniquities  of  his  enemies,  and 
the  lapses  and  infirmities  of  his  friends. 

Thus  much  for  the  second,  the  government  of  man  in  his 
lapsed  state,  and  the  government  of  sin,  wherein  the  wisdom 
of  God  does  wonderfully  appear. 

[3.]  The  wisdom  df  God  appears  in  the  government  of  man 
in  his  conversion  and  return  to  him.  If  there  be  a  counsel  in 
framing  the  lowest  creature,  and  in  the  minutest  passages  of 
providence;  there  must  needs  be  a  higher  wisdom  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  creature  to  a  supernatural  end,  and  framing 


622  ON  THE  VVISDOM  OF  GOD. 

the  soul  to  be  a  monument  of  the  Divine  glory.  The  wisdom 
of  God  is  seen  with  more  admirations,  and  in  more  varieties, 
by  the  angels  in  the  church,  than  in  the  creation,  Eph.  iii.  10; 
that  is,  in  forming  a  church  out  of  the  rubbish  of  the  world,  out 
of  contrarieties  and  contradictions  to  him;  which  is  greater 
than  the  framing  a  celestial  and  elementary  world  out  of  a 
rude  chaos.  The  most  glorious  bodies  in  the  world,  even  those 
of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  have  not  such  stamps  of  Divine 
skill  upon  them,  as  the  soul  of  man;  nor  is  there  so  much  of 
wisdom  in  the  fabric  and  faculties  of  that,  as  in  the  reduction 
of  a  blind,  wilful,  rebellious  soul  to  its  own  happiness,  and 
God's  glory:  He  worketh  all  things  after  the  counsel  of  his 
own  will;  that  we  should  be  to  the  praise  of  his  glory,"  Eph. 
i.  11.  12;  if  all  things,  then  this,  which  is  none  of  the  least  of 
his  works;  to  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  his  goodness  in  his 
work,  and  to  the  praise  of  the  rule  of  his  work,  his  counsel,  in 
both  the  act  of  his  will  and  the  act  of  his  wisdom.  The  re- 
storing of  the  beauty  of  the  soul,  and  its  fitness  for  its  true  end, 
speak  no  less  wisdom  than  the  first  draught  of  it  in  creation; 
and  the  application  of  redemption,  and  bringing  forth  the  fruits 
of  it,  is  as  well  an  act  of  his  prudence,  as  the  contrivance  was 
of  his  counsel. 

Divine  wisdom  appears, 

In  the  subjects  of  conversion.  His  goodness  reigns  in  the 
very  dust,  and  he  erects  the  walls  and  ornaments  of  his  temple 
from  the  clay  and  mud  of  the  world:  he  passes  over  the  wise, 
and  noble,  and  mighty,  that  may  pretend  some  grounds  of 
boasting  in  their  own  natural  or  acquired  endowments;  and 
pitches  upon  the  most  contemptible  materials,  wherewith  to 
build  a  spiritual  tabernacle  for  himself,  the  foolish,  and  weak 
things  of  the  world,  1  Cor.  i.  26,  27,  those  that  are  naturally 
most  unfit  for  it,  and  most  refractory  to  it.  Herein  lies  the  skill 
of  an  architect,  to  render  the  most  knotty,  crooked,  and  de- 
formed pieces,  by  his  art,  subservient  to  his  main  purpose  and 
design.  Thus  God  has  ordered  from  the  beginning  of  the 
world,  contrary  tempers,  various  humours,  divers  nations,  as 
stones  of  several  natures,  to  be  a  building  for  himself,  fitly 
framed  together,  and  to  be  his  own  family,  1  Cor.  iii.  9.  Who 
will  question  the  skill  that  alters  a  black  jet  into  a  clear  crys- 
tal, a  glow-worm  into  a  star,  a  lion  into  a  lamb,  and  a  swine 
into  a  dove?  The  more  intricate  and  knotty  any  business  is, 
the  more  eminent  is  any  man's  ability  and  prudence,  in  untying 
the  knots,  and  bringing  it  to  a  good  issue.*  The  more  desperate 
the  disease,  the  more  admirable  is  the  physician's  skill  in  the 
cure. 

He  pitches  upon  men  for  his  service,  who  have  natural  dis- 
positions to  serve  him  in  such  ways  as  he  disposes  of  them, 


ON  THE  WISDOM  .OF  GOD.  623 

after  their  conversion.  So  Paul  was  naturally  a  conscientious 
man;  what  he  did  against  Christ  was  from  the  dictates  of  an 
erroneous  conscience,  soaked  in  the  pharisaical  interpretations 
of  the  Jewish  law:  he  had  a  strain  of  zeal  to  prosecute  what 
his  depraved  reason  and  conscience  did  inform  him  in.  God 
pitches  upon  this  man,  and  works  him  in  the  fire  for  his  ser- 
vice: he  alters  not  his  natural  disposition,  to  make  him  of  a 
constitution  and  temper  contrary  to  what  he  was  hefore;  hut 
directs  it  to  another  object,  claps  in  another  bias  into  the  bowl, 
and  makes  his  ill-governed  dispositions  move  in  a  new  way  of 
his  own  appointment,  and  guides  that  natural  heat  to  the  ser- 
vice of  that  interest,  which  he  was  before  ambitious  to  extir 
pate;  as  a  high-mettled  horse,  when  left  to  himself,  creates 
both  disturbance  and  danger,  but  under  the  conduct  of  a  wise 
rider,  moves  regularly;  not  by  a  change  of  his  natural  fierce- 
ness, but  a  skilful  management  of  the  beast  to  the  rider's  pur- 
pose. 

In  the  seasons  of  conversion.  The  prudence  of  man  con- 
sists in  the  timing  the  execution  of  his  counsels;  and  no  less 
does  the  wisdom  of  God  consist  in  this.  As  he  is  a  God  of 
judgment,  or  wisdom,  he  waits  to  introduce  his  grace  into  the 
soul  in  the  fittest  season. 

This  attribute  Paul,  in  the  story  of  his  own  conversion,  puts 
a  particular  remark  upon,  which  he  does  not  upon  any  other, 
in  that  catalogue  he  reckons  up,  1  Tim.  i.  17.  "  Now  unto  the 
King  eternal,  immortal,  invisible,  the  only  wise  God,  be  honour 
and  glory  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen."  A  most  solemn  doxo- 
logy,  wherein  wisdom  sits  upon  the  throne  above  all  the  rest, 
with  a  special  Amen  to  the  glory  of  it;  which  refers  to  the 
timing  of  his  mercy  so  to  Paul,  as  made  most  for  the  glory  of 
his  grace,  and  the  encouragement  of  others  from  him  as  the 
pattern.  God  took  him  at  a  time  when  lie  was  upon  the  brink 
of  hell;  when  he  was  ready  to  devour  the  new-born  infant 
church  at  Damascus;  when  he  was  armed  with  all  the  autho- 
rity from  without,  and  fired  with  all  the  zeal  from  within,  for 
the  prosecution  of  his  design.  Then  God  seizes  upon  him,  and 
runs  him  in  a  channel  for  his  own  honour,  and  his  creature's 
happiness. 

It  is  observable  ■  how  God  set  his  eye  upon  Paul  all  along 
in  his  furious  course,  and  let  him  have  the  reins,  without  put- 
ting out  his  hand  to  bridle  him;  yet  no  motion  he  could  take, 
but  the  eye  of  God  runs  along  with  him.  He  suffered  him  to 
kick  against  the  pricks  of  miracles,  and  the  .convincing  dis- 
course of  Stephen,  at  his  martyrdom.  There  were  many  that 
voted  for  Stephen's  death,  as  the  witnesses  that  Hung  the 
stones  first  at  him;  but  thCy  are  not  named,  only  Saul,  who 

1  Which  I  have  upon  another  occasion  noted. 


624  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

testified  liis  approbation  as  well  as  the  rest,  and  that  by  watch- 
ing the  witnesses'  clothes  while  they  were  about  that  bloody 
work:  "The  witnesses  laid  down  their  clothes  at  a  young 
man's  feet,  whose  name  was  Saul,"  Acts  vii.  5S.  Again, 
though  multitudes  were  consenting  to  his  death,  yet  Saul  only 
is  mentioned,  Acts  viii.  1.  God's  eye  is  upon  him,  yet  he 
would  not  at  that  time  stop  his  fury.  He  goes  on  further,  and 
makes  havoc  of  the  church,  Acts  viii.  3.  He  had  surely  many 
more  accomplices,  but  none  are  named  (as  if  none  regarded 
with  any  design  of  grace)  but  Saul:  yet  God  would  not  reach 
out  his  hand  to  change  him,  but  eyes  him;  waiting  for  a  fitter 
opportunity,  which  in  his  wisdom  he  did  foresee.  And  there- 
fore, Acts  ix.  l,the  Spirit  of  God  adds  a  yet;  "Saul  yet  breath- 
ing out  threatenings."  It  was  not  God's  time  yet,  but  it  would 
be  shortly.  But  when  Saul  was  putting  in  execution  his  de- 
sign against  the  church  of  Damascus,  when  the  devil  was  at 
the  top  of  his  hopes,  and  Saul  in  the  height  of  his  fury,  and 
the  Christians  sunk  into  the  depth  of  their  fears;  the  wisdom 
of  God  lays  hold  of  the  opportunity,  and  by  Paul's  conversion 
at  this  season,  defeats  the  devil,  disappoints  the  high  priests, 
shields  his  people,  discharges  their  fears,  by  pulling  Saul  out  of 
the  devil's  hands,  and  forming  Satan's  instrument  to  a  holy 
activity  against  him. 

The  wisdom  of  God  appears  also,  in  the  manner  of  conver- 
sion. So  great  a  change  God  makes,  not  by  a  destruction,  but 
with  a  preservation  of  and  suitableness  to  nature.  As  the 
devil  tempts  us,  not  by  offering  violence  to  our  natures,  but  by 
proposing  things  convenient  to  our  corrupt  natures;  so  does 
God  solicit  us  to  a  return  by  proposals  suited  to  our  faculties. 
As  he  does  in  nature  convey  nourishment  to  men,  by  means  of 
the  fruits  of  the  earth,  and  produces  the  fruits  of  the  earth  by 
the  influences  of  heaven;  the  influences  of  heaven  do  not  force 
the  earth,  but  excite  that  natural  virtue  and  strength  which  is 
in  it ;  so  God  produces  grace  in  the  soul  by  the  means  of  the 
word,  fitted  to  the  capacity  of  man,  as  man,  and  proportioned 
to  his  rational  faculties,  as  rational. 

It  would  be  contrary  to  the  wisdom  of  God,  to  move  man 
like  a  stone,  to  invert  the  order  and  privilege  of  that  nature 
which  he  settled  in  creation;  for  then  God  would  in  vain  have 
given  man  understanding  and  will:  because  without  moving 
men  according  to  those  faculties,  they  would  remain  unpro- 
fitable and  useless  in  man.  God  does  not  reduce  us  to  himself, 
as  logs,  by  a  mere  force;  or  as  slaves,  forced  by  a  cudgel,  to  go 
forth  to  that  place,  and  do  that  work  which  they  have  no  sto- 
mach to:1  but  he  does  accommodate  himself  to  those  founda- 
tions he  has  laid  in  our  nature,  and  guides  us  in  a  way  agree- 

1  Daillc  sur  Philip,  part.  1.  p.  545,  546. 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OK  CiOD.  (395 

able  thereunto,  by  an  action  as  sweet  as  powerful;  clearing 
our  understandings  <>l'  dark  principles,  whereby  we  may  see 
his  truth,  our  own  misery,  and  the  seal  of  our  happiness;  and 

bending  our  wills  according  to  this  light,  to  desire  and  move 
conveniently  to  this  end  of  out  calling:  efficaciously,  yet  agree- 
ably; powerfully,  yet  without  imposing  on  our  natural  facul- 
ties; sweetly,  without  violence,  in  ordering  the  means,  but 
effectually,  without  failing,  in  accomplishing  the  end.1  And 
therefore  the  Scripture  calls  it,  teaching,  John  vi.  45;  alluring, 
Hos.  ii.  14;  calling  us  to  seek  the  Lord,  rsal.  xxvii.  8.  Teach- 
ing is  an  act  of  wisdom;  alluring,  an  act  of  love;  calling,  an 
act  of  authority;  but  none  of  them  argue  a  violent  constraint. 
The  principle  that  moves  the  will  is  supernatural;  but  the  will, 
as  a  natural  faculty,  concurs  in  the  act  or  motion. 

God  does  not  act  in  this  in  a  way  of  absolute  power,  without 
an  infinite  wisdom,  suiting  himself  to  the  nature  of  the  things 
lie  acts  upon;  he  does  not  change  the  physical  nature,  though 
he  does  the  moral.  As  in  the  government  of  the  world,  he  does 
not  make  heavy  things  ascend,  nor  light  things  descend,  ordi- 
narily, but  guides  their  motions  according  to  theil  natural  qua- 
lities; so  God  does  not  strain  the  faculties  beyond  their  due 
pitch.  He  lets  the  nature  of  the  faculty  remain,  but  changes 
the  principle  in  it:  the  understanding  remains  understanding, 
and  the  will  remains  will,  lint  where  there  was  before  folly 
in  the  understanding,  he  puts  in  a  spirit  of  wisdom;  and  where 
there  was  before  a  stoutness  in  the  will,  he  forms  it  to  a  pliable- 
ness  to  his  offers.  He  has  a  key  to  fit  every  ward  in  the  lock, 
and  opens  the  will  without  injuring  the  nature  of  the  will. 

He  does  not  change  the  soul  by  an  alteration  of  the  faculties, 
but  by  an  alteration  of  something  in  them;  not  by  an  inroad 
upon  them,  or  by  mere  power,  or  a  blind  instinct;  but  by  pro- 
posing to  the  understanding  something  to  be  known,  and  in- 
forming it  of  the  reasonableness  of  his  precepts,  and  the  innate 
goodness  and  excellency  of  his  offers,  and  by  inclining  the  will 
to  love  and  embrace  what  is  proposed.  And  things  are  pro- 
posed under  those  notions,  which  usually  move  our  wills  and 
affections.  We  are  moved  by  things  as  they  are  good,  pleasant, 
profitable;  we  entertain  things  as  they  make  for  us,  and  detest 
things  as  they  are  contrary  to  us.  Nothing  affects  us  but  under 
such  qualities;  and  God  suits  his  encouragements  to  these 
natural  affections  which  are  in  us:  his  power  and  wisdom  go 
hand  in  hand  together;  his  power  to  act  what  his  wisdom  or- 
ders, and  his  wisdom  to  conduct  what  his  power  executes.  lie 
brings  men  to  him  in  ways  suited  to  their  natural  dispositions. 
The  stubborn  he  tears  like  a  lion,  the  gentle  he  wins  like  a 
turtle,  by  sweetness;  lie  has  a  hammer  to  break  the  stout,  and 

1  Sanderson,  part  2.  p.  2fl:>. 
Vol..    I.— 7!) 


526  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

a  cord  of  love  to  draw  the  more  pliable  tempers:  he  works 
upon  the  more  rational  in  a  way  of  gospel  reason;  upon  the 
more  ingenuous,  in  a  way  of  kindness,  and  draws  them  by  the 
cards  of  love. 

The  wise  men  were  led  to  Christ  by  a  star,  and  means  suited 
to  the  knowledge  and  study  that  those  eastern  nations  used, 
which  was  much  in  astronomy:  he  works  upon  others  by  mi- 
racles accommodated  to  every  one's  sense,  and  so  proportions 
the  means  according  to  the  nature  of  the  subjects  heworks 
upon. 

The  wisdom  of  God  is  apparent  in  his  discipline,  and  penal 
evils.  The  wisdom  of  human  governments  is  seen  in  the  mat- 
ter of  their  laws,  and  in  the  penalties  of  their  laws,  and  in  the 
proportion  of  the  punishment  to  the  offence,  and  in  the  good 
that  redounds  from  the  punishment,  either  to  the  offender  or  to 
the  community. 

The  wisdom  of  God  is  seen  in  the  penalty  of  death  upon  the 
transgression  of  his  law;  both  in  that  it  was  the  greatest  evil 
that  man  might  fear,  and  so  was  a  convenient  means  to  keep 
him  in  his  due  bound,  and  also  in  the  proportion  of  it  to  the 
transgression.  Nothing  less  could  be  in  a  wise  justice  inflicted 
upon  an  offender  for  a  crime  against  the  highest  Being,  and  the 
supreme  excellency:  but  this  has  been  spoken  of  before,  in  the 
wisdom  of  his  laws.  I  shall  only  mention  some  few,  it  would 
be  too  tedious  to  run  into  all. 

His  wisdom  appears  in  judgments,  in  the  suiting  them  to  the 
qualities  of  persons,  and  nature  of  sins.  He  devises  evil,  Jer. 
xviii.  11;  his  judgments  are  fruits  of  counsel.  "He  also  is 
wise,  and  will  bring  evil,"  Isa.  xxxi.  2;  evil  suitable  to  the 
person  offending,  and  evil  suitable  to  the  offence  committed;  as 
the  husbandman  does  his  threshing  instruments  to  the  grain. 
He  has  a  rod  for  the  cummin,  a  tenderer  seed,  and  a  flail  for 
the  harder;  so  has  God  greater  judgments  for  the  obdurate 
sinner,  and  lighter  for  those  that  have  something  of  tenderness 
in  their  wickedness,  because  he  "  is  wonderful  in  counsel,  and 
excellent  in  working,"  Isa.  xxviii.  27,  29:  so  some  understand 
the  place,  "  With  the  fro  ward  he  will  show  himself  fro  ward." 

He  proportions  punishment  to  the  sin,  and  writes  the  cause 
of  the  judgment  in  the  forehead  of  the  judgment  itself.  Sodom 
burned  in  lust,  and  was  consumed  by  fire  from  heaven.  The 
Jews  sold  Christ  for  thirty  pence;  and  at  the  taking  of  Jerusa- 
lem, thirty  of  them  were  sold  for  a  penny.  So  Adonibezek  cut 
off  the  thumbs  and  great  toes  of  others,  and  he  is  served  in  the 
same  kind,  Judges  i.  7.  The  Babel  builders  designed  an  in- 
dissoluble union,  and  God  brings  upon  them  an  unintelligible 
confusion.  And  in  Exod.  xi.  9,  the  ashes  of  the  furnace,  where 
the  Israelites   burnt  the  Egyptian  bricks,  sprinkled  towards 


ON  THE  \\  [SDOM  OF  GOD.  (;-j7 

heaven,  brought  boils  upon  the  Egyptian  bodies,  that  they 
might  feel  in  their  own  what  pain  they  had  caused  in  the  Israel- 
ites' flesh;  and  find  by  the  smart  of  the  inflamed  scab,  what 
they  had  made  the  Israelites  endure.  The  waters  of  the  rivei 
Nil  us  are  turned  into  blood,  wherein  they  had  stifled  the  breath 
of  the  Israelites'  infants;  and  at  last  the  prince  and  the  flower 
of  their  nobility,  arc  drowned  in  the  \iri\  Bea. 

It  is  part  of  tin'  wisdom  of  justice  to  proportion  punishment 
to  the.  crime,  and  tin;  degrees  of  wrath  to  the  degrees  of  malice 
in  the  sin.  Afflictions  also  are  wisely  proportioned:  God,  as  a 
wise  physician,  considers  the  nature  of  the  humour  and  strength 
of  the  patient,  and  suits  his  medicines  both  to  the  one  and  the 
other,  1  Cor.  x.  13. 

Me  displays  the  same  wisdom  in  the  seasons  of  punishments 
and  afflictions.  He  stays  till  sm  be  ripe,  that  his  justice  may 
appear  more  equitable,  and  the  offender  more  inexcusable;  he 
watches  upon  the  evil  to  bring  it  upon  men,  Dan.  ix.  11;  to 
bring  it  in  the  just  season  and  order,  for  his  righteous  and  gra- 
cious purpose;  his  righteous  purpose  on  his  enemies,  and  his 
gracious  purpose  on  his  people. 

Jerusalem's  calamity  came  upon  them,  when  the  city  was  full 
of  people  at  the  solemnity  of  the  passover,  that  he  might  mow 
down  his  enemies  at  once,  and  time  their  destruction  to  such  a 
moment  wherein  they  had  timed  the  crucifixion  of  his  Son. 
He  watched  over  the  clouds  of  his  judgments,  and  kept  them 
from  pouring  down,  till  his  people  the  Christians  were  provided 
for,  and  had  departed  out  of  the  city  to  the  chambers  and  retiring 
places  God  had  provided  for  them.  He  made  not  Jerusalem  the 
shambles  for  his  enemies,  till  he  had  made  Pella  and  other  places 
the  ark  of  his  friends.  As  Pliny  tells  us,  the  providence  of  God 
holds  the  seas  in  a  calm  for  fifteen  days,  thai  the  halcyons,  little 
birds,  that  frequent  the  shore,  may  build  their  nests,  and  hatch 
up  their  young.  The  judgment  Upon  Sodom  was  suspended 
for  some  hours,  till  Lot  was  seemed. 

God  suffered  not  the  church  to  be  invaded  by  violent  perse- 
cutions, till  she  was  established  in  the  faith;  he  would  not  ex- 
pose her  to  so  great  combats,  while  she  was  weak  and  feeble, 
but  gave  her  time  to  fortify  herself,  to  be  rendered  more  capa- 
ble of  bearing  up  under  tliem.1  lie  stilled  all  the  motions  of 
passion  the  idolaters  might  have  for  their  superstition,  till  reli- 
gion was  in  such  a  condition,  as  rather  to  be  increased  and  puri- 
fied, than  extinguished  by  opposition.  Paul  was  secured  from 
Nero's  chains,  and  the  nets  Of  his  enemies,  till  he  had  broken  off 
the  chain  of  the  devil  from  many  cities  of  the  gentiles,  and 
caught  them  by  the  net  of  the  gospel  out  of  the  sea  of  the 
world. 

i  Daillc  sur.  1  Cor.  X.  p.  390. 


(528  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

Thus  the  wisdom  of  God  is  seen  in  the  seasons  of  judgments 
and  afflictions. 

It  is  apparent  also  in  the  gracious  issue  of  afflictions  and  penal 
evils.  It  is  a  part  of  wisdom  to  bring  good  out  of  the  evil  of  pun- 
ishment, as  well  as  to  bring  good  out  of  sin.  The  church  never 
was  so  like  to  heaven,  as  when  it  was  most  persecuted  by  hell: 
the  storms  often  cleansed  it,  and  the  lance  often  made  it  more 
healthful.  Job's  integrity  had  not  been  so  clear,  nor  his  pa- 
tience so  illustrious,  had  not  the  devil  been  permitted  to  afflict 
him.  God  by  his  wisdom  outwits  Satan;  when  he  by  his  temp- 
tations intends  to  pollute  us  and  buffet  us,  God  orders  it  to  purity 
us;  he  often  brings  the  clearest  light  out  of  the  thickest  darkness, 
makes  poisons  to  become  medicines.  Death  itself,  the  greatest 
punishment  in  this  life,  and  the  entrance  into  hell  in  its  own 
nature,  he  has,  by  his  wise  contrivance,  made  to  his  people  the 
gate  of  heaven,  and  the  passage  into  immortality. ]  Penal  evils 
in  a  nation  often  end  in  a  public  advantage:  troubles  and  wars 
among  a  people  are  many  times  not  destroying,  but  medicinal, 
and  cure  them  of  that  degeneracy,  luxury,  and  effeminateness 
they  contracted  by  a  long  peace. 

This  wisdom  is  evident,  in  the  various  ends  which  God  brings 
about  by  afflictions.  The  attainment  of  various  ends  by  one 
and  the  same  means,  is  the  fruit  of  the  agent's  prudence.  By 
the  same  affliction,  the  wise  God  corrects  sometimes  some  base 
affection,  excites  some  sleepy  grace,  drives  out  some  lurking 
corruption,  refines  the  soul,  and  ruins  the  lust;  discovers  the 
greatness  of  a  crime,  the  vanity  of  the  creature,  and  the  suffici- 
ency in  himself. 

The  Jews  bind  Paul,  and  by  the  judge  he  is  sent  to  Rome; 
while  his  mouth  is  stopped  in  Judea,  it  is  opened  in  one  of  the 
greatest  cities  of  the  world,  and  his  enemies  unwittingly  contri- 
bute to  the  increase  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  by  those  chains, 
in  that  city  that  triumphed  over  the  earth,  Acts  xxviii.  31.  And 
his  afflictive  bonds  added  courage  and  resolution  to  others, 
"Many  waxing  confident  by  my  bonds,"  Phil.  i.  14;  which 
could  not  in  their  own  nature  produce  such  an  effect,  but  by 
the  order  and  contrivance  of  Divine  wisdom:  in  their  own  na- 
ture, they  would  rather  make  them  disgust  the  doctrine  he  suf- 
fered for,  and  cool  their  zeal  in  the  propagating  of  it,  for  fear  of 
the  same  disgrace  and  hardship  they  saw  him  suffer.2  But  the 
wisdom  of  God  changed  the  nature  of  these  fetters,  and  con- 
ducted them  to  the  glory  of  his  name,  the  encouragement  of 
others,  the  increase  of  the  gospel,  and  the  comfort  of  the  apostle 
himself,  Phil.  i.  12,  13.  18.  The  sufferings  of  Paul  at  Rome  con- 
firmed the  Philippians,  a  people  at  a  distance  from  thence,  in 
the  doctrine  they  had  already  received  at  his  hands. 

i  Turrctin,  Scrm.  p.  53.  n-  Daillc  sur  Philip.  Parta.  p.  116,  117. 


O.N  THE  \\  [SDOM  OF  HOD.  (}«mj 

Thus  God  makes  sufferings  sometimes  which  appear  like 
judgments,  to  be  like  the  viper  on  Paul's  hand,  Acts  wvhi.  6j 
a  means  to  clear  up  innocence,  and  procure  favour  to  the  doc- 
tripe  among  those  barbarians.  How  often  has  he  multiplied 
the  church  by  death  and  massacres,  and  increased  it  by  those 
means  Used  to  annihilate  it ! 

The  Divine  wisdom  is  apparent  in  the  deliverances  he  affords 
to  other  parts  of  the  worlds  as  well  as  to  his  church.  There 
are  delicate  composures,  curious  threads  in  his  webs,  and  lie 
works  them  like  an  artificer.  A  goodness  wrought  for  them, 
and  curiously  wrought,  Psal.  xxxi.  If). 

This  is  seen  in  making  the  creatures  subservient  in  their 
natural  order  to  his  gracious  ends  and  purposes.  He  orders 
things  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  be  necessitated  to  put  forth 
an  extraordinary  power  in  things  which  some  part  of  the  cre- 
ation might  accomplish.  Miraculous  productions  would  speak 
his  power;  but  the  ordering  the  natural  course  of  things,  to 
occasion  such  ellects  they  were  never  intended  for,  is  one  part 
of  the  glory  of  his  wisdom.  And  that  his  wisdom  may  be  seen 
in  the  course  of  nature,  he  conducts  the  motions  of  creatures, 
and  acts  them  in  their  own  strength;  and  does  that  by  various 
windings  and  turnings  of  them,  which  he  might  do  in  an  in- 
stant by  his  power,  in  a  supernatural  way.  Indeed,  sometimes 
he  has  made  invasions  on  nature,  and  suspended  the  order  of 
their  natural  law  for  a  season,  to  show  himself  the  absolute 
Lord  and  Governor  of  nature;  yet  if  frequent  alterations  of 
this  nature  were  made,  they  would  impede  the  knowledge  of 
the  nature  of  things,  and  be  some  bar  to  the  discovery  and 
glory  of  his  wisdom,  which  is  best  seen  by  moving  the  wheels 
of  inferior  creatures  in  an  exact  regularity  to  his  own  ends. 
He  might,  when  his  little  church  in  Jacoh's  family  was  like  to 
starve  in  Canaan,  have  turned  the  stones  of  the  country  into 
bread  for  their  preservation;  but  he  sends  them  down  to  Egypt 
to  procure  corn,  that  a  way  may  be  opened  for  their  removal 
into  that  country,  the  truth  of  his  prediction  in  their  captivity 
accomplished,  and  a  way  made  after  the  declaration  of  his  great 
name  Jehovah,  both  in  the  fidelity  of  his  word,  and  the  great- 
ness of  his  power,  in  their  deliverance  from  that  furnace  of 
affliction.  He  might  have  struck  Goliath,  the  captain  of  the 
Philistines'  army,  with  a  thunderbolt  from  heaven,  when  he 
blasphemed  his  name  and  scared  his  people;  but  he  uses  the 
natural  strength  of  a  stone,  and  the  artificial  motion  of  a  sting, 
by  the  arm  of  David,  to  confront  the  giant,  and  thereby  to  free 
Judea  from  the  ravage  of  a  potent  enemy.  He  might  have 
delivered  the  Jews  from  Babylon  by  as  strange  miracles  as  he 
used  in  their  deliverance  from  Egypt:  he  might  have  plagued 
their  enemies,  gathered  his  people  into  a  body,  and  protected 


(530  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

them  by  the  bulwark  of  a  cloud  and  a  pillar  of  fire,  against  the 
assaults  of  their  enemies.  But  he  uses  the  differences  between 
the  Persians  and  those  of  Babylon,  to  accomplish  his  ends. 
How  sometimes  has  the  veering  about  of  the  wind  on  a  sud- 
den been  the  loss  of  a  navy,  when  it  has  been  upon  the  point 
of  victory,  and  driven  back  the  destruction  upon  those  which 
intended  it  for  others!  and  the  accidental  stumbling,  or  the 
natural  fierceness  of  a  horse,  flung  down  a  general  in  the  midst 
of  a  battle,  where  he  has  lost  his  life  by  the  throng,  and  his 
death  has  brought  a  defeat  to  his  army,  and  deliverance  to  the 
other  party,  that  were  upon  the  brink  of  ruin!  Thus  does  the 
wisdom  of  God  link  things  together  according  to  natural  order, 
to  work  out  his  intended  preservation  of  a  people. 

The  same  thing  is  seen  in  the  season  of  deliverance.  The 
timing  of  affairs  is  a  part  of  the  wisdom  of  man,  and  an  emi- 
nent part  of  the  wisdom  of  God.  It  is  in  due  season  he  sends 
the  former  and  the  latter  rain,  when  the  earth  is  in  the  greatest 
indigence,  and  when  his  influences  may  most  contribute  to  the 
bringing  forth  and  ripening  the  fruit.  The  dumb  creatures 
have  their  meat  from  him  in  due  season,  Psal.  civ.  27;  and  in 
his  due  season  have  his  darling  people  their  deliverance.  When 
Paul  was  upon  his  journey  to  Damascus  with  a  persecuting 
commission,  he  is  struck  down  for  the  security  of  the  church 
in  that  city.  The  nature  of  the  lion  is  changed  in  due  season 
for  the  preservation  of  the  lambs  from  worrying.  The  Israel- 
ites are  miraculously  rescued  from  Egypt,  when  their  wits  were 
at  a  loss,  when  their  danger  to  human  understanding  was  un- 
avoidable; when  earth  and  sea  refused  protection,  then  the 
wisdom  and  power  of  Heaven  stepped  in  to  effect  that  which 
was  past  the  skill  of  the  conductors  of  that  multitude.  And 
when  the  lives  of  the  Jews  lay  at  the  stake,  and  their  necks 
were  upon  the  block  at  the  mercy  of  their  enemies'  swords  by 
an  order  from  Shushan,  not  only  a  reprieve,  but  a  triumph 
arrives  to  the  Jews,  by  the  wisdom  of  God  guiding  the  affair, 
whereby  of  persons  designed  to  execution,  they  are  made  con- 
querors, and  have  opportunity  to  exercise  their  revenge  instead 
of  their  patience,  proving  trimnphers  where  they  expected  to 
be  sufferers,  Esth.  viii.  and  ix.  How  strangely  does  God  by 
secret  ways  bow  the  hearts  of  men  and  the  nature  of  things  to 
the  execution  of  that  which  he  designs,  notwithstanding  all 
the  resistance  of  that  which  would  traverse  the  security  of  his 
people!  How  often  does  he  trap  the  wicked  in  the  work  of 
their  own  hands,  make  their  confidence  to  become  their  ruin, 
and  insnare  them  in  those  nets  they  wrought  and  laid  for  others! 
"  The  wicked  is  snared  in  the  work  of  his  own  hands,"  Psal. 
ix.  16.  "He  hath  scattered  the  proud  in  the  imagination  of 
their  hearts,"  Luke  i.  51;  in  the  height  of  their  hopes,  when 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  (a>|».  (;;>| 

their  designs  have  been  laid  so  deep  in  the  foundation,  and  knit 
and  cemented  so  close  in  their  superstructure,  that  no  human 
power,  or  wisdom  could  raze  them  down;  he  has  then  disap- 
pointed their  projects,  and  befooled  their  craft,    How  often  has 

he  kept  hack  the  fire  when  it  has  been  ready  to  devour;  hroke 
the  arrows  when  they  have  been  prepared  in  the  how;  turned 
the  spear  into  the  howels  of  the  bearers,  and  wounded  them  at 
the  Very  instant  they  were  ready  to  wound  others. 

It  is  seen  also  in  suiting  instruments  to  his  purpose.  Heeither 
finds  them  fit,  or  makes  them  on  a  sudden  fit  for  his  gracious 
ends.  If  he  lias  a  tabernacle  to  build,  he  will  fit  a  liczaleel  and 
Aholiab  with  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding  in  all 
cunning  workmanship,  Exod.  xxxi.  3.  G.  If  he  finds  them 
crooked  pieces,  he  can,  like  a  wise  architect,  make  them 
straight  beams  for  the  rearing  his  house,  and  for  the  honour  of 
his  name. 

lie  sometimes  picks  out  men,  according  to  their  natural  tem- 
pers, and  employs  them  in  his  work:  Jehu,  a  man  of  a  furious 
temper  and  ambitious  spirit,  is  called  out  for  the  destruction  of 
Ahah's  house.  Moses,  a  man  furnished  with  all  Egyptian  wis- 
dom, fitted  by  a  generous  education,  prepared  also  by  the  aillic- 
tion  he  met  with  in  his  flight,  and  one  who  had  had  the  benefit 
of  conversation  with  Jethro,  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  wis- 
dom and  goodness,  as  appears  by  his  prudent  and  religious 
counsel;  this  man  is  called  out  to  be  the  head  and  captain  of 
an  oppressed  people,  and  to  rescue  them  from  their  bondage, 
and  settle  the  first  national  church  in  the  world.  So  Elijah,  a 
high-spirited  man.  of' a  hot  and  angry  temper,  one  that  slighted 
the  frowns  and  undervalued  the  favour  of  princes,  is  set  up  to 
stem  the  torrent  of  the  Esraelitsh  idolatry.  So  Luther,  a  man 
of  the  same  temper,  is  drawn  out  by  the  same  wisdom  to  en- 
counter the  corruptions  in  the  church,  against  such  opposition, 
which  a  milder  tempi;!  would  have  sunk  under.  The  earth,  in 
Rev.  xii.  1<>,  is  made  an  instrument  to  help  the  woman.  When 
the  grandees  of  that  age  transferred  the  imperial  power  upon 
Constantine,  who  became  afterwards  a  protecting  and  nursing 
father  to  the  church,  an  end  which  many  of  his  favourers  never 
designed, nor  ever  dreamed  of:  but  God  by  his  infinite  wisdom 
made  these  several  designs  like  several  arrows  shot  at  rovers, 
meet  in  one  mark  to  which  he  directed  them,  namely,  m  bring- 
ing forth  an  instrument  to  render  peace  to  the  world,  and  secu- 
rity and  increase  to  his  church. 

(3.)  The  wisdom  of  God  does  wonderfully  appear  in  redemp- 
tion. His  wisdom  in  creation  ravishes  tin1  eye  and  understand- 
ing; his  wisdom  in  government  does  no  less  alfect  a  curious 
observer  of  the  links  and  concatenation  of  the  means;  but  his 
wisdom  in  redemption  mounts  the  mind  to  a  greater  astonish- 


632  ON  THE  VVISDOM  OF  GOD. 

ment.  The  works  of  creation  are  the  footsteps  of  his  wisdom; 
the  work  of  redemption  is  the  face  of  his  wisdom:  a  man  is 
better  known  by  the  features  of  his  face,  than  by  the  prints  of 
his  feet.  We  with  open  face,  or  a  revealed  face,  beholding  the 
glory  of  the  Lord,  2  Cor.  iii.  IS.  Face  there,  refers  to  God,  not 
to  us;  the  glory  of  God's  wisdom  is  now  open,  and  no  longer 
covered  and  veiled  by  the  shadows  of  the  law;  as  we  behold 
the  light  glorious,  as  scattered  in  the  air  before  the  appearance 
of  the  sun,  but  more  gloriously  in  the  face  of  the  sun,  when  it 
begin  its  race  in  our  horizon.  All  the  wisdom  of  God  in  crea- 
tion and  government  in  his  variety  of  laws,  was  like  the  light 
the  three  first  days  of  the  creation,  dispersed  about  the  world, 
but  the  fourth  day  it  was  more  glorious,  when  all  gathered  into 
the  body  of  the  sun,  Gen.  i.  4.  16.  So  the  light  of  Divine  wis- 
dom and  glory  was  scattered  about  the  world,  and  so  more 
obscure,  till  the  fourth  divine  day  of  the  world,  about  the  four 
thousandth  year,  it  was  gathered  into  one  body,  the  Sun  of 
righteousness,  and  so  shone  out  more  gloriously  to  men  and 
angels.  All  things  are  weaker  the  thinner  they  are  extended, 
but  stronger  the  more  they  are  united  and  compacted  in  one 
body  and  appearance.  In  Christ,  in  the  dispensation  by  him, 
as  well  as  in  his  person,  were  "  hid  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom 
and  knowledge,"  Col.  ii.  3.  Some  doles  of  wisdom  were  given 
out  in  creation,  but  the  treasures  of  it  opened  in  redemption; 
the  highest  degrees  of  it  that  ever  God  did  exert  in  the  world. 
Christ  is  therefore  called  the  wisdom  of  God,  as  well  as  the 
power  of  God,  1  Cor.  i.  24,  and  the  gospel  is  called  the  wisdom 
of  God.  Christ  is  the  wisdom  of  God  principally,  and  the 
gospel  instrumentally,  as  it  is  the  power  of  God  instrumentally 
to  subdue  the  heart  to  himself.  This  is  wrapped  up  in  the  ap- 
pointing Christ  as  Redeemer,  and  opened  to  us  in  the  revelation 
of  it  by  the  gospel. 

It  is  a  hidden  wisdom.  In  this  regard  God  is  said,  in  the 
text,  to  be  only  wise;  and  it  is  said  to  be  a  hidden  wisdom,  and 
wisdom  in  a  mystery,  I  Cor.  ii.  7,  incomprehensible  to  the  ordi- 
nary capacity  of  an  angel,  more  than  the  abstruse  qualities  of 
the  creatures  are  to  the  understanding  of  man.  No  wisdom  of 
men  or  angels  is  able  to  search  all  the  veins  of  this  mine,  to  tell 
all  the  threads  of  this  web,  or  to  understand  the  lustre  of  it; 
they  are  as  far  from  an  ability  fully  to  comprehend  it,  as  they 
were  at  first  to  contrive  it.  That  wisdom  that  invented  it,  alone 
can  comprehend  it.  In  the  uncreated  understanding  only  there 
is  a  clearness  of  light  without  any  shadow  of  darkness.  We 
come  as  short  of  full  apprehensions  of  it,  as  a  child  does  of  the 
counsel  of  the  wisest  prince.  It  is  so  hidden  from  us,  that  with- 
out revelation  we  could  not  have  the  least  imagination  of  it; 
and  though  it  be  revealed  to  us,  yet  without  the  help  of  an  infi- 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 


633 


niteness  of  understanding,  we  cannot  fully  fathom  it.  It  is  such 
a  tractate  of  Divine  wisdom,  that  the  angels  never  before  had 
seen  die  edition  of  it,  till  it  was  published  to  the  world.-  "To 
the  intent  that  now  unto  the  principalities  and  powers  in  hea- 
venly places  might  he  known  by  the  church  the  manifold  wis- 
dom of  God,"  Eph.  iii.  10.  Now  made  known  to  them,  not 
before;  and  now  made  known  to  them  in  the  heavenly  places. 
They  had  not  the  knowledge  of  all  heavenly  mysteries,  though 
they  had  the  possession  of  heavenly  glory:  they  knew  the  pro- 
phecies of  it  in  the  word,  but  attained  not  a  clear  interpretation 
of  those  prophecies,  till  the  things  that  were  prophesied  of  came 
upon  the  stage. 

It  is  manifold  wisdom:  so  it  is  called.  As  manifold  as  mys- 
terious. Variety  in  the  mystery,  and  mystery  in  every  part  of 
the  variety.  It  was  not  one  single  act,  but  a  variety  of  coun- 
sels met  in  it;  a  conjunction  of  excellent  ends  and  excellent 
means.  The  glory  of  God,  the  salvation  of  man,  the  defeat 
of  the  apostate  angels,  the  discovery  of  the  blessed  Trinity  in 
their  nature,  operations,  their  combined  and  distinct  acts  and 
expressions  of  goodness.  The  means  are  the  conjunction  of 
two  natures  infinitely  distant  from  one  another;  the  union  of 
eternity  and  time,  of  mortality  and  immortality:  death  is  made 
the  way  to  life,  and  shame  the  path  to  glory.  The  weakness 
of  the  cross  is  the  reparation  of  man,  and  the  creature  is  made 
wise  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching;  fallen  man  grows  rich  by 
the  poverty  of  the  Redeemer,  and  man  is  filled  by  the  empti- 
ness of  God:  the  heir  of  hell  made  a  son  of  God,  by  God's 
taking  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant;  the  son  of  man  ad- 
vanced to  the  highest  degree  of  honour,  by  the  Son  of  God  be- 
coming of  no  reputation. 

It  is  called  abundance  of  wisdom  and  prudence,  Eph.  i.  8. 
Wisdom  in  the  eternal  counsel,  contriving  a  way;  prudence  in 
the  temporary  revelation,  ordering  all  affairs  and  occurrences 
in  the  world  for  the  attaining  the  end  of  his  counsel.  Wisdom 
refers  to  the  mystery;  prudence  to  the  manifestation  of  it  in  fit 
ways  and  convenient  seasons.  Wisdom,  to  the  contrivance 
and  order;  prudence,  to  the  execution  and  accomplishment. 
In  all  things  God  acted  as  became  him,  as  a  wise  and  just 
Governor  of  the  world,  Ileb.  ii.  10.  Whether  the  wisdom  of 
God  might  not  have  found  out  some  other  way,  or  whether  he 
were,  in  regard  of  the  necessity  and  naturalness  of  his  justice, 
limited  to  this,  is  not  the  question:  but  that  it  is  the  best  and 
-wisest  way  for  the  manifestation  of  his  glory,  is  out  of  cpiicstion. 

This  wisdom  will  appear  in  the  different  interests  reconciled 
by  it.    Iu  the  subject,  the  second  person  in  the  Trinity,  wherein 
they  were  reconciled:  in  the  two  natures,  wherein  he  accom- 
plished it;  whereby  God    i;;  made   known  to  man   in  Ins  glory, 
Vol.  I.— SO 


(534  oN  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

sin  eternally  condemned,  and  the  repenting  and  believing  sin- 
ner eternally  rescued;  the  honour  and  righteousness  of  the  law 
vindicated  both  in  the  precept  and  penalty,  the  devil's  empire 
overthrown  by  the  same  nature  he  had  overturned,  and  the 
subtlety  of  hell  defeated  by  that  nature  he  had  spoiled;  the 
creature  engaged  in  the  very  act  to  the  highest  obedience  and 
humility,  that  as  God  appears  as  a  God  upon  his  throne,  the 
creature  might  appear  in  the  lowest  posture  of  a  creature,  in 
the  depths  of  resignation  and  dependence;  the  publication  of 
this  made  in  the  gospel,  by  ways  congruous  to  the  wisdom 
which  appeared  in  the  execution  of  his  counsel;  and  the  con- 
ditions of  enjoying  the  fruit  of  it  most  wise  and  reasonable. 

[1.]  The  greatest  different  interests  are  reconciled,  justice  in 
punishing,  and  mercy  in  pardoning.  For  man  had  broken  the 
law,  and  plunged  himself  into  a  gulf  of  misery:  the  sword  of 
vengeance  was  unsheathed  by  justice,  for  the  punishment  of 
the  criminal:  the  bowels  of  compassion  were  stirred  by  mercy, 
for  the  rescue  of  the  miserable.  Justice  severely  beholds  the 
sin,  and  mercy  compassionately  reflects  upon  the  misery.  Two 
different  claims  are  entered  by  those  concerned  attributes:  jus- 
tice votes  for  destruction,  and  mercy  votes  for  salvation.  Jus- 
tice would  draw  the  sword,  and  drench  it  in  the  blood  of  the 
offender;  mercy  would  draw  the  sword,  and  turn  it  from  the 
breast  of  the  sinner.  Justice  would  edge  it,  and  mercy  would 
blunt  it.     The  arguments  are  strong  on  both  sides. 

Justice  pleads  thus.  I  arraign,  before  the  tribunal,  a  rebel, 
who  was  the  glorious  work  of  thy  hands,  the  centre  of  thy  rich 
goodness,  and  a  counterpart  of  thy  own  image;  he  is  indeed 
miserable,  whereby  to  excite  thy  compassion;  but  he  is  not 
miserable  without  being  criminal.  Thou  didst  create  him  in  a 
state  and  with  ability  to  be  otherwise;  the  riches  of  thy  bounty 
aggravate  the  blackness  of  his  crime.  He  is  a  rebel,  not  by 
necessity,  but  ivill  What  constraint  was  there  upon  him  to 
listen  to  the  counsels  of  the  enemy  of  God  ?  What  force  could 
there  be  upon  him,  since  it  is  without  the  compass  of  any  crea- 
ture to  work  upon  or  constrain  the  will?  Nothing  of  ignorance 
can  excuse  him;  the  law  was  not  ambiguously  expressed,  but 
in  plain  words,  both  as  to  precept  and  penalty;  it  was  written 
in  his  nature  in  legible  characters.  Had  he  received  any  dis- 
gust from  thee  after  his  creation,  it  would  not  excuse  his  apos- 
tasy, since,  as  a  Sovereign,  thou  wert  not  obliged  to  thy  crea- 
ture. Thou  hadst  provided  all  things  richly  for  him;  "  he  was 
crowned  with  glory  and  honour."  Thy  infinite  power  had 
bestowed  upon  him  a  habitation  richly  furnished,  and  varieties 
of  servants  to  attend  him.  Whatever  he  viewed  without,  and 
whatever  he  viewed  within  himself,  were  several  marks  of  thy 
Divine  bounty,  to  engage  him  to  obedience:  had  there  been 


M \  THE  WISDOM  OF  <;<>i>.  (;;;;, 

some  reason  of  any  disgust,  it  could  not  have  balanced  that 

kindness  which  had  si ich  reason  to  oblige  hims  however, 

he  had  received  tio  courtesy  from  the  fallen  angel  to  oblige 
him  to  turn  into  Ins  camp.  Was  it  not  enough,  that  one  of  thy 
creatures  would  have  stripped  thee  of  the  glory  of  heaven,  but 
this  also  must  deprive  thee  of  thy  glory  upon  earth,  which  was 
due  from  him  t<>  thee  as  his  Creator?  ('an  he  charge  the  diffi- 
culty of  the  command?  No;  it  was  rather  below  than  above 
his  strength.  He  might  rather  complain  that  it  was  no  bigher, 
whereby  his  obedience  and  gratitude  might  have  a  larger  scope 
and  a  more  spacious  held  to  move  in,  than  a  precept  so  light, 
so  easy,  as  to  abstain  from  one  fruit  in  tire  garden.  What  ex- 
cuse can  he  have,  that  would  prefer  the  liquorishness  of  his 
sense  before  the  dictates  of  his  reason  and  the  obligations  of 
his  creation?  The  law  thou  didst  set  him,  was  righteous  and 
reasonable,  and  shall  righteousness  and  reason  be  rejected  by 
the  supreme  and  infallible  reason,  because  the  rebellious  crea- 
ture has  trampled  upon  it?  What?  Must  God  abrogate  his 
holy  law,  because  the  creature  has  slighted  it?  What  reflection 
will  this  be  upon  the  wisdom  that  enacted  it;  and  upon  the 
equity  of  the  command  and  the  sanction  of  it!  Either  man 
must  suffer,  or  the  holy  law  be  expunged,  and  for  ever  out  of 
date.  And  is  it  not  better  man  should  eternally  smart  under 
his  crime,  than  any  dishonourable  rejections  of  unrighteous- 
ness be  cast  upon  the  law,  and  of  folly  and  want  of  foresight 
upon  the  Lawgiver?  Not  to  punish,  would  be  to  approve  the 
devil's  lie,  and  justify  the  creature's  revolt.  It  would  be  a 
condemnation  of  thy  own  law  as  unrighteous,  and  a  sentencing 
thy  own  wisdom  as  imprudent.  Better  man  should  for  ever 
bear  the  punishment  of  his  offence,  than  God  bear  the  dis- 
honour of  his  attributes:  better  man  should  be  miserable,  than 
God  should  be  unrighteous,  unwise,  false,  or  tamely  bear  the 
denial  of  his  sovereignty.  But  what  advantage  would  it  be  to 
gratify  mercy  by  pardoning  the  malefactor?  Besides  the  irre- 
parable dishonour  to  the  law,  the  falsifying  thy  veracity  in  not 
executing  the  denounced  threatening,  he  would  receive  encou- 
ragement by  such  a  grace  to  spurn  more  at  thy  sovereignty, 
and  oppose  thy  holiness  by  running  on  in  a  course  of  sin  with 
hopes  of  impunity.  If  the  creature  be  restored,  it  cannot  be 
expected  that  he  that  has  fared  so  well,  after  the  breach  of  it, 
should  be  very  careful  of  a  future  observance:  his  easy  re-ad- 
mission would  abet  him  in  the  repetition  of  his  offence,  and 
thou  shalt  soon  find  him  east  off  all  moral  dependence  on  thee. 
Shall  he  be  restored  without  any  condition,  or  covenant?     He 

is  a  creatine  not  to  be  governed  without  a  law,  and  a  law  i- 
not  to  be  enacted  without  a  penalty.  What  future  regard  will 
he  have  to  thy  precept,  or  what  fear  will  he  have  of  thy  threat- 


(336  0N  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

erring,  if  his  crime  be  so  lightly  passed  over?  Is  it  the  stability 
of  thy  word  ?  What  reason  will  he  have  to  give  credit  to  that, 
which  he  has  found  already  disregarded  by  thyself?  Thy 
truth  in  future  threatenings  will  be  of  no  force  with  him,  who 
has  experienced  thy  laying  it  aside  in  the  former.  It  is  neces- 
sary therefore  that  the  rebellious  creature  should  be  punished, 
for  the  preservation  of  the  honour  of  the  law  and  the  honour 
of  the  Lawgiver,  with  all  those  perfections  that  are  united  in 
the  composure  of  it. 

But  mercy  does  not  want  a  plea.     It  is  true  indeed,  the  sin 
of  man  wants  not  its  aggravations:  he  has  slighted  thy  good- 
ness, and  accepted  thy  enemy  as  his  counsellor;  but  it  was  not 
a  pure  act  of  his  own,  as  the  devil's  revolt  was.     He  had  a 
tempter,  and  the  devil  had  none:  he  had,  I  acknowledge,  an 
understanding  to  know  thy  will,  and  a  power  to  obey  it;  yet 
he  was  mutable  and  had  a  capacity  to  fall.     It  was  no  difficult 
task  that  was  set  him,  nor  a  hard  yoke  that  was  laid  upon  him; 
yet  he  had  a  brutish  part  as  well  as  a  rational,  and  sense  as 
well  as  soul;  whereas  the  fallen  angel  was  a  pure  intellectual 
spirit.     Did  God  create  the  world  to  suffer  an  eternal  disho- 
nour, in  letting  himself  be  outwitted  by  Satan,  and  his  work 
wrested  out  of  his  hands?    Shall  the  work  of  eternal  counsel 
presently  sink  into  irreparable  destruction,  and  the  honour  of 
an  almighty  and  wise  work  be  lost  in  the  ruin  of  the  creature? 
This  would  seem  contrary  to   the  nature  of  thy  goodness,  to 
make  man  only  to  render  him  miserable;  to  design  him  in  his 
creation  for  the  service  of  the  devil,  and  not  for  the  service  of 
his  Creator.     What  else  could  be  the  issue,  if  the  chief  work 
of  thy  hand,  defaced  presently  after  the  erecting,  should  for 
ever  remain  in  this  marred  condition;  Avhat  can  be  expected 
upon  the  continuance  of  his  misery,  but  a  perpetual  hatred, 
and  enmity  of  thy  creature  against  thee?    Did  God  in  creation 
design  his  being  hated   or  his  being  loved  by  his  creature? 
Shall  God  make  a  holy  law,  and  have  no  obedience  to  that 
law  from  that  creature  whom  it  was  made  to  govern?    Shall 
the  curious  workmanship  of  God,  and  the  excellent  engravings 
of  the  law  of  nature  in  his  heart,  be  so  soon  defaced,  and  remain 
in  that  blotted  condition  for  ever?    This  fall  thou  couldst  not 
but  in  the  treasures  of  thy  infinite  knowledge  foresee;  why 
hadst  thou  goodness  then  to  create  him  in  an  integrity,  if  thou 
vvouldst  not  have  mercy  to  pity  him  in  misery?    Shall  thy 
enemy  for  ever  trample  upon  the  honour  of  thy  work,  and 
triumph  over  the  glory  of  God,  and  applaud  himself  in  the 
success  of  his  subtlety?    Shall    thy   creature    only    passively 
glorify  thee  as  an  avenger,  and  not  actively  as  a  compassion- 
ater?    Am  not  I  a  perfection  of  thy  nature  as  well  as  justice? 
Shall  justice  engross  all,  and  I  never  come  into  view?    It  is 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (J37 

resolved  already,  that  the  fallen  angels  shall  be  no  subjects  for 
me  to  exercise  myself  upon;  and  1  have  now  lesij  reason  than 
before  to  plead  for  them.  They  fell  with  a  full  cohsenl  of  will, 
without  any  motion  from  another;  and  not  content  with  their 
own  apostasy,  they  envy  thee  and  thy  glory  upon  earth,  as 
well  as  in  heaven,  and  have  drawn  into  their  party  the  best 
part  of  the  creation  below.  Shall  Satan  plunge  the  whole 
creation  in  the  same  irreparable  rnin  with  himself?  If  the 
creature  be  restored,  will  he  contract  a  boldness  in  sin  by  im- 
punity? Hast  thou  not  a  grace  to  render  him  ingenuous  in 
obedience,  as  well  as  a  compassion  to  recover  him  from  misery? 
What  will  hinder,  but  that  such  a  grace,  which  has  established 
the  standing  angels,  may  establish  this  recovered  creature?  If 
I  am  utterly  excluded  from  exercising  myself  on  men,  as  1 
have  been  from  devils,  a  whole  species  is  lost;  nay,  I  can  never 
expect  to  appear  upon  the  stage.  If  thou  wilt  quite  ruin  him 
by  justice,  and  create  another  world,  and  another  man,  If  he 
stand,  thy  bounty  will  be  eminent,  yet  there  is  no  room  for 
nurcy  to  act,  unless,  by  the  commission  of  sin,  he  exposes  him- 
self to  misery;  and  if  sin  enter  into  another  world,  I  have  little 
hopes  to  be  heard  then,  if  I  am  rejected  now.  Worlds  will  be 
perpetually  created  by  goodness,  wisdom,  and  power:  sin  en- 
tering into  these  worlds,  will  be  perpetually  punished  by  jus- 
tice; and  mercy,  which  is  a  perfection  of  thy  nature,  will  for 
ever  be  commanded  silence,  and  lie  wrapped  up  in  an  eternal 
darkness.  Take  occasion  now  therefore  to  expose  me  to  the 
knowledge  of  thy  creature,  since  without  misery,  mercy  can 
never  set  foot  into  the  world. 

Mercy  pleads,  if  man  be  ruined,  the  creation  is  in  vain;  jus- 
tice pleads,  if  man  be  not  sentenced,  the  law  is  in  vain;  truth 
backs  justice,  and  grace  abets  mercy.  What  shall  be  done  in 
this  seeming  contradiction  ?  Mercy  is  not  manifested,  if  man 
be  not  pardoned;  justice  will  complain,  if  man  be  not  punished. 

An  expedient  is  found  out  by  the  wisdom  of  God  to  answer 
these  demands,  and  adjust  the  dill'erences  between  them.  The 
wisdom  of  God  answers,  I  will  satisfy  your  pleas.  The  pleas 
of  justice  shall  be  satisfied  in  punishing,  and  the  pleas  of  mercy 
shall  be  received  in  pardoning.  Justice  shall  not  complain  for 
want  of  punishment,  nor  mercy  for  want  of  compassion.  I 
will  have  an  infinite  sacrifice  to  content  justice;  and  the  virtue 
and  fruit  of  that  sacrifice  shall  delight  mercy.  Here  shall  jus- 
tice have  punishment  to  accept,  and  mercy  shall  have  pardon 
to  bestow.  The  rights  of  both  arc  preserved,  and  the  demands 
of  both  amicably  accorded  in  punishment  and  pardon,  by  trans- 
ferring the  punishment  of  our  crimes  upon  a  Surety,  exacting  a 
recompense  from  his  blood  by  justice,  and  conferring  life  and 
salvation  upon  us  by  mercy  without  the  expense  of  one  drop 


(338  ON  THB  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

of  our  own.  Thus  is  justice  satisfied  in  its  severities,  and 
mercy  in  its  indulgences.  The  riches  of  grace  are  twisted  with 
the  terrors  of  wrath.  The  bowels  of  mercy  are  wound  about 
the  flaming  sword  of  justice,  and  the  sword  of  justice  protects 
and  secures  the  bowels  of  mercy.  Thus  is  God  righteous 
without  being  cruel,  and  merciful  without  being  unjust;  his 
righteousness  inviolable,  and  the  world  recoverable.  Thus  is 
a  resplendent  mercy  brought  forth  in  the  midst  of  all  the  curses, 
confusions,  and  wrath  threatened  to  the  offender. 

This  is  the  admirable  temperament  found  out  by  the  wisdom 
of  God;  his  justice  is  honoured  in  the  sufferings  of  man's 
Surety,  and  his  mercy  is  honoured  in  the  application  of  the 
propitiation  to  the  offender.  "Being  justified  freely  by  his 
grace  through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus;  whom 
God  has  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation  through  faith  in  his 
blood,  to  declare  his  righteousness  for  the  remission  of  sins  that 
are  past,  through  the  forbearance  of  God,"  Rom.  iii.  24,  25. 
Had  we  in  our  persons  been  sacrifices  to  justice,  mercy  had  for 
ever  been  unknown;  had  we  been  solely  fostered  by  mercy, 
justice  had  for  ever  been  secluded;  had  we,  being  guilty,  been 
absolved,  mercy  might  have  rejoiced,  and  justice  might  have 
complained;  had  we  been  solely  punished,  justice  would  have 
triumphed,  and  mercy  grieved.  But  by  this  medium  of  redemp- 
tion, neither  has  ground  of  complaint:  justice  has  nothing  to 
charge,  when  the  punishment  is  inflicted;  mercy  has  whereof 
to  boast,  when  the  Surety  is  accepted.  The  debt  of  the  sinner 
is  transferred  upon  the  Surety,  that  the  merit  of  the  Surety 
may  be  conferred  upon  the  sinner;  so  that  God  now  deals  with 
our  sins  in  a  way  of  consuming  justice,  and  with  our  persons 
in  a  way  of  relieving  mercy.  It  is  highly  better,  and  more  glo- 
rious, than  if  the  claim  of  one  had  been  granted,  with  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  demand  of  the  other:  it  had  then  been  either  an  un- 
righteous mercy,  or  a  merciless  justice:  it  is  now  a  righteous 
mercy,  and  a  merciful  justice. 

[2.]  The  wisdom  of  God  appears  in  the  subject  or  person 
wherein  these  were  accorded;  the  second  Person  in  the  blessed 
Trinity.  There  was  a  congruity  in  the  Son's  undertaking  and 
effecting  it  rather  than  any  other  person,  according  to  the  order 
of  the  Persons,  and  the  several  functions  of  the  Persons,  as  re- 
presented in  Scripture.  The  Father,  after  creation,  is  the  Law- 
giver, and  presents  man  with  the  image  of  his  own  holiness  and 
the  way  to  his  creature's  happiness:  but  after  the  fall,  man  was 
too  impotent  to  perform  the  law,  and  too  polluted  to  enjoy  a 
felicity.  Redemption  was  then  necessary:  not  that  it  was  ne- 
cessary for  God  to  redeem  man,  but  it  was  necessary  for  man's 
happiness,  that  he  should  be  recovered.  To  this  the  second 
Person  is  appointed,  that  by  communion  with  him,  man  might 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (;;{f) 

derive  a  happiness,  and  be  brought  again  to  God.  But  since 
man  was  blind  in  his  understanding,  and  an  enemy  in  his  will 
to  God,  there  must  be  the  exerting  of  a  virtue  to  enlighten  his 
mind,  and  bend  his  will  to  understand,  ;uid  accept  of  this  re- 
demption; and  this  work  is  assigned  to  the  third  Person,  the 
J  [oly  Ghost. 

It  was  not  congruous  that  the  Father  should  assume  human 
nature,  and  suffer  in  it  for  the  redemption  of  man.  He  was  first 
in  order,  he  was  the  Lawgiver,  and  therefore  to  be  the  Judge. 
As  Lawgiver,  it  was  not  convenient  he  should  stand  in  the  stead 
of  the  law-breaker;  and  as  a  Judge,  it  was  as  little  convenient 
he  should  be  reputed  a  malefactor;  that  he  who  had  made  a  law 
against  sin,  denounced  a  penalty  upon  the  commission  of  sin,  and 
whose  part  of  it  was  actually  to  punish  the  sinner,  should  become 
sin  for  the  wilful  transgressor  of  his  law.  lie  being  the  Rector, 
how  could  he  he  an  advocate  and  intercessor  to  himself?  how 
could  he  be  the  Judge  and  the  sacrifice?  a  judge,  and  yet  a  me- 
diator to  himself?  If  he  had  been  the  sacrifice,  there  must  be 
some  person  to  examine  the  validity  of  it,  and  pronounce  the 
sentence  of  acceptance.  Was  it  agreeable  that  the  Son  should 
sit  upon  a  throne  of  judgment,  and  the  Father  stand  at  the  bar, 
and  be  responsible  to  the  Son  ?  that  the  Son  should  be  in  the 
place  of  a  governor,  and  the  Father  in  the  place  of  the  criminal? 
that  the  Father  should  be  bruised  by  the  Son,  as  the  Son  was 
by  the  Father,  Isa.  liii.  10;  that  the  Son  should  awaken  a  sword 
against  the  Father,  as  the  Father  did  against  the  Son,  Zech.  xiii. 
7;  that  the  Father  should  be  sent  by  the  Son  as  the  Son  was  by 
the  Father?  Gal.  iv.  4.  The  order  of  the  Persons  in  the  blessed 
Trinity  had  been  inverted  and  disturbed.  Had  the  Father  been 
sent,  he  had  not  been  first  in  order;  the  sender  is  before  the  per- 
son sent.  As  the  Father  begets,  and  the  Son  is  begotten,  John 
i.  11;  so  the  Father  sends,  and  the  Son  is  sent.  He  whose  order 
is  to  send,  cannot  properly  send  himself. 

Nor  was  it  congruous  that  the  Spirit  should  be  sent  upon  this 
affair.  If  the  Holy  Ghost  had  been  sent  to  redeem  us,  and  the 
Son  to  apply  that  redemption  to  us,  the  order  of  the  persons  had 
also  been  inverted:  the  Spirit  then,  who  was  third  in  order,  had 
been  second  in  operation.  The  Son  would  then  have  received 
of  the  Spirit,  as  the  Spirit  doth  now  of  Christ,  and  show  it  unto 
us,  John  xvi.  14.  As  the  Spirit  proceeded  from  the  Father  and 
the  Son,  so  the  proper  function  and  operation  of  it,  was  in  order 
after  the  operations  of  the  Father  and  the  Son.  Had  the  Spirit 
been  sent  to  redeem  us,  and  the  Son  sent  by  the  Father  and  the 
Spirit  to  apply  that  redemption  to  us;  the  Son  in  his  acts  had 
proceeded  from  the  Father  and  the  Spirit;  the  Spirit,  as  sender, 
had  been  in  order  before  the  Son;  whereas  the  Spirit  is  called 
the  Spirit  of  Christ,  as  sent  by  Christ  from  the  Father,  Gal.  iv.  6; 


(340  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

John  xv.  26.  But  as  the  order  of  the  works,  so  the  order  of  the 
Persons  is  preserved  in  their  several  operations.  Creation,  and 
a  law  to  govern  the  creature,  precedes  redemption.  Nothing, 
or  that  which  has  no  being,  is  not  capable  of  a  redeemed  being. 
Redemption  supposes  the  existence  and  the  misery  of  a  person 
-redeemed.  As  creation  precedes  redemption,  so  redemption 
precedes  the  application  of  it.  As  redemption  supposes  the 
being  of  the  creature,  so  application  of  redemption  supposes  the 
efficacy  of  redemption.  According  to  the  order  of  these  works 
is  the  order  of  the  operations  of  the  three  Persons.  Creation 
belongs  to  the  Father,  the  first  Person.  Redemption,  the  second 
work,  is  the  function  of  the  Son,  the  second  Person.  Applica- 
tion, the  third  work,  is  the  office  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  third 
Person.  The  Father  orders  it,  the  Son  acts  it,  the  Holy  Ghost 
applies  it.  He  purifies  our  souls  to  understand,  believe,  and 
love  these  mysteries.  He  forms  Christ  in  the  womb  of  the  soul, 
as  he  did  the  body  of  Christ  in  the  womb  of  the  virgin.  As  the 
Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  waters,  to  garnish  and  adorn  the 
world,  after  the  matter  of  it  was  formed,  Gen.  i.  2;  so  he  moves 
upon  the  heart,  to  supple  it  to  a  compliance  with  Christ,  and 
draws  the  lineaments  of  the  new  creation  in  the  soul,  after  the 
foundation  is  laid. 

The  Son  pays  the  price  that  was  due  from  us  to  God,  and 
the  Spirit  is  the  earnest  of  the  promises  of  life  and  glory  pur- 
chased by  the  merit  of  that  death. J  It  is  to  be  observed,  that 
the  Father,  under  the  dispensation  of  the  law,  proposed  the 
commands,  with  the  promises  and  threatenings,  to  the  under- 
standings of  men;  and  Christ,  under  the  dispensation  of  grace, 
when  he  was  upon  the  earth,  proposes  the  gospel  as  the  means 
of  salvation,  exhorts  to  faith  as  the  condition  of  salvation;  but 
it  was  neither  the  function  of  the  one  or  the  other,  to  display 
such  an  efficacy  in  the  understanding  and  will,  to  make  men 
believe  and  obey,  and  therefore  there  were  such  few  conver- 
sions in  the  time  of  Christ,  by  his  miracles:  but  this  work  was 
reserved  for  the  fuller  and  brighter  appearance  of  the  Spirit, 
whose  office  it  was  to  convince  the  world  of  the  necessity  of  a 
Redeemer,  because  of  their  lost  condition;  of  the  person  of  the 
Redeemer,  the  Son  of  God;  of  the  sufficiency  and  efficacy  of 
redemption,  because  of  his  righteousness  and  acceptation  by  the 
Father.  The  wisdom  of  God  is  seen  in  preparing  and  presenting 
the  objects,  and  then  in  making  impression  of  them  upon  the 
subjects  he  intends.  And  thus  is  the  order  of  the  three  Persons 
preserved. 

The  second  Person  had  the  greatest  congruity  to  this  work. 
He  by  whom  God  created  the  world,  was  most  conveniently 
employed  in  restoring  the  defaced  world;  and  who  more  fit  to 

i  Amyrunt.  Moral,  torn.  5.  p.  478—480. 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  OOD.  (J4J 

recover  it  from  its  lapsed  state,  than  he  that  had  erected  it  in  its 
primitive  state?  Ileb.  i.  2.  He  was  the  light  of  men  in  crea- 
tion, John  i.  4,  and  therefore  it  was  most  reasonable  he  should 
be  the  light  of  men  in  redemption.  Who  fitter  to  reform  the 
Divine  image,  than  he  that  first  formed  it?  Who  fitter  to  speak 
for  us  to  God,  than  he  who  was  the  Word?  John  i.  1.  Who 
conld  better  intercede  with  the  Father,  than  he  who  was  the 
only  begotten  and  beloved  Son?  Who  so  fit  to  redeem  the  for- 
feited inheritance  as  the  Heir  of  all  things?  Who  fitter  and  bet- 
ter to  prevail  for  us  to  have  the  right  of  children,  than  he  that 
possessed  it  by  nature?  We  fell  from  being  the  sons  of  God,  and 
who  fitter  to  introduce  us  into  an  adopted  state  than  the  Son  of 
God?  Herein  was  an  expression  of  the  richer  grace,  because 
the  first  sin  was  immediately  against  the  wisdom  of  God,  by  an 
ambitious  affectation  of  a  wisdom  equal  to  God.  That  person, 
who  was  the  wisdom  of  God,  was  made  a  sacrifice  for  the  ex- 
piation of  the  sin  against  wisdom. 

[3.]  The  wisdom  of  God  is  seen  in  the  two  natures  of  Christ, 
whereby  this  redemption  was  accomplished.  The  union  of  the 
two  natures  was  the  foundation  of  the  union  of  God  and  the 
fallen  creature. 

The  union  itself  is  adynirable.  The  Word  is  made  flesh, 
John  i.  14.  One  equal  with  God  in  the  form  of  a  servant,  Phil, 
ii.  7.  When  the  apostle  speaks  of  God  manifested  in  the  flesh, 
he  speaks  the  wisdom  of  God  in  a  mystery,  1  Tim.  iii.  1G;  that 
which  is  incomprehensible  to  the  angels,  which  they  never 
imagined  before  it  was  revealed,  which,  perhaps,  they  never 
knew  till  they  beheld  it.  I  am  sure,  under  the  law  the  figures 
of  the  cherubim  were  placed  in  the  sanctuary  with  their  faces 
looking  towards  the  propitiatory,  in  a  perpetual  posture  of 
contemplation  and  admiration,  Exod.  xxxvii.  9,  to  which  the 
apostle  alludes,  1  Pet.  i.  12. 

Mysterious  is  the  wisdom  of  God  to  unite  finite  and  infinite, 
almightiness  and  weakness,  immortality  and  mortality,  immu- 
tability with  a  thing  subject  to  change;  to  have  a  nature  from 
eternity,  and  yet  a  nature  subject  to  the  revolutions  of  time;  a 
nature  to  make  a  law,  and  a  nature  to  be  subjected  to  the  law; 
to  be  God  blessed  for  ever,  in  the  bosom  of  his  Father,  and  an 
infant  exposed  to  calamities  from  the  womb  of  his  mother; 
terms  seeming  most  distant  from  union,  most  incapable  of  con- 
junction, to  shake  hands  together,  to  be  most  intimately  con- 
joined; glory  and  vileness,  fulness  and  emptiness,  heaven  and 
earth;  the  creature  with  the  Creator;  he  that  made  all  things, 
in  one  person  with  a  nature  that  is  made;  Immanuel,  God  and 
man  in  one;  that  which  is  most  spiritual  to  partake  of  that 
which  is  carnal  flesh  and  blood,  Heb.  ii.  14;  one  with  the  Father 
in  his  Godhead,  one  with  us  in  his  manhood;  the  Godhead  to 
Vol.  I.— 81 


642  0N  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

be  in  him  in  the  fullest  perfection,  and  the  manhood  in  the 
greatest  purity;  the  creature  one  with  the  Creator,  and  the 
Creator  one  with  the  creature.  Thus  is  the  incomprehensible 
wisdom  of  God  declared  in  the  Word  being  made  flesh. 

This  wisdom  is  seen,  too,  in  the  manner  of  this  union.  A 
union  of  two  natures,  yet  no  natural  union.  It  transcends  all 
the  unions  visible  among  creatures:1  it  is  not  like  the  union  of 
stones  in  building,  or  of  two  pieces  of  timber  fastened  together, 
which  touch  one  another  only  in  their  superficies  and  outside, 
without  any  intimacy  with  one  another.  By  such  a  kind  of 
union,  God  would  not  be  man;  the  Word  could  not  so  be  made 
flesh.  Nor  is  it  union  of  parts  to  the  whole,  as  the  members 
and  the  body;  the  members  are  parts,  the  body  is  the  whole; 
for  the  whole  results  from  the  parts,  and  depends  upon  the  parts; 
but  Christ  being  God,  is  independent  upon  any  thing.  The 
parts  are  in  order  of  nature  before  the  whole,  but  nothing  can 
be  in  order  of  nature  before  God.  Nor  is  it  as  the  union  of  two 
liquors,  as  when  wine  and  water  are  mixed  together;  for  they 
are  so  incorporated,  as  not  to  be  distinguished  from  one  another; 
no  man  can  tell  which  particle  is  wine,  and  which  is  water. 
But  the  properties  of  the  Divine  nature  are  distinguishable  from 
the  properties  of  the  human.  Nor  is  it  as  the  union  of  the  soul 
and  body,  so  as  that  the  Deity  is  the  form  of  the  humanity,  as 
the  soul  is  the  form  of  the  body;  for  as  the  soul  is  but  a  part  of 
the  man,  so  the  Divinity  would  be  then  but  a  part  of  the  huma- 
nity: and  as  a  form,  or  the  soul,  is  in  a  state  of  imperfection, 
without  that  which  it  is  to  inform;  so  the  Divinity  of  Christ 
would  have  been  imperfect,  till  it  had  assumed  the  humanity. 
And  so  the  perfection  of  an  eternal  Deity  would  have  depended 
on  a  creature  of  time. 

This  union  of  two  natures  in  Christ  is  incomprehensible:  and 
it  is  a  mystery  we  cannot  arrive  to  the  top  of,  how  the  Divine 
nature,  which  is  the  same  with  that  of  the  Father  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  should  be  united  to  the  human  nature,  without  its  being 
said  that  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost  were  united  to  the 
flesh;  but  the  Scripture  doth  not  encourage  any  such  notion,  it 
speaks  only  of  the  Word,  the  person  of  the  Word  being  made 
flesh;  and  in  his  being  made  flesh,  distinguishes  him  from  the 
Father,  as  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  John  i.  14.  The 
person  of  the  Son  was  the  term  of  this  union. 

This  union  does  not  confound  the  properties  of  the  Deity  and 
those  of  the  humanity.  They  remain  distinct  and  entire  in 
each  other.  The  Deity  is  not  changed  into  flesh,  nor  the  flesh 
transformed  into  God :  they  are  distinct,  and  yet  united :  they 
are  conjoined,  and  yet  unmixed:  the  dues  of  either  nature  are 
preserved.     It  is  impossible  that  the  majesty  of  the  Divinity 

1  Savana  Triump.  Crucis,  lib.  3.  cap.  7.  p.  211. 


ON  THK  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (543 

can  receive  an  alteration.  It  is  as  impossible  that  the  mean- 
ness of  the  humanity  can  receive  the  impressions  of  the  Deity, 
so  as  to  be  changed  into  it,  and  a  creature  be  metamorphosed 
into  the  Creator,  ami  temporary  flesh  become  eternal, and  finite 

mount  up  to  infinity:  as  the  soul  and  body  are  united,  and 
make  one  person;  yet  the  soul  is  not  changed  into  the  perfec- 
tions of  the  body,  nor  the  body  into  the  perfections  of  the  soul. 
There  is  a  change  made  in  the  humanity  by  being  advanced  to 
a  more  excellent  union,  but  not  in  the  Deity;  as  a  change  is 
made  in  the  air,  when  it  is  enlightened  by  the  sun,  not  in  the 
sun,  which  communicates  that  brightness  to  the  air.  Athana- 
sius  makes  the  burning  bush  to  be  a  type  of  Christ's  incarna- 
tion, Exod.  iii.  2.  The  fire  signifying  the  Divine  nature,  and 
the  bush  the  human.  The  bush  is  a  branch  springing  up  from 
the  earth,  and  the  fire  descends  from  heaven:  as  the  bush  was 
united  to  the  fire,  yet  was  not  hurt  by  the  flame,  nor  converted 
into  fire,  there  remained  a  difference  between  the  bush  and  the 
fire;  yet  the  properties  of  the  fire  shined  in  the  bush,  so  that 
the  whole  bush  seemed  to  be  on  fire.  So  in  the  incarnation  of 
Christ,  the  human  nature  is  not  swallowed  up  by  the  Divine, 
nor  changed  into  it,  nor  confounded  with  it;  but  so  united  that 
the  properties  of  both  remain  firm,  two  are  so  become  one  that 
they  remain  two  still:  one  person  in  two  natures,  containing 
the  glorious  perfections  of  the  Divine,  and  the  weaknesses  of 
the  human.  The  fulness  of  the  Deity  dwells  bodily  in  Christ, 
Col.  ii.  9. 

The  Divine  nature  is  united  to  every  part  of  the  humanity. 
The  whole  Divinity  to  the  whole  humanity;  so  that  no  part 
but  may  be  said  to  be  the  member  of  God,  as  well  as  the  blood 
is  said  to  be  the  blood  of  God,  Acts  xx.  28.  By  the  same  rea- 
son it  may  be  said,  the  hand  of  God,  the  eye  of  God,  the  arm 
of  God.  As  God  is  infinitely  present  every  where,  so  as  to  be 
excluded  from  no  place;  so  is  the  Deity  hypostatically  every 
where  in  the  humanity,  not  excluded  from  any  part  of  it;  as 
the  light  of  the  sun  in  every  part  of  the  air;  as  a  sparkling 
splendor  in  every  part  of  the  diamond.  Therefore  it  is  con- 
cluded by  all  that  acknowledge  the  Deity  of  Christ,  that  when 
his  soul  was  separated  from  the  body,  the  Deity  remained  united 
both  to  soul  and  body,  as  light  does  in  every  part  of  a  broken 
crystal. 

Therefore  they  were  perpetually  united.  The  fulness  of  the 
Godhead  dwells  in  him  bodily,  Col.  ii.  9.  It  dwells  in  him,  not 
lodges  in  him  as  a  traveller  in  an  inn,  it  resides  in  him  as  a 
fixed  habitation.  As  God  describes  the  perpetuity  of  his  pre- 
sence in  the  ark  by  his  habitation  or  dwelling  in  it,  Exod.  xxix. 
45;  so  does  the  apostle  the  inseparable  duration  of  the  Deity 
in  the  humanity,  and  the  indissoluble  union  of  the  humanity 


(544  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

with  the  Deity.  It  was  united  on  earth,  it  remains  united  in 
heaven.  It  was  not  an  image  or  an  apparition,  as  the  tongues 
wherein  the  Spirit  came  upon  the  apostles  were  a  temporary 
representation,  not  a  thing  united  perpetually  to  the  person  of 
the  Holy  Ghost. 

It  was  a  personal  union.  It  was  not  a  union  of  persons, 
though  it  was  a  personal  union;  so  Davenant  expounds  Col.  ii. 
9.  Christ  did  not  take  the  person  of  man,  but  the  nature  of  man 
into  subsistence  with  himself.  The  body  and  soul  of  Christ 
were  not  united  in  themselves,  and  had  no  subsistence  in  them- 
selves, till  they  were  united  to  the  person  of  the  Son  of  God. 
If  the  person  of  a  man  were  united  to  him,  the  human  nature 
would  have  been  the  nature  of  the  person  so  united  to  him, 
and  not  the  nature  of  the  Son  of  God:  "Forasmuch  then  as 
the  children  are  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood,  he  also  himself 
likewise  took  part  of  the  same;  that  through  death  he  might 
destroy  him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil.  For 
verily  he  took  not  on  him  the  nature  of  angels;  but  he  took  on 
him  the  seed  of  Abraham,"  Heb.  ii.  14.  16.  He  took  flesh  and 
blood  to  be  his  own  nature,  perpetually  to  subsist  in  the  person 
of  the  Aiyog,  which  must  be  by  a  personal  union,  or  no  way: 
the  Deity  united  to  the  humanity,  and  both  natures  to  be  one 
person.     This  is  the  mysterious  and  manifold  wisdom  of  God. 

This  wisdom  is  displayed  in  the  end  of  this  union. 

He  was  hereby  fitted  to  be  Mediator.  He  has  something 
like  to  man,  and  something  like  to  God.  If  he  were  in  all 
things  only  like  to  man,  he  would  be  at  a  distance  from  God: 
if  he  were  in  all  things  only  like  to  God,  he  would  be  at  a  dis- 
tance from  man.  He  is  a  true  Mediator  between  mortal  sinners 
and  the  immortal  Righteous  One.  He  was  near  to  us  by  the 
infirmities  of  our  nature,  and  near  to  God  by  the  perfections  of 
the  Divine;  as  near  to  God  in  his  nature  as  to  us  in  ours;  as 
near  to  us  in  our  nature,  as  he  is  to  God  in  the  Divine.  Nothing 
that  belongs  to  the  Deity  but  he  possesses;  nothing  that  belongs 
to  the  human  nature  but  he  is  clothed  with. 

He  had  both  the  nature  which  had  offended,  and  that  nature 
which  was  offended;  a  nature  to  please  God,  and  a  nature  to 
pleasure  us:  a  nature  whereby  he  experimentally  knew  the 
excellency  of  God,  which  was  injured,  and  understood  the 
glory  due  to  him,  and  consequently  the  greatness  of  the  offence, 
which  was  to  be  measured  by  the  dignity  of  his  person;  and 
a  nature  whereby  he  might  be  sensible  of  the  miseries  con- 
tracted by,  and  endure  the  calamities  due  to  the  offender,  that 
he  might  both  have  compassion  on  him,  and  make  due  satisfac- 
tion for  him.  He  had  two  distinct  natures,  capable  of  the  affec- 
tions and  sentiments  of  the  two  persons  he  was  to  accord;  he 
was  a  just  judge  of  the  rights  of  the  one  and  the  demerit  of  the 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (J45 

other.1  He  could  not  have  this  full  and  perfect  understanding, 
if  he  did  not  possess  the  perfections  of  the  one  and  the  qualities 
of  the  other:  the  one  fitted  him  for  things  appertaining  to  God, 
Heb.  v.  1,  and  the  other  furnished  him  with  a  sense  of  the  in- 
firmities of  man,  Heb.  iv.  15. 

He  \\ras  hereby  fitted  for  the  working  out  the  happiness  of 
man.  A  Divine  nature  to  communicate  to  man,  and  a  human 
nature  to  carry  up  to  God. 

He  had  a  nature  whereby  to  suffer  for  us,  and  a  nature 
whereby  to  be  meritorious  in  those  sufferings.  A  nature  to 
make  him  capable  to  bear  the  penalty,  and  a  nature  to  make 
his  sufferings  sufficient  for  all  that  embraced  him.  A  nature 
capable  to  be  exposed  to  the  flames  of  Divine  wrath,  and  an- 
other nature  incapable  to  be  crushed  by  the  weight,  or  con- 
sumed by  the  heat  of  it:  a  human  nature  to  suffer, and  stand  a 
sacrifice  in  the  stead  of  man;  a  Divine  nature  to  sanctify  these 
sufferings,  and  fill  the  nostrils  of  God  with  a  sweet  savour,  and 
thereby  atone  his  wrath:  the  one  to  bear  the  stroke  due  to  us, 
and  the  other  to  add  merit  to  his  sufferings  for  us.  Had  he  not 
been  man,  he  could  not  have  filled  our  place  in  suffering,  and 
could  he  otherwise  have  suffered,  his  sufferings  had  not  been 
applicable  to  us;  and  had  he  not  been  God,  his  sufferings  had 
not  been  meritoriously  and  fruitfully  applicable.  Had  not  his 
blood  been  the  blood  of  God,  it  had  been  of  as  little  advantage 
as  the  blood  of  an  ordinary  man,  or  the  blood  of  the  legal 
sacrifices,  Heb.  ix.  12.  Nothing  less  than  God,  could  have 
satisfied  God  for  the  injury  done  by  man.  Nothing  less  than 
God  could  have  countervailed  the  torments  due  to  the  offending 
creature:  nothing  less  than  God  could  have  rescued  us  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  jailor,  too  powerful  for  us. 

He  had  therefore  a  nature  to  be  compassionate  to  us,  and 
victorious  for  us.  A  nature  sensibly  to  compassionate  us,  and 
another  nature  to  render  those  compassions  effectual  for  our 
relief;  he  had  the  compassions  of  our  nature  to  pity  us,  and 
the  patience  of  the  Divine  nature  to  bear  with  us.  He  has  the 
affections  of  a  man  to  us,  and  the  power  of  a  God  for  us:  a 
nature  to  discern  the  devil  for  us,  and  another  nature  to  be  sen- 
sible of  the  working  of  the  devil  in  us  and  against  us.  If  he 
had  been  only  God,  he  would  not  have  had  an  experimental 
sense  of  our  misery;  and  if  he  had  been  only  man,  he  could 
not  have  vanquished  our  enemies:  had  he  been  only  God,  he 
could  not  have  died;  and  had  he  been  only  man,  he  could  not 
have  conquered  death. 

A  nature  efficaciously  to  instruct  us.  As  man,  he  was  to 
instruct  us  sensibly;  as  God,  he  was  to  instruct  us  infallibly. 
A  nature  whereby  he  might  converse  with  us,  and  a  nature 

'  Gomb.  de  Relig.  p.  43. 


546  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

whereby  he  might  influence  us  in  those  converses.  A  human 
mouth  to  minister  instructions  to  man,  and  a  Divine  power  to 
imprint  it  with  efficacy. 

A  nature  to  be  a  pattern  to  us.  A  pattern  of  grace  as  man, 
as  Adam  was  to  have  been  to  his  posterity.  A  Divine  nature 
shining  in  tbe  human,  the  image  of  the  invisible  God  in  the 
glass  of  our  flesh,  that  he  might  be  a  perfect  copy  for  our  imita- 
tion;1 "The  image  of  the  invisible  God,"  and  "  the  first-born 
of  every  creature  in  conjunction,"  Col.  i.  15.  The  virtues  of  the 
Deity  are  sweetened  and  tempered  by  the  union  with  the  hu- 
manity, as  the  beams  of  the  sun  are  by  shining  through  a 
coloured  glass,  which  condescends  more  to  the  weakness  of 
our  eye. 

Thus  the  perfections  of  the  invisible  God  breaking  through 
the  first-born  of  every  creature,  glittering  in  Christ's  created 
state,  became  more  sensible  for  contemplation  by  our  mind,  and 
more  imitable  for  conformity  in  our  practice. 

A  nature  to  be  a  ground  of  confidence  in  our  approach  to 
God  A  nature  wherein  we  may  behold  him,  and  wherein  we 
may  approach  to  him.  A  nature  for  our  comfort,  and  a  nature 
for  our  confidence.  Had  he  been  only  man,  he  had  been  too 
feeble  to  assure  us;  and  had  he  been  only  God,  he  had  been 
too  high  to  attract  us;  but  now  we  are  allured  by  his  human 
nature,  and  assured  by  his  Divine,  in  our  drawing  near  to  hea- 
ven. Communion  with  God  was  desired  by  us,  but  our  guilt 
stifled  our  hopes,  and  the  infinite  excellency  of  the  Divine 
nature  would  have  damped  our  hopes  of  speeding;  but  since 
these  two  natures,  so  far  distant,  are  met  in  a  marriage  knot, 
we  have  a  ground  of  hope,  nay,  an  earnest  that  the  Creator 
and  believing  creature  shall  meet  and  converse  together. 

And  since  our  sins  are  expiated  by  the  death  of  the  human 
nature  in  conjunction  with  the  Divine,  or  guilt,  upon  believing, 
shall  not  hinder  us  from  this  comfortable  approach.  Had  he 
been  only  man,  he  could  not  have  assured  us  an  approach  to 
God;  had  he  been  only  God,  his  justice  would  not  have  ad- 
mitted us  to  approach  to  him;  he  had  been  too  terrible  for 
guilty  persons,  and  too  holy  for  polluted  persons  to  come  near 
to  him:  but  by  being  made  man,  his  justice  is  tempered,  and 
by  his  being  God  and  man,  his  mercy  is  insured.  A  human 
nature  he  had,  one  with  us,  that  we  might  be  related  to  God, 
as  one  with  him. 

A  nature  to  derive  all  good  to  us.  Had  he  not  been  man, 
we  had  had  no  share  or  part  in  him;  a  satisfaction  by  him  had 
not  been  imputed  to  us.  If  he  were  not  God,  he  could  not 
communicate  to  us  Divine  graces  and  eternal  happiness;  he 
could  not  have  had  power  to  convey  so  great  a  good  to  us  had 

1  Amyrant  Moral,  torn.  5.  p.  468,  4fi0. 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (347 

he  been  only  man;  and  he  could  not  have  done  it,  according 
to  the  rule  of  inflexible  righteousness,  had  he  been  only  God. 
As  man,  he  is  the  way  of  conveyance;  as  God,  he  is  the 
spring  of  conveyance.  From  this  grace  of  union,  and  the  grace 
of  unction,  we  find  rivers  of  waters  llowing,  to  make  glad  the 
city  of  God.  Believers  are  his  branches,  and  draw  sap  from 
him  as  he  is  their  Root  in  his  human  nature,  and  have  an  end- 
less duration  of  it  from  his  Divine.  Had  lie  not  been  man,  he 
had  not  been  in  a  state  to  obey  the  law;  had  he  not  been  God 
as  well  as  man,  his  obedience  could  not  have  been  valuable  to 
be  imputed  to  us. 

How  should  this  mystery  be  studied  by  us,  which  would 
afford  us  both  admiration  and  content!  admiration  in  the  in- 
comprehensibleness  of  it;  contentment  in  the  fitness  of  the 
Mediator.  By  this  wisdom  of  God  we  receive  the  props  of 
our  faith,  and  the  fruits  of  joy  and  peace.  Wisdom  consists 
in  choosing  fit  means,  and  conducting  them  in  such  a  method 
as  may  reach  with  good  success  the  variety  of  marks  which 
are  aimed  at.  Thus  has  the  wisdom  of  God  set  forth  a 
Mediator,  suited  to  our  wants,  fitted  for  our  supplies;  and 
ordered  so  the  whole  affair  by  the  union  of  these  two  natures 
in  the  person  of  the  Redeemer,  that  there  could  be  no  disap- 
pointment, by  all  the  bustle  hell  and  hellish  instruments  could 
raise  against  it. 

[4.]  The  wisdom  of  God  is  seen  in  this  way  of  redemption, 
in  vindicating  the  honour  and  righteousness  of  the  law,  both  as 
to  precept  and  penalty.  The  first  and  irreversible  design  of 
the  law,  was  obedience.  The  penalty  of  the  law  had  only 
entrance  upon  transgression.  Obedience  was  the  design,  and 
the  penalty  was  added  to  enforce  the  observance  of  the  pre- 
cept. "Thou  shalt  not  eat;"  there  is  the  precept:  "In  the 
day  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  die,"  Gen.  ii.  17;  there  is 
the  penalty.  Obedience  was  our  debt  to  the  law,  as  creatures; 
punishment  was  due  from  the  law  to  us,  as  sinners.  We  were 
bound  to  endure  the  penalty  for  our  first  transgression,  but  the 
penalty  did  not  cancel  the  bond  of  future  obedience.  The 
penalty  had  not  been  incurred  without  transgressing  the  pre- 
cept; yet  the  precept  was  not  abrogated  by  enduring  the 
penalty.  Since  man  so  soon  revolted,  and  by  his  revolt  fell 
under  the  threatening,  the  justice  of  the  law  had  been  honour- 
ed by  man's  sufferings,  but  the  holiness  and  equity  of  the  law 
had  been  honoured  by  man's  obedience.  The  wisdom  of  God 
finds  out  a  medium  to  satisfy  both;  the  justice  of  the  law  is 
preserved  in  the  execution  of  the  penalty,  and  the  holiness  of 
the  law  is  honoured  in  the  observance  of  the  precept. 

The  life  of  our  Saviour  is  a  conformity  to  the  precept,  and 
his  death  is  a  conformity  to  the  penalty;   the  precepts  are  ex- 


(548  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

actly  performed,  and  the  curse  punctually  executed,  by  a 
voluntary  observing  the  one,  and  a  voluntary  undergoing  the 
other.  It  is  obeyed,  as  if  it  had  not  been  transgressed,  and 
executed,  as  if  it  had  not  been  obeyed. 

It  became  the  wisdom,  justice,  and  holiness  of  God,  as  the 
Rector  of  the  world,  to  exact  it,  Heb.  ii.  10;  and  it  became  the 
holiness  of  the  Mediator  to  fulfil  all  the  righteousness  of  the 
law,  Rom.  viii.  4;  Matt.  iii.  15.  And  thus  the  honour  of  the  law 
was  vindicated  in  all  the  parts  of  it.  The  transgression  of  the 
law  was  condemned  in  the  flesh  of  the  Redeemer,  and  the 
righteousness  of  the  law  was  fulfilled  in  his  person.  And  both 
these  acts  of  obedience,  being  counted  as  one  righteousness, 
and  imputed  to  the  believing  sinner,  render  him  a  subject  to 
the  law,  both  in  its  preceptive  and  minatory  part.  By  Adam's 
sinful  acting  we  were  made  sinners,  and  by  Christ's  righteous 
acting  we  are  made  righteous.  "  As  by  one  man's  disobedi- 
ence many  were  made  sinners,  so  by  the  obedience  of  one  shall 
many  be  made  righteous,"  Rom.  v.  19.  The  law  was  obeyed 
by  him,  that  the  righteousness  of  it  might  be  fulfilled  in  us, 
Rom.  viii.  4.  It  is  not  fulfilled  in  us,  or  in  our  actions,  by  in- 
herency, but  fulfilled  in  us  by  imputation  of  that  righteousness 
which  was  exactly  fulfilled  by  another.  As  he  died  for  us,  and 
rose  again  for  us,  so  he  lived  for  us.  The  commands  of  the 
law  were  as  well  observed  for  us,  as  the  threatenings  of  the 
law  were  endured  for  us.  This  justification  of  a  sinner,  with 
the  preservation  of  the  holiness  of  the  law  in  truth,  in  the  in- 
ward parts,  in  sincerity  of  intention,  as  well  as  the  conformity 
in  action,  is  the  wisdom  of  God,  the  gospel  wisdom  which 
David  desires  to  know:  "Thou  desirest  truth  in  the  inward 
parts;  and  in  the  hidden  part  thou  shalt  make  to  know  wis- 
dom," Psal.  Ii.  6;  or  as  some  render  it,  the  hidden  things  of 
wisdom.  Not  an  inherent  wisdom  in  the  acknowledgments  of 
his  sin,  which  he  had  confessed  before;  but  the  wisdom  of  God 
in  providing  a  medicine,  so  as  to  keep  up  the  holiness  of  the 
law  in  the  observance  of  it  in  truth,  and  the  averting  the  judg- 
ment due  to  the  sinner.  In  and  by  this  way  methodized  by 
the  wisdom  of  God,  all  doubts  and  troubles  are  discharged. 
Naturally,  if  we  take  a  view  of  the  law  to  behold  its  holiness 
and  justice,  and  then  of  our  hearts,  to  see  the  contrariety  in 
them  to  the  command,  and  the  pollution  repugnant  to  its  holi- 
ness; and  after  this  cast  our  eyes  upward,  and  behold  a  flam- 
ing sword  edged  with  curses  and  wrath;  is  there  any  matter, 
but  that  of  terror,  afforded  by  any  of  these?  But  when  we 
behold,  in  the  life  of  Christ,  a  conformity  to  the  mandatory  part 
of  the  law,  and  in  the  cross  of  Christ,  a  sustaining  the  mina- 
tory part  of  the  law;  this  wisdom  of  God  gives  a  well-grounded 
and  rational  dismissal  to  all  the  horrors  that  can  seize  upon  us. 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  ,;j<) 

[5.]  The  wisdom  of  God  in  redemption,  is  visible  in  mani- 
festing two  contrary  affections  at  the  same  time,  and  in  one  act ; 
the  greatest  hatred  of  sin,  and  the  greatest  love  to  the  sinner. 
In  this  way  he  punishes  the  sin  without  ruining  the  sinner,  and 

repairs  the  ruins  of  the  sinner  without  indulging  the  sin.     Here 
is  eternal   love  and  eternal   hatred:  a  condemning  the  sin   to 
what  it  merited,  and  an  advancing  the  sinner  to  what  he  could 
not  expect.     Herein  is  the  choicest  love  and  the  deepest  hatred 
manifest;  an  implacablcncss  against  the  sin,  and  a  plaeahleness 
to  the  sinner.     His  hatred  of  sin  has  been  discovered   in  other 
ways:  in  punishing  the  devil  without  remedy;  sentencing  man 
to  an  expulsion  from  paradise,  though  seduced  by  another;  in 
cursing  the  serpent,  an  irrational  creature,  though   but  a  mis- 
guided instrument.     The  whole  tenor  of  his  threatenings  de- 
clare his  loathing  of  sin,  and  the  sprinklings  of  his  judgments 
in  the   world   and   the   horrible   expectations  of  terrified  eon- 
sciences  confirm  it.     But  what  are  all  these  testimonies  to  the 
highest  evidence  that  can  possibly  be  given  in  the  sheathing  the 
sword  of  his  wrath  in  the  heart  of  his  Son?     If  a  father  should 
order  his  son  to  take  a  mean  garb  below  his  dignity,  order  him 
to  be  dragged  to  prison,  seem  to  throw  oil'  all  affection  of  a 
father  for  the  severity  of  a  judge,  condemn  his  son  to  a  horrible 
death,  be  a  spectator  of  his  bleeding  condition,  withhold  his 
hand  from  assuaging  his  misery,  regard  it  rather  with  joy  than 
sorrow,  give  him  a  bitter  cup  to  drink,  and  stand  by  to  see  him 
drink  it  oil'  to  the  bottom,  dregs  and  all,  and  flash  frowns  in  his 
face  all  the  while;  and  this  not  for  any  fault  of  his  own,  but 
the  rebellion  of  some  subjects  he  undertook  for,  and  that  the 
offenders  might  have  a  pardon  sealed  by  the  blood  of  the  son, 
the  sufferer;  all  this  would  evidence  his  detestation  of  the  re- 
bellion, and  his  affection  to  the  rebels;  his  hatred  to  their  crime, 
and  his  love  to  their  welfare.     This  did  God  do;  he  delivered 
Christ  up  for  our  offences,  Horn.  viii.  32;  the  Father  gave  him 
the  cup,  John  xviii.  11;  the  Lord  bruised  him  with   pleasure. 
Isa.  liii.  10,  and  that  for  sin;  he  transferred  upon  the  shoulders 
of  his  Son  the  pain  we  had  merited,  that  the  criminal  might  be 
restored  to  the  place  he  had  forfeited.     He  hates  the  sin  so  as 
to  condemn   it   for  ever,  and  wrap  it  up  in  the  curse  he  had 
threatened;  and  loves  the  sinner  believing  and  repenting, so  as 
to  mount  him  to  an  expectation  of  a  happiness  exceeding  the 
first  state,  both  in  glory  and  perpetuity.     Instead  of  an  earthly 
paradise,  he  lays  the  foundation  of  a  heavenly  mansion,  brings 
forth  a  weight  of  glory  from  a  weight  of  misery,  separates  the 
comfortable  light  of  the  sun  from  the  scorching  heat   we  had 
deserved  at  his  hands.     Thus  has  God's  hatred   of  sin  been 
manifested.     He  is  at  an  eternal  defiance  with  sin,  yet  nearer 
in  alliance  with  the  sinner  than  he  was  before  the  revolt:  as  if 
Vol.  [.—82 


(|5()  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOO. 

man's  miserable  fall  had  endeared  him  to  the  Judge.  This  is 
the  wisdom  and  prudence  of  grace  wherein  God  has  abounded, 
Eph.  i.  8.  A  wisdom  in  twisting  the  happy  restoration  of  the 
broken  amity,  with  an  everlasting  curse  upon  that  which  made 
the  breach,  both  upon  sin  the  cause,  and  upon  Satan  the  se- 
ducer to  it.  Thus  are  hatred  and  love  in  their  highest  glory 
manifested  together:  hatred  to  sin,  in  the  death  of  Christ,  more 
than  if  the  torments  of  hell  had  been  undergone  by  the  sinner; 
and  love  to  the  sinner,  more  than  if  he  had,  by  an  absolute  and 
simple  bounty,  bestowed  upon  him  the  possession  of  heaven; 
because  the  gift  of  his  Son,  for  such  an  end,  is  a  greater  token 
of  his  boundless  affections,  than  a  re-instating  man  in  paradise. 
Thus  is  the  wisdom  of  God  seen  in  redemption;  consuming  the 
sin,  and  recovering  the  sinner. 

[6.]  The  wisdom  of  God  is  evident  in  overturning  the  devil's 
empire,  by  the  nature  he  had  vanquished,  and  by  ways  quite 
contrary  to  what  that  malicious  spirit  could  imagine.  The 
devil  indeed  read  his  own  doom  in  the  first  promise,  and  found 
his  ruin  resolved  upon,  by  the  means  of  the  seed  of  the  woman, 
but  by  what  seed  was  not  so  easily  known  to  him.1  And  the 
methods  whereby  it  was  to  be  brought  about,  was  a  mystery 
kept  secret  from  the  malicious  devils,  since  it  was  not  discover- 
ed to  the  obedient  angels.  He  might  know  from  Isa.  liii.  that 
the  Redeemer  was  assured  to  divide  the  spoil  with  the  strong, 
rescue  a  part  of  the  lost  creation  out  of  his  hands;  and  that 
this  was  to  be  effected  by  making  his  soul  an  offering  for  sin; 
but  could  he  imagine  which  way  his  soul  was  to  be  made  such 
an  offering?  He  shrewdly  suspected  Christ,  just  after  his  inau- 
guration into  his  office  by  baptism,  to  be  the  Son  of  God.  But 
did  he  ever  dream  that  the  Messiah,  by  dying  as  a  reputed 
malefactor,  should  be  a  sacrifice  for  the  expiation  of  the  sin  the 
devil  had  introduced  by  his  subtlety?  did  he  ever  imagine  a 
cross  should  dispossess  him  of  his  crown,  and  that  dying  groans 
should  wrest  the  victory  out  of  his  hands? 

He  was  conquered  by  that  nature  he  had  cast  headlong  into 
ruin.  A  woman,  by  his  subtlety,  was  the  occasion  of  our  death; 
and  woman,  by  the  conduct  of  the  only  wise  God,  brings  forth 
the  Author  of  our  life,  and  the  Conqueror  of  our  enemies.  The 
flesh  of  the  old  Adam  had  infected  us,  and  the  flesh  of  the  new 
Adam  cures  us.  "By  man  came  death;  by  man  came  also  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead,"  1  Cor.  xv.  21.  We  are  killed  by  the 
old  Adam,  and  raised  by  the  new.  As  among  the  Israelites,  a 
fiery  serpent  gave  the  wound,  and  a  brazen  serpent  adminis- 
ters the  cure.     The  nature  that  was  deceived  bruises  the  de- 

1  And  indeed  the  heathen  oracles,  managed  by  the  devils,  declared  that  they 
were  not  long  to  hold  their  sceptre  in  the  world,  but  the  Hebrew  child  should  van- 
quish them. 


OH  THE  WISDOM  OF  HUD.  (551 

ceiver,  and  razes  up  the  foundations  of  his  kingdom.  Satan 
is  defeated  by  the  counsels  he  took  to  secure  his  possession,  and 
loses  the  victory  hy  the  same  means  whefeby  he  thought  to 

preserve  it. 

His  tempting  the  .lews  to  the  sin  of  crucifying  tin;  Son  of 
God,  had  a  contrary  success  to  his  tempting  Adam  to  eat  of  the 
tree.  The  first  death  he  brought  upon  Adam,  ruined  us.  and 
the  death  he  brought  hy  his  instruments  upon  the  second  Adam 
restored  us.  Hy  a  tree,  if  one  may  so  say,  he  had  triumphed 
over  the  world;  and  hy  the  fruit  of  a  tree,  one  hanging  upon  a 
tree,  he  is  discharged  of  his  power  over  us:  through  death  lie 
destroyed  him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  Heh.  ii.  14.  And 
thus  the  devil  ruins  his  own  kingdom  while  he  thinks  to  con- 
firm and  enlarge  it;  and  is  defeated  by  his  own  policy,  whereby 
he  thought  to  continue  the  world  under  his  chains,  and  deprive 
the  Creator  of  the  world  of  his  purposed  honour.  What  deeper 
counsel  could  he  resolve  upon  for  his  own  security,  than  to  be 
instrumental  in  the  death  of  him  who  was  God,  the  terror  of 
the  devil  himself,  and  to  bring  the  Redeemer  of  the  world  to 
expire  with  disgrace  in  the  sight  of  a  multitude  of  men?  Thus 
did  the  wisdom  of  God  shine  forth  in  restoring  us  by  methods 
seemingly  repugnant  to  the  end  he  aimed  at,  and  above  the 
suspicion  of  a  subtle  devil,  whom  he  intended  to  bailie. 

Could  he  imagine  that  we  should  be  healed  by  stripes,  quick- 
ened by  death,  purified  by  blood,  crowned  by  a  cross,  advanced 
to  the  highest  honour  by  the  lowest  humility,  comforted  by  sor- 
rows, glorified  by  disgrace,  absolved  by  condemnation,  and 
made  rich  by  poverty?  that  the  sweetest  honey  should  at  once 
spring  out  of  the  belly  of  a  dead  lion,  the  lion  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah,  and  out  of  the  bosom  of  the  living  God?  How  won- 
derful is  this  wisdom  of  God!  that  the  seed  of  the  woman, 
born  of  a  mean  virgin,  brought  forth  in  a  stable,  spending  his 
days  in  affliction,  misery,  and  poverty,  without  any  pomp  and 
splendour,  passing  some  time  in  a  carpenter's  shop,  Mark  vi. 
3,  with  carpenter's  tools,  and  afterwards  exposed  to  a  horrible 
and  disgraceful  death,  should  hy  this  way  pull  down  the  gates 
of  hell,  subvert  the  kingdom  of  the  devil,  and  be  the  hammer 
to  break  in  pieces  that  power  which  he  had  so  long  exercised 
over  the  world!  Thus  became  he  the  Author  of  our  life,  hy 
being  bound  for  a  while  in  the  chains  of  death,  and  arrived  to 
a  principality  over  the  most  malicious  powers,  by  being  a  pri- 
soner for  us,  and  the  anvil  of  their  rage  and  fury. 

[7.]  The  wisdom  of  God  appears,  in  giving  us  this  pray 
the  surest  ground  of  comfort  and  the  strongest  incentive  to 
obedience.  The  rebel  is  reconciled,  and  the  rebellion  shamed; 
God  is  propitiated  and  the  sinner  sanctified  by  the  same  blood. 
What  can  more  contribute  to  our  comfort  and  confidence,  than 


(J52  0N  TIIE  WISDOM  OF  GOD 

God's  richest  gift  to  us?  What  can  more  inflame  our  love  to 
him,  than  our  recovery  from  death  by  the  oblation  of  his  Son  to 
misery  and  death  for  us?  It  docs  as  much  engage  our  duty  as 
secure  our  happiness.  It  presents  God  glorious  and  gracious, 
and  therefore  every  way  fit  to  be  trusted  in  regard  of  the  inte- 
rest of  his  own  glory  in  it,  and  in  regard  of  the  effusions  of  his 
grace  by  it.  It  renders  the  creature  obliged  in  the  highest 
manner,  and  so  awakens  his  industry  to  the  strictest  and  noblest 
obedience.  Nothing  so  effectual  as  a  crucified  Christ  to  wean 
us  from  sin,  and  stifle  all  motions  of  despair,  a  means,  in  regard 
of  the  justice  signalized  in  it,  to  make  man  to  hate  the  sin 
which  had  ruined  him;  and  a  means,  in  regard  of  the  love  ex- 
pressed, to  make  him  delight  in  that  law  he  had  violated.  The 
love  of  Christ,  and  therefore  the  love  of  God  expressed  in  it, 
constrains  us  no  longer  to  live  to  ourselves,  2  Cor.  v.  14,  15. 

It  is  a  ground  of  the  highest  comfort  and  confidence  in  God. 
Since  he  has  given  such  an  evidence  of  his  impartial  truth  to 
his  threatening  for  the  honour  of  his  justice,  we  need  not  ques- 
tion but  he  will  be  as  punctual  to  his  promise  for  the  honour  of 
his  mercy.  It  is  a  ground  of  confidence  in  God,  since  he  has 
redeemed  us  in  such  a  way  as  glorifies  the  steadiness  of  his 
veracity,  as  well  as  the  severity  of  his  justice.  We  may  well 
trust  him  for  the  performance  of  his  promise,  since  we  have 
experience  of  the  execution  of  his  threatening;  his  merciful 
truth  will  as  much  engage  him  to  accomplish  the  one,  as  his 
just  truth  did  to  inflict  the  other.  The  goodness  which  shone 
forth  in  weaker  rays  in  the  creation,  breaks  out  with  stronger 
beams  in  redemption.  And  the  mercy  which  before  the  ap- 
pearance of  Christ  was  manifested  in  some  small  rivulets,  dif- 
fuses itself  like  a  boundless  ocean.  That  God,  who  was  our 
Creator,  is  our  Redeemer,  the  repairer  of  our  breaches,  and  the 
restorer  of  our  paths  to  dwell  in,  and  the  plenteous  redemption 
from  all  iniquity,  manifested  in  the  incarnation  and  passion  of 
the  Son  of  God,  is  much  more  a  ground  of  hope  in  the  Lord, 
than  it  was  in  the  past  ages,  when  it  could  not  be  said,  "  The 
Lord  hath,  but  the  Lord  shall  redeem  Israel  from  all  his  iniqui- 
ties," Psal.  cxxx.  8.  It  is  a  full  warrant  to  cast  ourselves  into 
his  arms. 

It  is  also  an  incentive  to  obedience. 

The  commands  of  the  gospel  require  the  obedience  of  the 
creature.  There  is  not  one  precept  in  the  gospel  which  inter- 
feres with  any  rule  in  the  law,  but  strengthens  it,  and  represents 
it  in  its  true  exactness:  the  heat  to  scorch  us  is  allayed,  but  the 
light  to  direct  us  is  not  extinguished.  Not  the  least  allowance 
to  any  sin  is  granted;  not  the  least  affection  to  any  sin  is  indul- 
ged. The  law  is  tempered  by  the  gospel,  but  not  nulled  and 
cast  out  of  doors  by  it:  it  enacts  that  none  but  those  that  are 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  653 

Sanctified  shall  lie  glorified;  that  there  must  be  grace  here,  if 
we  expect  glory  hereafter;  thai  we  must  not  presume  to  ex- 
pect it 1 1  admittance  to  the  vision  of  God's  face,  unless  our  souls 
be  clothed  with  a  robe  of  holiness,  Heb.  xii.  1  l:  it  requires  an 
obedience  to  the  whole  law  in  our  intention  and  purpose,  and 
an  endeavour  to  observe  it  in  our  actions;  it  promotes  the 
honour  of  God,  and  ordains  a  universal  charity  among  men;  it 
reveals  the  whole  counsel  of  God,  and  furnishes  men  with  the 
holiest  laws. 

It  presents  to  us  the  exactest  pattern  for  our  obedience.  The 
redeeming  Person  is  not  only  a  propitiation  for  the  sin,  but  a 
pattern  to  the  sinner,  1  Pet.  ii.  21.  The  conscience  of  man, 
after  the  fall  of  Adam,  approved  of  the  reason  of  the  law,  but 
by  the  corruption  of  nature,  man  had  no  strength  to  perform 
the  law.  The  possibility  of  keeping  the  law  by  human  nature, 
is  evidenced  by  the  appearance  and  life  of  the  Redeemer,  and 
an  assurance  given  that  it  shall  be  advanced  to  such  a  state,  as 
to  be  able  to  observe  it:  we  aspire  to  it  in  this  life,  and  have 
hopes  to  attain  it  in  a  future;  and  while  we  are  here,  the  actor 
of  our  redemption  is  the  copy  for  our  imitation.  The  pattern  to 
imitate  is  greater  than  the  law  to  be  ruled  by.  What  a  lustre 
did  his  virtues  cast  about  the  world!  How  attractive  are  his 
graces!  With  what  high  examples  for  all  duties  lias  he  fur- 
nished us  out  of  the  copy  of  his  life! 

It  presents  us  with  the  strongest  motives  to  obedience.  The 
grace  of  God  teaches  us  to  deny  ungodliness,  Tit.  ii.  11,  12. 
What  chains  bind  faster  and  closer  than  love?  Here  is  love  to 
our  nature,  in  his  incarnation;  love  to  us,  though  enemies,  in 
his  death  and  passion;  encouragements  to  obedience  by  the 
proffers  of  pardon  for  former  rebellions.  By  the  disobedience 
of  man,  God  introduces  his  redeeming  grace,  and  engages  his 
creature  to  more  ingenuous  and  excellent  returns  than  Ins  iuno- 
cent  state  could  oblige  him  to.  In  his  created  state  he  had 
goodness  to  move  bun;  he  has  the  same  goodness  now  to 
oblige  him  as  a  creature,  and  a  greater  love  and  mercy  to 
oblige  him  as  a  repaired  creature;  and  the  terror  of  justice  is 
taken  oil.  which  might  envenom  his  heart  as  a  criminal.  In 
his  revolted  state  be  had  misery  to  discourage  him;  in  his  re- 
deemed state  he  has  love  to  attract  him.  Without  such  a  way, 
black  despair  bad  seized  upon  the  creature  exposed  to  a  reme- 
diless misery,  and  God  would  have  had  no  returns  of  love  from 
the  best  of  his  earthly  works.  But  if  any  spark  of  ingenuity  be 
left,  man  will  be  excited  by  the  efficacy  of  this  argument. 

Tbis  willingness  of  God  to  receive  returning  sinners,  is  man- 
ifested in  the  highest  degree;  and  the  willingness  of  a  sinner  to 
return  to  him  in  duty  has  the  strongest  engagements,  lie  has 
done  as  much  to  encourage  our  obedience,  as  to  illustrate  his 


(354  ON  THE  WISDOM  0F  G0D- 

glory.  We  cannot  conceive  what  could  be  done  greater  lor 
the  salvation  of  our  souls,  and  consequently  what  could  have 
been  done  more  to  enforce  our  observance.  We  have  a  Re- 
deemer, as  man,  to  copy  it  to  us,  and  as  God,  to  perfect  us  in 
it.  It  would  make  the  heart  of  any  to  tremble  to  wound  him. 
that  has  provided  such  a  salve  for  our  sores,  and  to  make  grace 
a  warrant  for  rebellion:  motives,  capable  to  form  rocks  into  a 
flexibleness.  Thus  is  the  wisdom  of  God  seen  in  giving  us  a 
ground  of  the  surest  confidence,  and  furnishing  us  with  incen- 
tives to  the  greatest  obedience  by  the  horrors  of  wrath;  by  the 
death,  and  sufferings  of  our  Saviour. 

[8.]  The  wisdom  of  God  is  apparent  in  the  condition  he  has 
settled  for  the  enjoying  the  fruits  of  redemption,  and  this  is 
faith,  a  wise  and  reasonable  condition:  and  in  the  concomitants 
of  it. 

It  is  so  in  that  it  is  suited  to  man's  lapsed  state  and  God's 
glory.  Innocence  is  not  required  here:  that  had  been  a  con- 
dition impossible  in  its  own  nature  after  the  fall.  The  reject- 
ing of  mercy  is  now  only  condemning,  where  mercy  is  pro- 
posed: had  the  condition  of  perfection  in  works  been  required, 
it  had  rather  been  a  condemnation  than  redemption.  Works 
are  not  demanded  whereby  the  creature  might  ascribe  any 
thing  to  himself;  but  a  condition  which  continues  in  man  a 
sense  of  his  apostasy,  abates  all  aspiring  pride,  and  makes  the 
reward,  of  grace,  not  of  debt:  a  condition  whereby  mercy  is 
owned,  and  the  creature  emptied;  flesh  silenced  in  the  dust, 
and  God  set  upon  his  throne  of  grace  and  authority;  the  crea- 
ture brought  to  the  lowest  debasement,  and  Divine  glory  raised 
to  the  highest  pitch.  The  creature  is  brought  to  acknowledge 
mercy,  and  seal  to  justice;  to  own  the  holiness  of  God  in  the 
hatred  of  sin,  the  justice  of  God  in  the  punishment  of  sin,  and 
the  mercy  of  God  in  the  pardoning  of  sin.  A  condition  that 
despoils  nature  of  all  its  pretended  excellency,  and  beats  down 
the  glory  of  man  at  the  foot  of  God,  I  Cor.  i.  29.  31.  It  sub- 
jects the  reason  and  will  of  man  to  the  wisdom  and  authority 
of  God;  it  brings  the  creature  to  an  unreserved  submission  and 
entire  resignation.  God  is  made  the  sovereign  Cause  of  all; 
the  creature  continued  in  his  emptiness,  and  reduced  to  a 
greater  dependence  upon  God  than  by  a  creation;  depending 
upon  him  for  a  constant  influx,  fdr  an  entire  happiness.  A 
condition  that  renders  God  glorious  in  the  creature,  and  the 
fallen  creature  happy  in  God;  God  glorious  in  his  condescen- 
sion to  man,  and  man  happy  in  his  emptiness  before  God. 

Faith  is  made  the  condition  of  man's  recovery,  that  the  lofty 
looks  of  man  might  be  humbled,  and  the  haughtiness  of  man 
be  bowed  down,  Isa.  ii.  11;  that  every  towering  imagination 
might  be  levelled,  2  Cor.  x.  5.     Man  must  have  all  from  with- 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 


655 


out  doors;  he  must  not  live  upon  himself,  but  upon  another's 
allowance.  II*-  must  Btand  to  the  provision  of  God,  ami  be  a 
perpetual  suitor  ;it  his  gatea 

A  condition  opposite  to  thai  which  was  the  cause  of  the  fall. 
We  fell  from  God  by  an  unbelief  of  the  threatening,  he  recovers 
us  by  a  belief  of  the  promise:  by  unbelief  we  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  God's  dishonour,  hy  faith  therefore  God  exalts  the  glory 
of  his  free  grace,  We  lost  ourselves  by  a  desire  of  self-depend- 
eucc.  and  our  return  is  ordered  by  a  way  of  self-emptiness.  It 
is  reasonable  we  should  be  restored  in  a  way  contrary  to  that 
whereby  we  fell:  we  sinned  by  a  refusal  of  cleaving  to  God; 
it  is  a  part  of  Divine  wisdom  to  restore  us  in  a  denial  of  our 
own  righteousness  and  strength.  Man  having  sinned  by  pride, 
the  wisdom  of  God  humbles  him  (says  one)  at  the  very  root  of 
the  tree  of  knowledge,  and  makes  him  deny  his  own  under- 
standing, and  submit  to  faith,  or  else,  for  ever  to  lose  his  desired 
felicity.1 

It  is  a  condition  suited  to  the  common  sentiment  and  custom 
of  the  world.  There  is  more  of  belief  than  reason  in  the  world. 
All  instructors  and  masters  in  sciences  and  arts,  require  first  a 
belief  in  their  disciples,  and  a  resignation  of  their  understand- 
ings and  wills  to  them.  And  it  is  the  wisdom  of  God  to  require1 
that  of  man  which  his  own  reason  makes  him  yield  to  another 
which  is  his  fellow-creature,  lie  therefore  that  quarrels  with 
the  condition  of  faith,  must  quarrel  with  all  the  world,  since 
belief  is  the  beginning  of  all  knowledge;2  yea,  and  most  of 
the  knowledge  in  the  world  may  rather  come  under  the  title  of 
belief  than  of  knowledge.  For  what  we  think  we  know  this 
day,  we  may  find  from  others  such  arguments  as  may  stagger 
our  knowledge,  and  make  us  doubt  of  that  we  thought  our- 
selves certain  of  before;  nay,  sometimes  we  change  our  opin- 
ions ourselves,  without  any  instructer;  and  see  a  reason  to 
entertain  an  opinion  quite  contrary  to  what  we  had  before. 
And  if  we  found  a  general  judgment  of  others  to  vote  against 
what  we  think  we  know,  it  would  make  us  give  the  less  credit 
to  ourselves,  and  our  own  sentiments.  All  knowledge  in  the 
world  is  only  a  belief  depending  upon  the  testimony  or  argu- 
ings  of  others;  for  indeed  it  may  be  said  of  all  men,  as  in  Job, 
*•  We  arc  but  of  yesterday,  and  know  nothing,"  Job  viii.  f». 
Since  therefore  belief  is  so  universal  a  thing  in  the  world,  the 
wisdom  of  God  requires  that  of  us  which  every  man  must 
count  reasonable,  or  render  himself  utterly  ignorant  of  any 
thins:.  It  is  a  condition  that  is  common  to  all  religions.  All 
religions  are  founded  upon  a  belief;  unless  men  did  believe 
future  things  they  would  not  hope  nor  fear.  A  belief  and  re- 
signation was  required  in  all  the  idolatries  of  the  world:  bo 
'  Laml  against  Fisher, p.  S  '  Bradward.98 


656  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

that  God  requires  nothing  but  what  a  universal  custom  of  the 
world  gives  its  suffrage  to  the  reasonableness  of.  Indeed  justi- 
fying faith  is  not  suited  to  the  sentiments  of  men;  but  that  faith 
which  must  precede  justifying,  a  belief  of  the  doctrine,  though 
not  comprehended  by  reason,  is  common  to  the  custom  of  tjte 
world.1  It  is  no  less  madness  not  to  submit  our  reason  to  faith, 
than  not  to  regulate  our  fancies  by  reason. 

This  condition  of  faith  and  repentance  is  suited  to  the  con- 
sciences of  men.  The  law  of  nature  teaches  us,  that  we  are 
bound  to  believe  every  revelation  from  God,  when  it  is  made 
known  to  us;  and  not  only  to  assent  to  it  as  true,  but  embrace 
it  as  good.  This  nature  dictates  that  we  are  as  much  obliged 
to  believe  God,  because  of  his  truth,  as  to  love  him,  because  of 
his  goodness.  Every  man's  reason  tells  him,  he  cannot  obey 
a  precept,  nor  depend  upon  a  promise,  unless  he  believes  both 
the  one  and  the  other.  No.  man's  conscience  but  will  inform 
him  upon  hearing  the  revelation  of  God  concerning  his  excel- 
lent contrivance  of  redemption,  and  the  way  to  enjoy  it,  that 
it  is  very  reasonable  he  should  strip  off  all  affections  to  sin,  lie 
down  in  sorrow,  and  bewail  what  he  has  done  amiss  against 
so  tender  a  God.  Can  you  expect  that  any  man  that  pro- 
mises you  a  great  honour  or  a  rich  donative,  should  demand 
less  of  you  than  to  trust  his  word,  bear  an  affection  to  him, 
and  return  him  kindness?  Can  any  less  be  expected  by. a  prince 
than  obedience  from  a  pardoned  subject  and  a  redeemed  cap- 
tive? If  you  have  injured  any  man  in  his  body,  estate,  repu- 
tation, would  you  not  count  it  a  reasonable  condition  for  the 
partaking  of  his  clemency  and  forgiveness,  to  express  a  hearty 
sorrow  for  it,  and  a  resolution  not  to  fall  into  the  like  crime 
again?  Such  are  the  conditions  of  the  gospel,  suited  to  the  con- 
sciences of  men. 

The  wisdom  of  God  appears,  in  that  this  condition  was  alone 
likely  to  attain  the  end.  There  are  but  two  common  heads  ap- 
pointed by  God,  Adam  and  Christ:  by  one  we  are  made  a  living- 
soul,  by  the  other  a  quickening  Spirit:  by  the  one  we  are  made 
sinners,  by  the  other  we  are  made  righteous.  Adam  fell  as  a 
head,  and  all  his  members,  his  whole  issue  and  posterity  fell 
with  him,  because  they  proceeded  from  him  by  natural  gene- 
ration. But  since  the  second  Adam  cannot  be  our  head  by 
natural  generation,  there  must  be  some  other  way  of  ingrafting 
us  in  him,  and  uniting  us  to  him  as  our  head,  which  must  be 
moral  and  spiritual;  this  cannot  rationally  be  conceived  to  be 
by  any  other  way  than  what  is  suitable  to  a  reasonable  crea- 
ture, and  therefore  must  be  by  an  act  of  the  will,  consent  and 
acceptance,  and  owning  the  terms  settled  for  an  admission  to 

1  .Inncway,  p.  88. 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (J57 

that  union.     And  this  is  that  we  properly  call  faith,  and  there- 
fore called  a  receiving  of  him,  John  i.  12. 

Now  this  condition  of  enjoying  the  fruits  of  redemption 
could  not  be  a  bare  knowledge;  for  that  is  only  an  act  of  the 
understanding,  and  does  not  in  itself  include  the  act  of  the  will, 
and  so  would  have  united  only  one  faculty  to  him,  not  the 
whole  soul.  But  faith  is  an  act  both  of  the  understanding  and 
will  too;  and  principally  of  the  will,  which  does  presuppose  an 
act  of  the  understanding;  for  there  cannot  be  a  persuasion  in 
the  will,  without  a  proposition  from  the  understanding.  The 
understanding  must  be  convinced  of  the  truth  and  goodness  of 
a  thing,  before  the  will  can  be  persuaded  to  make  any  motion 
towards  it;  and  therefore  all  the  promises,  invitations,  and 
proffers  are  suited  to  the  understanding  and  will;  to  the  under- 
standing in  regard  of  knowledge,  to  the  will  in  regard  of  appe- 
tite; to  the  understanding  as  true,  to  the  will  as  good;  to  the 
understanding  as  practical  and  influencing  the  will. 

Nor  could  it  be  an  entire  obedience.  That,  as  was  said  be- 
fore, would  have  made  the  creature  have  some  matter  of  boast- 
ing, and  this  was  not  suitable  to  the  condition  he  was  sunk  into 
by  the  fall.  Besides,  man's  nature  being  corrupted,  was  ren- 
dered incapable  to  obey,  and  unable  to  have  one  thought  of  a 
due  obedience,  2  Cor.  iii.  5. 

When  man  turned  from  God,  and  upon  that  was  turned  out 
of  paradise,  his  return  was  impossible  by  any  strength  of  his 
own;  his  nature  was  as  much  corrupted  as  his  re-entrance  into 
paradise  was  prohibited.  That  covenant,  whereby  he  stood  in 
the  garden,  required  a  perfection  of  action  and  intention  in  the 
observance  of  all  the  commands  of  God:  but  his  fall  had 
cracked  his  ability  to  recover  happiness  by  the  terms  and  con- 
dition of  an  entire  obedience;  yet  man  being  a  person  govern- 
able by  a  law,  and  capable  of  happiness  by  a  covenant,  if  God 
would  restore  him,  and  enter  into  a  covenant  with  him,  we 
must  suppose  it  to  have  some  condition,  as  all  covenants  have. 
That  condition  could  not  be  tvorks,  because  man's  nature  was 
polluted.  Indeed,  had  God  reduced  man's  body  to  the  dust, 
and  his  soul  to  nothing,  and  framed  another  man,  he  might 
have  governed  him  by  a  covenant  of  works:  but  that  had  not 
been  the  same  man  that  had  revolted,  and  upon  his  revolt  was 
stained  and  disabled.  But  suppose  God  had,  by  any  transcen- 
dent grace,  wholly  purified  him  from  the  stain  of  his  former 
transgression,  and  restored  to  him  the  strength  and  ability  he 
had  lost,  might  he  not  as  easily  have  rebelled  again?  And  so 
the  condition  would  never  have  been  accomplished,  the  cove- 
nant never  have  been  performed,  and  happiness  never  have 
been  enjoyed.  There  must  be  some  other  condition  then  in  the 
covenant  God  would  make  for  man's  security. 
Vol.  I.— S3 


g58  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

Now  faith  is  the  most  proper  for  receiving  the  promise  of 
pardon  of  sin.  Belief  of  those  promises  is  the  first  natural  re- 
flection that  a  malefactor  can  make  upon  a  pardon  offered  him, 
an  acceptance  of  it  is  the  first  consequent  from  that  belief. 
Hence  is  faith  entitled  a  persuasion  of  and  embracing  the  pro- 
mises, Heb.  xi.  13,  and  a  receiving  the  atonement,  Rom.  v.  11. 

Thus  the  wisdom  of  God  is  apparent  in  annexing  such  a 
condition  to  the  covenant,  whereby  man  is  restored,  as  answers 
the  end  of  God  for  his  glory,  the  state,  conscience,  and  neces- 
sity of  man,  and  had  the  greatest  congruity  to  his  recovery. 

[9.]  This  wisdom  of  God  is  manifest  in  the  manner  of  the 
publishing  and  propagating  this  doctrine  of  redemption. 

In  the  gradual  discoveries  of  it.  Flashing  a  great  light  in 
the  face  of  a  sudden,  is  amazing;  should  the  sun  glare  in  our 
eye  in  all  its  brightness  on  a  sudden,  after  we  have  been  in  a 
thick  darkness,  it  would  blind  us,  instead  of  comforting  us.  So 
great  a  work  as  this  must  have  several  digestions. 

God  first  reveals  of  what  seed  the  redeeming  person  should 
be,  the  seed  of  the  woman,  Gen.  iii.  15;  then  of  what  nation, 
Gen.  xxvi.  4;  then  of  what  tribe,  Gen.  xlix.  10.  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah;  then  of  what  family,  the  family  of  David;  then  what 
works  he  was  to  do,  what  sufferings  to  undergo.  The  first 
predictions  of  our  Saviour  were  obscure.  Adam  could  not  well 
see  the  redemption  in  the  promise,  for  the  punishment  of  death 
which  succeeded  in  the  threatening;  the  promise  exercised  his 
faith,  and  the  obscurity  and  bodily  death,  his  humility.  The 
promise  made  to  Abraham  was  clearer  than  the  revelations 
made  before,  yet  he  could  not  tell  how  to  reconcile  his  redemp- 
tion with  his  exile.  God  supported  his  faith  by  the  promise, 
and  exercised  hishumility  by  making  him  a  pilgrim,  and  keep- 
ing him  in  a  perpetual  dependence  upon  him  in  all  his  motions. 

The  declarations  to  Moses  are  brighter  than  those  to  Abra- 
ham. The  delineations  of  Christ  by  David  in  the  Psalms,  more 
illustrious  than  the  former.  And  all  those  are  exceeded  by  the 
revelations  made  to  the  prophet  Isaiah,  and  the  other  prophets, 
according  as  the  age  did  approach  wherein  the  Redeemer  was 
to  enter  into  his  office. 

God  wrapt  up  this  gospel  in  a  multitude  of  types  and  cere- 
monies, fitted  to  the  infant  state  of  the  church,  Gal.  iv.  3.  An 
infant  state  is  usually  affected  with  sensible  things;  yet  those 
ceremonies  were  fitted  to  that  great  end  of  the  gospel,  which 
he  would  bring  forth  in  time  to  the  world.  And  the  wisdom  of 
God  in  them  would  be  amazing,  if  we  could  understand  the 
analogy  between  every  ceremony  in  the  law  and  the  thing  sig- 
nified by  it;  as  it  cannot  but  affect  a  diligent  reader  to  observe 
that  little  account  of  them  we  have  by  the  apostle  Paul, 
sprinkled  in  his  epistles,  and  more  largely  in  that  to  the  He- 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 


059 


brews.  As  the  political  laws  of  the  Jews  ilowed  from  the 
depth  of  the  moral  law,  so  their  ceremonial  did  from  the  depth 
of  evangelical  counsels,  and  all  of  Lhem  had  a  special  relation 
to  the  honour  of  Sod,  and  the  debasing  the  creature. 

Though  God  formed  the  mass  and  matter  of  the  world  at  the 
first  creation  at  once,  yet  his  wisdom  took  six  days'  time  for 
the  disposing  and  adorning  it.  The  more  illustrious  truths  of 
God  are  not  to  be  comprehended  on  a  sudden  by  the  weakness 
of  men:  Christ  did  not  declare  all  truths  to  his  disciples  in  the 
time  of  his  life,  because  they  were  not  able  at  that  time  to 
bear  them:  "  Ye  cannot  bear  them  now,"  John  xvi.  12.  Some 
were  reserved  for  his  resurrection,  others  for  the  coming  of  the 
Spirit;  and  the  full  discovery  of  all  kept  back  for  another 
world.  This  doctrine  God  figured  out  in  the  law,  oracled  by 
the  prophets,  and  unveiled  by  Christ  and  his  apostles. 

The  wisdom  of  God  appeared,/;*  using  all  proper  means  to 
render  the  belief  of  it  easy. 

The  most  minute  things  that  were  to  be  transacted,  were 
predicted  in  the  ancient  foregoing  age,  long  before  the  coming 
of  the  Redeemer:  the  vinegar  and  gall  offered  to  him  upon  the 
cross,  the  parting  his  garments,  the  not  breaking  of  his  bones, 
the  piercing  of  his  hands  and  feet,  the  betraying  of  him,  the 
slighting  of  him  by  the  multitude,  all  were  exactly  painted  and 
represented  in  a  variety  of  figures.  There  was  light  enough  to 
good  men  not  to  mistake  him;  and  yet  not  so  plain,  as  to  hin- 
der bad  men  from  being  serviceable  to  the  counsels  of  God  in 
the  crucifying  of  him  when  he  came. 

The  translation  of  the  Old  Testament  from  the  private  lan- 
guage of  the  Jews  into  the  most  public  language  of  the  world; 
that  translation  which  we  call  Septuagint,  from  Hebrew  into 
Greek,  some  years  before  the  coming  of  Christ,  that  tongue 
being  most  diffused  at  that  time,  by  reason  of  the  Macedonian 
empire  raised  by  Alexander,  and  the  university  of  Athens,  to 
which  other  nations  resorted  for  learning  and  education.  This 
was  a  preparation  for  the  sons  of  Japhet  to  dwell  in  the  tents 
of  Shein.  By  this  was  the  entertainment  of  the  gospel  facili- 
tated; when  they  compared  the  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment with  the  declarations  of  the  New,  and  found  things  so 
long  predicted  before  they  were  transacted  in  the  public  view. 

By  ordering  concurrent  testimonies  as  to  matter  of  fact,  that 
the  matter  of  fact  was  not  deniable.  That  there  was  such  a 
person  as  Christ,  that  his  miracles  were  stupendous,  that  his 
doctrine  did  not  incline  to  sedition,  that  he  affected  not  worldly 
applause,  that  he  did  suffer  at  Jerusalem,  was  acknowledged 
by  all:  not  a  man  among  the  greatest  enemies  of  Christians 
was  found,  that  denied  the  matter  of  fact.  And  this  great 
truth,  that  Christ  is  the  Messiah  and  Redeemer,  has  been,  with 


(5(30  ON  TIiE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

universal  consent,  owned  by  ail  the  professors  of  Christianity 
throughout  the  world.  Whatever  bickerings  there  have  been 
among  them  about  some  particular  doctrines,  they  all  centred 
in  that  truth  of  Christ's  being  the  Redeemer.  The  first  publi- 
cation of  this  doctrine  was  sealed  by  a  thousand  miracles,  and 
so  illustrious,  that  he  was  an  utter  stranger  to  the  world  that 
was  ignorant  of  them. 

In  keeping  up  some  principles  and  opinions  in  the  world  to 
facilitate  the  belief  of  this,  or  render  men  inexcusable  for  reject- 
ing of  it.  The  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  could  not  be  so 
strange  to  the  world,  if  we  consider  the  general  belief  of  the 
appearances1  of  their  gods  among  them;  that  the  epicureans, 
and  others  that  denied  any  such  appearances,  were  counted 
atheists.2  And  Pythagoras  was  esteemed  to  be  one,  not  of  the 
inferior  genii  and  lunar  demons,  but  one  of  the  higher  gods, 
who  appeared  in  a  human  body,  for  the  curing  and  rectifying 
mortal  life.3  And  himself  tells  Abaris  the  Scythian,  that  he 
was  ecvSpaxanopfyos,  that  he  took  the  flesh  of  man,  that  men 
might  not  be  astonished  at  him,  and  in  a  fright  fly  from  his 
instructions.  It  was  not  therefore  accounted  an  irrational 
thing  among  them,  that  God  should  be  incarnate.  But  indeed 
the  great  stumbling-block  was  a  crucified  God.  But  had  they 
known  the  holy  and  righteous  nature  of  God,  the  malice  of 
sin,  the  universal  corruption  of  human  nature,  the  first  threat- 
ening and  the  necessity  of  vindicating  the  honour  of  the  law, 
and  clearing  the  justice  of  God;  the  notion  of  his  crucifixion 
would  not  have  appeared  so  incredible,  since  they  believed  the 
possibility  of  an  incarnation. 

Another  principle  was  that  universal  one  of  sacrifices  for 
expiation,  and  rendering  God  propitious  to  man,  and  which 
was  practised  among  all  nations.  I  remember  not  any  where- 
in this  custom  did  not  prevail;  for  it  did,  even  among  those 
people  where  the  Jews,  as  being  no  trading  nation,  had  not 
any  commerce;  and  also  in  America,  found  out  in  these  latter 
ages.  It  was  not  a  law  of  nature,  no  man  can  find  any  such 
thing  written  in  his  own  heart,  but  a  tradition  from  Adam. 
Now  that,  among  the  loss  of  so  many  other  doctrines  that  were 
handed  down  from  Adam  to  his  immediate  posterity,  as  in  par- 
ticular that  of  the  seed  of  the  woman,  which  one  would  think 
a  necessary  appendix  to  that  of  sacrificing,  this  latter  should 
be  preserved  as  a  fragment  of  an  ancient  tradition,  seems  to  be 
an  act  of  Divine  wisdom,  to  prepare  men  for  the  entertainment 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  great  Sacrifice  for  the  expiation  of  the 
sin  of  the  world.  And  as  the  apostle  forms  his  argument  from 
the  Jewish  sacrifices  in  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  for  the  con- 

1    Efti^dvtiot.  2  Dionys.  Halicar.  Antiq.  1.  2.  p.  128. 

3  Jamblych.  Vit.  Pythag.  1.  i.  cap.  6.  p.  44,  &,  lib.  2.  c.  19.  p.  94. 


ON  TIIK  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (JG1 

vincing  tliem  of  the  end  of  the  death  of  Christ,  so  did  the  an- 
cient lathers  make  use  of  this  practice  of  the  heathen,  to  con- 
vince them  of  the  same  doctrine. 

The  wisdom  of  God  appeared  in  the  time  and  circumstances 
of  the  first  solemn  publication  of  the  gospel  by  the  apostles  at 
Jerusalem.  The  relation  you  may  read  in  Acts  ii.  from  ver.  1 
to  12.  The  Spirit  was  given  to  the  apostles  on  the  day  of  pen- 
tecost:  a  time  wherein  there  were  multitudes  of  Jews  from  all 
nations,  not  only  near,  hut  remote,  that  heard  the  great  things 
of  God  spoken  in  the  several  languages  of  those  nations  where 
their  habitations  were  fixed;  and  that  hy  twelve  illiterate  men, 
who  two  or  three  hours  before  knew  no  language  hut  that  of 
their  native  country. 

It  was  the  custom  of  the  Jews,  that  dwelt  among  other 
nations,  at  a  distance  from  Jerusalem,  to  assemble  together  at 
Jerusalem  at  the  least  of  penteoost.  And  God  pitched  upon 
this  season,  that  there  might  be  witnesses  of  this  miracle  in 
many  parts  of  the  world:  there  were  some  of  every  nation 
under  heaven,  ver.  .">;  that  is,  of  that  known  part  of  the  world, 
so  says  the  text.  Fourteen  several  nations  are  mentioned;  and 
proselytes  as  well  as  Jews  by  birth.  They  are  called  devout 
men,  men  of  conscience,  whose  testimony  would  carry  weight 
with  it  among  their  neighbour s«at  their  return,  because  of  their 
reputation  by  their  religious  carriage. 

Again,  this  was  not  heard  and  seen  by  some  of  them  at  one 
time,  and  some  at  another,  by  some  one  hour,  by  others  the 
next  successively,1  but  all  together  in  a  solemn  assembly,  that 
the  testimony  of  so  many  witnesses  at  a  time,  might  be  more 
valid,  and  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  appear  more  illustrious  and 
undeniable.  And  it  must  needs  be  astonishing  to  them,  to  hear 
that  Person  magnified  in  so  miraculous  a  manner,  who  had  so 
lately  been  condemned  by  their  countrymen  as  a  malefactor. 

Wisdom  consists  in  the  timing  of  things.  And  in  this  cir- 
cumstance does  the  wisdom  of  God  appear,  in  furnishing  the 
apostles  with  the  Spirit  at  such  a  time,  and  bringing  forth  such 
a  miracle,  as  the  gift  of  tongues,  on  a  sudden,  that  every  nation 
might  hear  in  their  own  language  the  wonder  of  redemption, 
and  as  witnesses  at  their  return  into  their  own  countries  report 
it  to  others;  that  the  credit  they  had,  in  their  several  places, 
might  facilitate  the  belief  and  entertainment  of  the  gospel, 
when  the  apostles  or  others  should  arrive  to  those  several 
charges  and  dioceses  appointed  for  them  to  preach  the  gospel 
in.  Had  this  miracle  been  wrought  in  the  presence  only  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Judea,  that  understood  only  their  own  lan- 
guage, or  one  or  two  of  the  neighbouring  tongues,  it  had  been 
counted  by  them  rather  a  madness  than  a  miracle.     Or  had 

'  Fauclicur  in  loc  p.  294    2  15. 


662  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

they  understood  all  the  tongues  which  they  spoke,  the  news 
of  it  had  spread  no  further  than  the  limits  of  their  own  habita- 
tions, and  had  been  confined  within  the  narrow  bounds  of  the 
land  of  Judea.  But  now  it  is  carried  to  several  remote  na- 
tions, where  any  of  those  auditors  then  assembled  had  their 
residence. 

As  God  chose  the  time  of  the  passover  for  the  death  of 
Christ,  that  there  might  be  the  greatest  number  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  country,  as  witnesses  of  the  matter  of  fact,  the 
innocence  and  sufferings  of  Christ;  so  he  chose  the  time  of 
pentecost  for  the  first  publishing  the  value  and  end  of  this  blood 
to  the  world. 

Thus  the  evangelical  law  was  given  in  a  confluence  of  peo- 
ple from  all  parts  and  nations,  because  it  was  a  covenant  with 
all  nations:  and  the  variety  of  languages  spoken  by  a  company 
of  poor  Galileans,  bred  up  at  the  lake  of  Tiberias,  and  in  poor 
corners  of  Canaan,  without  the  instruction  of  men  for  so  great 
a  skill,  might  well  evidence  to  the  hearers,  that  God,  that 
brought  the  confusion  of  languages  first  at  Babel,  did  only 
work  that  cure  of  them,  and  combine  all  together  at  Jerusalem. 

The  wisdom  of  God  is  seen  in  the  instruments  he  employed 
in  the  publishing  the  gospel.  He  did  not  employ  philosophers, 
but  fishermen,  used  not  acquired  arts,  but  infused  wisdom  and 
courage.  This  treasure  was  put  into  and  preserved  in  earthern 
vessels,  that  the  wisdom  as  well  as  the  power  of  God  might  be 
magnified.  The  weaker  the  means  are  which  attain  the  end, 
the  greater  is  the  skill  of  the  conductor  of  them. 

Wise  princes  choose  men  of  most  credit,  interest,  wisdom, 
and  ability  to  be  ministers  of  their  affairs,  and  ambassadors  to 
others.  But  what  were  these  that  God  chose  for  so  great  a 
work,  as  the  publishing  a  new  doctrine  to  the  world?  What 
was  their  quality  but  mean,  what  was  their  authority?  with- 
out interest.  What  was  their  ability?  without  eminent  parts 
for  so  great  a  work,  but  what  Divine  grace  in  a  special  manner 
endowed  them  with.  Nay,  what  was  their  disposition  to  it? 
as  dull  and  unwieldly.  Witness  the  frequent  rebukes  of  their 
slow-heartedness,  from  their  Master,  when  he  conversed  in  the 
flesh  with  them.  And  one  of  the  greatest  of  them,  so  fond  of 
the  Jewish  ceremonies  and  pharisaical  principles,  wherein  he 
had  been  more  than  ordinarily  principled,  that  lie  hated  the 
Christian  religion  to  extirpation,  and  the  professors  of  it  to 
death.  By  those  ways  which  were  out  of  the  road  of  human 
wisdom,  and  would  be  accounted  the  greatest  absurdity  to  be 
practised  by  men  that  have  a  repute  for  discretion,  did  God 
advance  his  wisdom.  "  The  foolishness  of  God  is  wiser  than 
men,"  1  Cor.  i.  25.  By  this  means  it  was  indisputably  evi- 
denced to  unbiassed  minds,  that  the  doctrine  was  divine.     It 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (-,(*, 3 

could  not  rationally  be  imagined,  that  instruments  destitute  of 
all  human  advantages,  should  be  able  to  vanquish  the  world, 
confound  Judaism,  overturn  heathenism,  chase  away  the 
devils,  strip  them  of  their  temples,  alienate  the  minds  of  men 
from  their  several  religions,  which  had  been  rooted  in  them  by 
education,  and  established  by  a  long  succession.  It  could  not, 
I  say.  reasonably  be  imagined  to  be  without  a  supernatural 
assistance,  a  heavenly  and  efficacious  working:  whereas,  had 
God  taken  a  course  agreeable  to  the  prudi  nee  of  man,  and  used 
those  that  had  been  furnished  with  learning,  tipped  with  elo- 
quence, and  armed  with  human  authority,  the  doctrines  would 
have  been  thought  to  have  been  of  a  human  invention,  and  to 
be  some  subtle  contrivance  for  some  unworthy  and  ambitious 
end.  The  nothingness  and  weakness  of  the  instruments  mani- 
fest them  to  he  conducted  by  a  Divine  power,  and  declare  the 
doctrine  itself  to  be  from  heaven. 

When  we  see  such  feeble  instruments  proclaiming  a  doc- 
trine repugnant  to  flesh  and  blood,  sounding  forth  a  crucified 
Christ  to  be  believed  in  and  trusted  on,  and  declaiming  against 
the  religion  and  worship  under  which  the  Roman  empire  had 
long  flourished;  exhorting  them  to  the  contempt  of  the  world, 
preparation  for  alllictions,  denying  themselves,  and  their  own 
honours,  by  the  hopes  of  an  unseen  reward,  things  so  repug- 
nant to  flesh  and  blood,  and  these  instruments  concurring  in 
the  same  story,  with  an  admirable  harmony  in  all  parts,  and 
sealing  this  doctrine  with  their  blood;  can  we  upon  all  this 
ascribe  this  doctrine  to  a  human  contrivance,  or  fix  any  lower 
author  of  it  than  the  wisdom  of  Heaven?  It  is  the  wisdom  of 
God  that  carries  on  his  own  designs  in  methods  most  suitable 
to  his  own  greatness,  and  different  from  the  customs  and  modes 
of  men,  that  less  of  humanity  and  more  of  Divinity  might 
appear. 

The  wisdom  of  God  appears  in  the  ways  and  manner,  as 
well  as  in  the  instruments  of  its  propagation.  By  ways  seem- 
ingly contrary.  You  know  how  God  had  sent  the  Jews  into 
captivity  in  Babylon,  and  though  he  struck  off  their  chains,  and 
restored  them  to  their  country,  yet  many  of  them  had  no  mind 
to  leave  a  country  wherein  they  had  been  born  and  bred.  The 
distance  from  the  place  of  the  original  of  their  ancestors,  and 
their  affection  to  the  country  wherein  they  were  bom,  might 
have  occasioned  their  embracing  the  idolatrous  worship  of  the 
place.  Afterwards  the  persecutions  of  Antiochus  scattered 
many  of  the  Jews  for  their  security  into  other  nations;  yet  a 
great  part,  and  perhaps  the  greatest,  preserved  their  religion, 
and  by  that  were  obliged  to  come  every  year  to  Jerusalem  to 
oiler,  and  so  were  present  at  the  effusion  of  the  Spirit  on  the 
day  of  pentecost,  and  were  witnesses  of  the  miraculous  effects 


f,(34  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

of  it:  had  they  not  been  dispersed  by  persecution,  had  they 
not  resided  in  several  countries  and  been  acquainted  with  their 
languages,  the  gospel  had  not  so  easily  been  diffused  into  seve- 
ral countries  of  the  world.  The  first  persecutions  also  raised 
against  the  church  propagated  the  gospel;  the  scattering  of  the 
disciples  inflamed  their  courage,  and  dispersed  the  doctrine, 
Acts  viii.  3.  4;  according  to  the  prophecy  of  Daniel,  "  Many 
shall  run  to  and  fro,  and  knowledge  shall  be  increased,"  Dan. 
xii.  14.  The  flights  and  hurryings  of  men  should  enlarge  the 
territories  of  the  gospel.  There  was  not  a  tribunal,  but  the 
primitive  Christians  were  cited  to,  not  a  horrible  punishment, 
but  was  inflicted  upon  them.  Treated  they  were  as  the  dregs 
and  offals  of  mankind,  as  the  common  enemies  of  the  world; 
yet  the  flames  of  the  martyrs  brightened  the  doctrine,  and  the 
captivity  of  its  professors  made  way  for  the  throne  of  its  em- 
pire. The  imprisonment  of  the  ark  was  the  downfall  of  Dagon. 
Religion  grew  stronger  by  sufferings,  and  Christianity  taller  by 
injuries.  What  can  this  be  ascribed  to,  but  the  conduct  of  a 
wisdom  superior  to  that  of  men  and  devils,  defeating  the  me- 
thods of  human  and  hellish  policy;  thereby  making  the  wisdom 
of  this  world  foolishness  with  God?  1  Cor.  hi.  19. 

5.  The  use: 

Use  (1.)  Of  information.  If  wisdom  be  an  excellency  of  the 
Divine  nature,  then, 

[1.]  Christ's  Deity  may  hence  be  asserted.  Wisdom  is  the 
emphatic  title  of  Christ  in  Scripture,  Prov.  viii.  where  Wisdom 
is  brought  in  speaking  as  a  distinct  person;  ascribing  counsel 
and  understanding,  and  the  knowledge  of  witty  inventions  to 
itself.  He  is  called  also  the  Power  of  God,  and  the  Wisdom 
of  God,  1  Cor.  i.  24.  And  the  ancients  generally  understood 
that  place,  Col.  ii.  3.  "  In  whom  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of 
wisdom  and  knowledge,"  as  an  assertion  of  the  Godhead  of 
Christ,  in  regard  of  the  infmiteness  of  his  knowledge;  referring 
wisdom  to  his  knowledge  of  Divine  things,  and  knowledge  to 
his  understanding  of  all  human  things.  But  the  natural  sense 
of  the  place  seems  to  be  this,  that  all  wisdom  and  knowledge 
are  displayed  by  Christ  in  the  gospel;  and  the  words  iv  avrS, 
refer  either  to  Christ,  or  the  mystery  of  God  spoken  of,  ver.  2. 
But  the  Deity  of  Christ,  in  regard  of  infinite  wisdom,  may  be 
deduced  from  his  creation  of  things,  and  his  government  of 
things;  both  which  are  ascribed  to  him  in  Scripture.  The  first 
ascribed  to  him  John  i.  3.  "All  things  were  made  by  him;" 
without  him  was  not  any  thing  made  that  was  made.  The 
second  John  v.  22.  "The  Father  hath  committed  all  judgment 
unto  the  Son;"  and  both  put  together,  Col.  ii.  16,  17. 

Now  since  he  has  the  government  of  the  world,  he  has  the 
perfections  necessary  to  so  great  a  work.     As  the  creation  of 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (5(J5 

the  world,  which  is  ascribed  to  him, requires  an  infinite  power, 
so  the  government  of  the  world  requires  an  infinite  wisdom. 
That  he  has  a  knowledge  of  the  hearts  of  men  was  proved  in 
handling  the  omniscience  of  God.  That  knowledge  would  be 
to  little  purpose  without  wisdom  to  order  the  motions  of  men's 
hearts,  and  conduct  all  the  qualities  and  actions  of  creatures, 
to  such  an  end  as  is  answerable  to  a  wise  government;  we  can- 
not think  so  great  an  employment  can  be  without  an  ability 
necessary  for  it.  The  government  of  men  and  angels  is  a  ^reat 
part  of  the  glory  of  God;  and  if  God  should  intrust  the  great- 
est part  of  his  glory  in  bands  unfit  I'm  so  great  a  trust,  it  would 
be  an  argument  of  weakness  in  God,  as  it  is  in  men,  to  pitch 
upon  unfit  instruments  for  particular  charges:  since  God  has 
therefore  committed  to  him  Ids  greatest  glory,  the  conduct  of 
all  things  for  the  highest  end,  he.  has  a  wisdom  requisite  for  so 
great  an  end,  which  can  be  no  less  than  infinite.  It  then  Ghrist 
were  a  finite  person,  be  would  not  be  capable  of  an  infinite 
communication;  he  could  not  be  a  subject  wherein  infinite  wis- 
dom could  be  lodged;  for  the  terms  finite  and  infinite  are  so 
distant,  that  they  cannot  commence  one  another;  finite  can 
never  be  changed  into  infinite,  no  more  than  infinite  can  into 
finite. 

[2.]  Hence  we  may  assert,  the  right  and  fitness  of  God  for 
the  government  of  the  world,  as  he  is  the  wisest  lieing.  Among 
men,  those  who  are  excellent  in  judgment,  are  accounted  fittest 
to  preside  over  and  give  orders  to  others;  the  wisest  in  a  city 
are  most  capable  to  govern  a  city;  or  at  least  though  ignorant 
men  may  bear  the  title,  yet  the  advice  of  the  soundest  and 
skilfulest  heads  should  prevail  in  all  public  affairs.  We  see  in 
nature  that  the  eye  guides  the  body,  and  the  mind  directs  the 
eye. 

Power  and  wisdom  are  the  two  arms  of  authority;  wisdom 
knows  the  end,  and  directs  the  means;  power  executes  the 
means  designed  for  such  an  end.1  The  more  splendid  and 
strong  those  are  in  any.  the  more  authority  results  from  thence, 
for  the  conduct  of  others  that  are  of  an  inferior  orb.  Now  God 
being  infinitely  excellent  in  both,  his  ability  and  right  to  the 
management  of  the  world  cannot  be  suspected  ;  the  whole 
world  is  but  one  commonwealth,  whereof  God  is  the  monarch. 
Did  the  government  of  the  world  depend  upon  the  election  of 
men  and  angels,  where  could  they  pitch,  or  where  would  they 
find  perfections  capable  of  so  great  a  work,  but  in  the  Supreme 
Wisdom?  His  wisdom  has  already  been  apparent  in  those  laws, 
whereby  he  formed  the  world  into  a  civil  society,  and  the  Israel- 
ites into  a  common  wealth:  the  one  suited  to  the  consciences 
and  reasons  of  all  his  subjects,  and  the  other  suited  to  the 

1   Ainyrant.  Moral.   I  turn.  p.  258,  259. 

Voj..  I.— 34 


(JQ6  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

genius  of  that  particular  nation,  drawn  out  of  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  moral  law,  and  applicable  to  all  cases  that  might 
arise  among  them  in  their  government;  so  that  Moses  asserts, 
thai  the  wisdom  apparent  in  their  laws  enacted  by  God  as  their 
chief  magistrate,  would  render  them  famous  among  other  na- 
tions, in  regard  of  their  wisdom,  as  well  as  their  righteousness, 
Deut.  iv.  6,  7.  Also  this  perfection  does  evidence,  that  God 
does  actually  govern  the  world.  It  would  not  be  a  commend- 
able thing  for  a  man  to  make  a  curious  piece  of  clock-work, 
and  take  no  care  for  the  orderly  motion  of  it.  Would  God  dis- 
play so  much  of  his  skill  in  framing  the  heaven  and  earth,  and 
none  in  actual  guidance  of  them  to  their  particular  and  univer- 
sal ends?  Did  he  lay  the  foundation  in  order,  and  fit  every 
stone  in  the  building,  make  all  things  in  weight  and  measure, 
to  let  them  afterwards  run  at  hap  hazard?  would  he  bring  forth 
his  power  to  view  in  the  creation,  and  let  a  more  glorious  per- 
fection lie  idle,  when  it  had  so  large  a  field  to  move  in?  Infinite 
wisdom  is  inconsistent  with  inactivity.  All  prudence  does  illus- 
trate itself  in  untying  the  hardest  knots,  and  disposing  the  most 
difficult  affairs  to  a  happy  and  successful  issue.  All  those  va- 
rious arts  and  inventions  among  men,  which  lend  their  assist- 
ing hand  to  one  another,  and  those  various  employments  their 
several  geniuses  led  them  to,  whereby  they  support  one  an- 
other's welfare,  are  beams  and  instincts  of  Divine  wisdom  in 
the  government  of  the  world.  He  that  made  all  things  in  wis- 
dom, Psal.  civ.  24,  would  not  leave  his  works  to  act  and  move 
only  according  to  their  own  folly,  and  idly  behold  them  jumble 
together,  and  run  counter  to  that  end  he  designed  them  for;  we 
must  not  fancy  a  Divine  wisdom  to  be  destitute  of  activity. 

[3.]  Here  we  may  see  a  ground  of  God's  patience.  The 
most  impotent  persons  are  the  most  impatient,  when  unforeseen 
emergencies  arise,  or  at  events  expected  by  them,  when  their 
feeble  prudence  was  not  a  sufficient  match  to  contest  with  them, 
or  prevent  them.  But  the  wiser  any  man  is,  the  more  he  bears 
with  those  things  which  seem  to  cross  his  intentions,  because 
he  knows  he  grasps  the  whole  affair,  and  is  sure  of  attaining 
the  end  he  proposes  to  himself;  yet  as  a  finite  wisdom  can  have 
but  a  finite  patience,  so  an  infinite  wisdom  possesses  an  infinite 
patience. 

The  wise  God  intends  to  bring  glory  to  himself,  and  good  to 
some  of  his  creatures,  out  of  the  greatest  evils  that  can  happen 
in  the  world;  he  beholds  no  exorbitant  afflictions  and  mon- 
strous actions,  but  what  he  can  dispose  to  a  good  and  glorious 
end,  even  to  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God, 
Rom.  viii.  28;  and  therefore  does  not  presently  fall  foul  upon 
the  actors,  till  he  has  wrought  out  that  temporary  glory  to  him- 
self and  good  to  his  people  which  he  designs.     The  times  of 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  QG1 

ignorance  God  winks  at,  till  he  had  brought  his  Son  into  the 
world,  and  manifested  his  wisdom  in  redemption;  and  when 
this  was  done,  he  presses  men  to  a  speedy  repentance,  Acta 
xvii.  30;  that  as  he  forbore  punishing  their  crimes,  in  order  to 
the  displaying  Ins  wisdom  in  the  designed  redemption;  so  when 
he  had  effected  it,  they  must  forbear  any  Longer  abusing  his 
patience. 

[4.]  Hence  appears  the  immutability  of  God  in  his  decrees. 
lie  is  not  destitute  of  a  power  and  strength  to  change  his  own 
purposes;  hnt  his  infinite  perfection  of  wisdom  is  a  bar  to  his 
laying  aside  his  eternal  resolves,  and  forming  new  ones:  he 
resolves  the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  his  counsel  stands, 
Isa.  xlvi.  10,  stands  immovable,  because  it  is  counsel.  It  is  not 
an  impotent  counsel,  that  is  subject  to  a  daily  thwarting  itself. 
Inconstant  persons  are  accounted  by  men  destitute  of  a  due 
measure  of  prudence.  If  God  change  his  mind,  it  is  either  for 
the  better  or  the  worse:  if  for  the  better,  he  was  not  wise  in 
his  former  purpose;  if  for  the  worse,  he  is  not  wise  in  his  pre- 
sent resolve.  No  alteration  can  be  without  a  reflection  of 
weakness  upon  the  former  or  present  determination.  God  must 
either  cease  to  be  as  wise  as  he  was  before,  or  begin  to  be  wiser 
than  he  was  before  the  change;  which  to  think  or  imagine  is 
to  deny  a  Deity.  If  any  man  change  his  resolution,  he  is  ap- 
prehensive of  a  flaw  in  his  former  purpose,  and  finds  an  incon- 
venience in  it,  which  moves  him  to  such  a  change;  which 
must  be  either  for  want  of  foresight  in  himself,  or  want  of  a  due 
consideration  of  the  object  of  his  counsel,  neither  of  which  can 
be  imagined  of  God  without  a  denial  of  the  Deity.  No,  there 
are  no  blots  and  blemishes  in  his  purposes  and  promises.  Re- 
pentance indeed  is  an  act  of  wisdom  in  the  creature;  but  it 
presupposes  lolly  in  his  former  actions,  which  is  inconsistent 
with  infinite  perfection.  Men  are  often  too  rash  in  promising, 
and  therefore  what  they  promise  in  haste,  they  perform  at 
leisure,  or  not  at  all:  they  consider  not  before  they  vow,  and 
make  after-inipuries  whether  they  had  best  stand  to  it. 

The  only  wise  God  needs  not  any  after-game:  as  he  is  sove- 
reignly wise,  he  sees  no  cause  of  reversing  any  thing,  and  wants 
not  expedients  for  his  own  purpose;  and  as  he  is  infinitely 
powerful,  he  has  no  superior  to  hinder  him  from  executing  his 
will,  and  making  his  people  enjoy  the  effects  of  his  wisdom. 
If  he  had  a  recollection  of  thoughts  (as  man  has)  and  saw  a 
necessity  to  mend  them,  he  were  not  infinitely  wise  in  his  fust 
decrees.  As  in  creation  he  looked  back  upon  the  several  pieces 
of  that  goodly  frame    lie  had    erected,    and    saw  them  so   exact, 

that  In-  did  not  take  up  his  pencil  again  to  mend  any  panicle 
of  the  first  draught;  so  Ins  promises  are  made  with  such  infi- 
nite wisdom  and  judgment,  that  what  he  writes  is  irreversible 


(568  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

and  for  ever,  as  the  decrees  of  the  Medes  and  Persians.  All 
the  words  of  God  are  eternal,  because  they  are  the  words  of 
righteousness  and  judgment;  "I  will  betroth  thee  unto  me  for 
ever — in  righteousness  and  judgment,"  Hos.  ii.  19.  He  is  not 
of  a  wavering  and  flitting  discretion;  if  he  threatens,  he  wisely 
considers  what  he  threatens;  if  he  promises,  he  wisely  considers 
what  he  promises,  and  therefore  is  immutable  in  both. 

[5.]  Hence  it  follows,  that  God  is  a  fit  object  for  our  trust 
and  confidence.  For  God  being  infinitely  wise,  when  he  pro- 
mises any  thing,  he  sees  every  thing  which  may  hinder  and 
every  thing  which  may  promote  the  execution  of  it;  so  that  he 
cannot  discover  any  thing  afterwards,  that  may  move  him  to 
take  up  after-thoughts.  He  has  more  wisdom  than  to  promise 
any  thing  hand  over  head,  or  any  thing  which  he  knows  he 
cannot  accomplish.  Though  God,  as  true,  be  the  object  of  our 
trust;  yet  God,  as  wise,  is  the  foundation  of  our  trust.  We 
trust  him  in  his  promise;  the  promise  was  made  by  mercy, 
and  it  is  performed  by  truth;  but  wisdom  conducts  all  means 
to  the  accomplishment  of  it.  There  are  many  men,  whose 
honesty  we  can  confide  in,  but  whose  discretion  we  are  diffi- 
dent of;  but  there  is  no  defect  either  of  the  one  or  the  other, 
which  may  scare  us  from  a  depending  upon  God  in  our  con- 
cerns. The  words  of  man's  wisdom  the  apostles  entitles  enti- 
cing, 1  Cor.  ii.  4,  in  opposition  to  the  words  of  God's  wisdom, 
which  are  firm,  stable,  and  undeniable  demonstrations.  As  the 
power  of  God  is  an  encouragement  of  trust,  because  he  is  able 
to  effect;  so  the  wisdom  of  God  comes  into  the  rank  of  those 
attributes  which  support  our  faith.  To  put  a  confidence  in 
him,  we  must  be  persuaded,  not  only  that  he  is  ignorant  of  no- 
thing in  the  world,  but  that  he  is  wise  to  manage  the  whole 
course  of  nature,  and  dispose  of  all  his  creatures,  for  the  bring- 
ing his  purposes  and  his  promises  to  their  designed  perfection. 

[6.]  Hence  appears  the  necessity  of  a  public  review  of  the 
management  of  the  world,  and  of  a  day  of  judgment.  As  a  day 
of  judgment  may  be  inferred  from  many  attributes  of  God;  as 
his  sovereignty,  justice,  omniscience;  so,  among  the  rest,  from 
this  of  wisdom.  How  much  of  this  perfection  will  lie  unveiled 
and  obscure,  if  the  sins  of  men  be  not  brought  to  view,  where- 
by the  ordering  the  unrighteous  actions  of  men,  by  his  direct- 
ing and  overruling  hand  of  providence,  in  subserviency  to  his 
own  purposes  and  his  people's  good,  may  appear  in  all  its 
glory!  Without  such  a  public  review,  this  part  of  wisdom 
will  not  be  clearly  visible;  how  those  actions,  which  had  a  vile 
foundation  in  the  hearts  and  designs  of  men,  and  were  formed 
there  to  gratify  some  base  lust,  ambition,  and  covetousness, 
were,  by  a  secret  wisdom  presiding  over  them,  conducted  to 
amazing  ends. 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  SOD.  (,<;() 

It  is  a  part  of  Divine  wisdom  to  right  itself,  and  convince 
men  of  the  reasonableness  of  its  laws,  and  the  unreasonable- 
ness of  their  contradictions  to  it.  Tl i«-  ex\  cution  of  the  sentence 
is  an  act  of  justice;  but  the  conviction  of  the  reasonableness  of 
the  sentence  is  an  act  of  wisdom,  clearing  up  the  righteousness 
o\'  the  proceeding;  and  this  precedes,  and  the  other  follows,  "to 
convince  all  that  are  ungodly  among  them  of  all  their  ungodly 
deeds,"  Jude  15.  That  wisdom  which  contrived  satisfaction, 
as  well  as  that  justice  which  required  it,  is  concerned  in  right- 
ing the  law,  which  was  enacted  by  it.  The  wisdom  of  a  sove- 
reign lawgiver  is  engaged  not  to  see  his  law  vilified  and  tram- 
pled on,  and  exposed  to  the  lusts  and  affronts  of  men,  without 
being  concerned  in  vindicating  the  honour  of  it.  It  would  ap- 
pear a  folly  trt  enact  and  publish  it,  if  there  were  not  a  resolu- 
tion to  right  and  execute  it. 

The  Wisdom  of  God  can  no  more  associate  iniquity  and  hap- 
piness together,  than  the  justice  of  God  can  separate  iniquity 
from  punishment.  It  would  be  defective,  if  it  did  always 
tamely  bear  the  insolences  of  offenders,  without  a  time  of  re- 
mark of  their  crimes,  and  a  justification  of  the  precept  rebel- 
liously  spurned  at.  He  would  be  unwise,  if  he  were  unjust; 
unrighteousness  has  no  better  a  title  in  Scripture  than  that  of 
folly.  It  is  no  part  of  wisdom,  to  give  birth  to  those  laws 
which  he  will  always  behold  ineffectual,  and  neither  vindicate 
his  law  by  a  due  execution  of  the  penalty,  nor  right  his  own 
authority,  contemned  in  the  violation  of  his  law,  by  a  just  re- 
venge. Besides,  what  wisdom  would  it  be  for  the  sovereign 
Judge,  to  lodge  such  a  spokesman  for  himself  as  conscience  in 
the  soul  of  man,  if  it  should  be  always  found  speaking,  and  at 
length  be  found  false  in  all  that  it  speaks.  There  is  therefore 
an  apparent  prospect  of  the  day  of  account,  from  the  conside- 
ration of  this  perfection  of  the  Divine  nature. 

[7.]  Hence  we  have  a  ground  for  a  m  ghty  reverence  and 
veneration  of  the  Divine  majesty.  Who  can  contemplate  the 
sparklings  of  this  perfection  in  the  variety  of  the  works  of  his 
hands,  and  the  exact  government  of  all  his  creatures,  without 
a  raised  admiration  of  the  excellency  of  his  being,  and  a  falling 
flat  before  him,  in  a  posture  of  reverence  to  so  great  a  Being? 
Can  we  behold  so  great  a  mass  of  matter,  digested  into  several 
forms,  so  exact  a  harmony  and  temperament  in  all  the  crea- 
tures, the  proportions  of  numbers  and  measures,  and  one  crea- 
ture answering  the  ends  and  designs  of  another,  the  distinct 
beauties  of  all,  the  perpetual  motion  of  all  things  without 
checking  one  another;  the  variety  of  the  nature  of  things,  and 
all  acting  according  to  their  nature  with  an  admirable  agree- 
ment; and  all  together  like  differing  strings  upon  an  instrument, 
emitting  diverse  sounds,  but  all  reduced  to  order  in  one  delight- 


670  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

ful  lesson;  I  say,  can  we  behold  all  this  without  admiring  and 
adoring  the  Divine  wisdom,  which  appears  in  all? 

And  from  the  consideration  of  this,  let  us  pass  to  the  consi- 
deration of  his  wisdom  in  redemption,  in  reconciling  divided 
interests,  untying  hard  knots,  drawing  one  contrary  out  of  an- 
other; and  we  must  needs  acknowledge  that  the  wisdom  of  all 
men  on  earth,  and  angels  in  heaven,  is  worse  than  nothing  and 
vanity  in  comparison  of  this  vast  ocean.  And  as  we  have  a 
greater  esteem  for  those  that  invent  some  excellent  artificial 
engines;  what  reverence  ought  we  to  have  for  him  that  has 
stamped  an  inimitable  wisdom  upon  all  his  works!  Nature 
orders  us  to  give  honour  to  our  superiors  in  knowledge,  and 
confide  in  their  counsels;  but  none  ought  to  be  reverenced  as 
much  as  God,  since  none  equals  him  in  wisdom. 

[8.]  If  God  be  infinitely  wise,  it  shows  us  the  necessity  of 
our  address  to  him,  and  invocation  of  his  name.  We  are  sub- 
ject to  mistakes,  and  often  overseen;  we  are  not  able  rightly  to 
counsel  ourselves.  In  some  cases  all  creatures  are  too  short- 
sighted to  apprehend  them,  and  too  ignorant  to  give  advice 
proper  for  them,  and  to  contrive  remedies  for  their  ease;  but 
with  the  Lord  there  is  counsel.  He  is  great  in  counsel  and 
mighty  in  working,  Jer.  xxxii.  19;  great  in  counsel  to  advise 
us,  mighty  in  working  to  assist  us.  We  know  not  how  to  effect 
a  design,  or  prevent  an  expected  evil.  We  have  an  infinite 
wisdom  to  go  to,  that  is  every  way  skilful  to  manage  any  busi- 
ness we  desire,  to  avert  any  evil  we  fear,  to  accomplish  any 
thing  we  commit  into  his  hands.  When  we  know  not  what  to 
resolve,  he  hath  a  counsel  to  guide  us,  Psal.  lxxiii.  24.  He  is 
not  more  powerful  to  effect  what  is  needful,  than  wise  to  direct 
what  is  fitting.  All  men  stand  in  need  of  the  help  of  God,  as 
one  man  stands  in  need  of  the  assistance  of  other  men,  and 
will  not  do  any  thing  without  advice;  and  he  that  takes  advice 
deserves  the  title  of  a  wise  man,  as  well  as  he  that  gives  ad- 
vice. But  no  man  needs  so  much  the  advice  of  another  man, 
as  all  men  need  the  counsel  and  assistance  of  God.  Neither 
is  any  man's  wit  and  wisdom  so  far  inferior  to  the  prudence 
and  ability  of  an  angel,  as  the  wisdom  of  the  wisest  man  and 
the  most  sharp-sighted  angel  is  inferior  to  the  infinite  wisdom  of 
God.  We  see,  therefore,  that  it  is  best  for  us  to  go  to  the  fountain, 
and  not  content  ourselves  with  the  streams;  to  beg  advice  from 
a  wisdom  that  is  infinite  and  infallible,  rather  than  from  that 
which  is  finite  and  fallible. 

Use  (2.)  If  wisdom  be  the  perfection  of  the  Divine  majesty, 
how  prodigious  is  the  contempt  of  it  in  the  world! 

In  general, 

All  sin  strikes  at  this  attribute,  and  is  in  one  part  or  other  a 
degrading  of  it:  the  first  sin  directed  its  venom  against  this. 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (J7J 

As  the  devils  endeavoured  to  equal  their  Creator  in  power,  so 
man  endeavoured  to  equal  him  in  wisdom;  1  > < » 1 1 1  indeed  scorned 
to  be  ruled  by  bis  order;  but  man  evidently  exalted  himself 
against  the  wisdom  of  "God,  and  aspired  to  be  a  Bharer  with 
him  in  bis  infinite  knowledge';  would  not  let  him  1"'  the  only 
wise  God,  but  cherished  an  ambition  to  be  his  partner.  Jast 
as  if  a  beam  were  able  to  imagine  it  might  be  as  bright  as  the 
sun;  or  a  spark  fancy  it  could  be  as  lull  fraught  with  heat  as 
the  whole  element  of  fire.  Man  would  not  submit  to  the  infi- 
nite wisdom  of  God  in  the  prohibition  of  one  single  fruit  in  the 
garden,  when  by  the  right  of  his  sovereign  authority  he  might 
have  granted  him  only  the  use  of  one.  All  presumptuous  sins 
are  of  this  nature,  they  are  therefore  called  reproaches  of  God. 
"The  soul  that  doeth  aught  presumptuously — reproacheth  the 
Lord,"  Numb.  xv.  30.  All  reproaches  are  either  for  natural, 
moral,  or  intellectual  defects.  All  reproaches  of  God  must 
imply  either  a  weakness  or  unrighteousness  in  God.  If  unright- 
eousness, his  holiness  is  denied;  if  weakness,  his  wisdom  is 
blemished. 

In  general,  all  sin  strikes  at  this  perfection  two  ways. 

«$s  it  defaces  the  wise  workmanship  of  God.  Every  sin  is 
a  deforming  and  blemishing  our  own  souls,  which,  as  they  are 
the  prime  creatures  in  the  lower  world,  so  they  have  greater 
characters  of  Divine  wisdom  in  the  fabric  of  them:  but  this 
image  of  God  is  ruined  and  broken  by  sin.  Though  the  spoil- 
ing of  it  be  a  scorn  of  his  holiness  it  is  also  an  affront  to  his 
wisdom;  for  though  his  power  was  the  cause  of  the  production 
of  so  fair  a  piece,  yet  his  wisdom  was  the  guide  of  his  power, 
and  his  holiness  the  pattern  whereby  he  wrought  it:  his  power 
effected  it,  and  his  holiness  was  exemplified  in  it,  but  his  wis- 
dom contrived  it. 

If  a  man  had  a  curious  clock  or  watch,  which  had  cost  him 
many  years'  pains  and  the  strength  of  his  skill  to  frame  it;  for 
another,  after  he  bad  seen  and  considered  it,  to  trample  upon 
it,  and  crush  it  in  pieces,  would  argue  a  contempt  of  the  artifi- 
cer's skill.  God  has  shown  infinite  art  in  the  creation  of  man ; 
but  sin  unbeautifies  man,  and  ravishes  his  excellency.  It  cuts 
and  slashes  the  image  Of  God  stamped  by  Divine  wisdom,  as 
though  it  were  an  object  only  of  scorn  and  contempt.  The 
sinner  in  every  sin  acts  as  if  he  intended  to  put  himself  in  a 
better  posture,  and  in  a  fairer  dress,  than  the  wisdom  of  God 
has  put  him  in  by  creation. 

///  the  slighting  his  laws.  The  laws  of  God  arc  highly 
rational;  they  are  drawn  from  the  depths  of  the  Divine  under- 
standing, wherein  there  is  no  obscurity,  and  no  defect.  As 
his  understanding  apprehends  all  things  in  their  true  reason, 
so  his  will  enjoins  all  things  for  worthy  and  wise  end-;.     His 


(572  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

laws  are  contrived  by  his  wisdom  for  the  happiness  of  man, 
whose  happiness,  and  the  methods  to  it,  he  understands  better 
than  men  or  angels  can  do.  His  laws  being  the  orders  of  the 
wisest  understanding,  every  breach  of  his  law  is  a  flying  in  the 
face  of  his  wisdom.  All  human  laws,  though  they  are  enforced 
by  sovereign  authority;  yet  they  are,  or  ought  to  be,  in  the 
composing  of  them,  founded  upon  reason,  and  should  be  par- 
ticular applications  of  the  law  of  nature  to  this  or  that  particu- 
lar emergency.  The  laws  of  God,  then,  who  is  summci  ratio, 
"  the  highest  reason,"  are  the  birth  of  the  truest  reason,  though 
the  reason  of  every  one  of  them  may  not  be  so  clear  to  us. 

Every  law,  though  it  consists  in  an  act  of  the  will,  yet  does 
presuppose  an  act  of  the  understanding.  The  act  of  the  Divine 
understanding  in  framing  the  law,  must  be  supposed  to  precede 
the  act  of  his  will,  in  commanding  the  observance  of  that  law. 
So  every  sin  against  the  law,  is  not  only  against  the  will  of  God 
commanding,  but  the  reason  of  God  contriving;  and  a  cleaving 
to  our  own  reason,  rather  than  the  understanding  or  mind  of 
God:  as  if  God  had  mistaken  in  making  his  law,  and  we  had 
more  understanding  to  frame  a  better,  and  more  conducive  to 
our  happiness;  or  as  if  God  were  not  wise  enough  to  govern 
us,  and  prescribe  what  we  should  do,  and  what  we  should 
avoid;  as  if  he  designed  not  our  welfare,  but  our  misfortune. 

Whereas  the  precepts  of  God  are  not  tyrannical  edicts,  or 
acts  of  mere  will,  but  the  fruits  of  counsel;  and  therefore  every 
breach  of  them  is  a  real  declamation  against  his  discretion  and 
judgment,  and  preferring  our  own  imaginations,  or  the  sugges- 
tions of  the  devil,  as  our  rule,  before  the  results  of  Divine 
counsel.  While  we  acknowledge  him  wise  in  our  opinion,  we 
speak  him  foolish  by  our  practice,  when  instead  of  being  guided 
by  him  we  will  guide  ourselves.  No  man  will  question  but  it 
is  a  controlling  of  Divine  wisdom  to  make  alterations  in  his 
precepts  dogmatically,  either  to  add  some  of  their  own,  or  ex- 
punge any  of  his.  And  is  it  not  a  crime  of  the  like  reflection 
to  alter  them  practically?  When  we  will  observe  one  part  of 
the  law  and  not  another  part,  but  pick  and  choose  where  we 
please  ourselves,  as  our  humours  and  carnal  interest  prompt  us. 
It  is  to  charge  that  part  of  the  law  with  folly  which  we  refuse 
to  conform  unto. 

The  more  cunning  any  man  is  in  sin,  the  more  his  sin  is 
against  Divine  wisdom,  as  if  he  thought  to  outwit  God.  He 
that  receives  the  promises  of  God,  and  the  testimony  of  Christ, 
sets  to  his  seal  that  God  is  true,  John  iii.  33.  By  the  like 
strength  of  argument  it  will  undeniably  follow  that  he  that  re- 
fuseth  obedience  to  his  precept,  sets  to  his  seal  that  God  is  fool- 
ish. Were  they  not  rational,  God  would  not  enjoin  them;  and 
if  they  are  rational,  we  are  enemies  to  infinite  wisdom  by  not 


OH    nil:  wisdom  <>K  GOD.  (J7;; 

complying  with  them.  If  infinite  prudence  has  made  the  law, 
why  is  not  every  part  of  it  observed?  if  it  were  no!  made  with 
the  best  wisdom,  why  is  any  part  of  it  observed?    If  the  <!<■- 

facing  his  image  be  any  sin,  as  being  a  defaming  his  wisdom 
in  creation,  the  breaking  his  law  is  no  less  a  sin,  as  being  a  dis- 
gracing his  wisdom  in  Ins  administration.  It  is  upon  this  ac- 
count, likely,  that  the.  Scripture  so  ofien  counts  sinners  fools, 
since  it  is  certainly  inexcusable  folly  to  contradict  undeniable 
and  infallible  wisdom;  yet  tins  is  done  in  the  least  sin.  And 
as  he  that  breaks  one  tittle  of  the  law  is  deservedly  account- 
ed guilty  of  the  breach  of  the  whole,  James  ii.  10;  so  he  that 
despises  the  least  stamp  of  wisdom  in  the  minutest  part  of  the 
law,  is  deservedly  counted  as  a  contemner  of  it,  in  the  frame 
of  the  whole  statute  book. 

Hut  in  particular,  the  wisdom  of  God  is  affronted  and  in- 
vaded. 

[1.]  By  introducing  new  rules  and  modes  of  worship,  differ- 
ent from  Divine  institutions.  Is  not  this  a  manifest  reflection 
on  this  perfection  of  God,  as  though  he  had  not  been  wise 
enough  to  provide  for  his  own  honour,  and  model  his  own  ser- 
vice, but  stood  in  need  of  our  directions,  and  the  caprices  of 
our  brains?  Some  have  observed,  that  it  is  a  greater  sin  in 
worship  to  do  what  we  should  not,  than  to  omit  what  we  should 
perform.1  The  one  seems  to  be  out  of  weakness,  because  of 
the  high  exactness  of  the  law;  and  the  other  out  of  impudence, 
accusing  the  wisdom  of  God  of  imperfection,  and  controlling 
it  in  its  institutions.  At  best,  it  seems  to  be  an  imputation  of 
human  bashfulness  to  the  Supreme  Sovereign;  as  if  he  had 
been  ashamed  to  prescribe  all  that  was  necessary  to  his  own 
honour,  but  had  left  something  to  the  ingenuity  and  gratitude 
of  men. 

Man  has,  ever  since  the  foolish  conceit  of  his  old  ancestor 
Adam,  presumed  he  could  be  as  wise  as  God;  and  if  he  who 
was  created  upright  entertained  such  conceits,  much  more  does 
man  now,  under  a  mass  of  corruption  so  capable  to  foment 
them.  This  has  been  the  continual  practice  of  men;  not  so 
much  to  reject  what  once  they  had  received  as  Divine,  but  to 
add  something  of  their  own  inventions  to  it. 

The  heathens  renounced  not  the  sacrificing  of  beasts  for  the 
expiation  of  their  offences,  which  the  old  world  hid  received 
by  tradition  from  Adam,  and  the  new  world,  after  the  deluge, 
from  Noah.  But  they  had  blended  that  tradition  with  rites  of 
their  own, and  offered  creatures  unclean  in  themselves,  and  not 
fit  to  be  offered  to  an  infinitely  pure  Heing;  for  the  distinction 
of  clean  and  unclean  was  as  ancient  as  Noah,  Gen.  viii.  20, 
yea  before,  Gen.  vii.  2. 

|  fjtrang,  Of  the  Will. 
Vol.  I.— S5 


(374  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

So  the  Jews  did  not  discard  what  they  had  received  from 
God,  as  circumcision,  the  passover,  and  sacrifices;  but  they 
would  mix  a  heap  of  heathenish  rites  with  the  ceremonies  of 
Divine  ordination,  and  practise  things  which  he  had  not  com- 
manded, as  well  as  things  which  he  had  enjoined  them.  And 
therefore  it  is  observable,  that  when  God  taxes  them  with  this 
sin,  he  does  not  say,  they  brought  in  those  things  which  he 
had  forbidden  into  his  worship;  but  those  things  which  he  had 
not  commanded,  and  had  given  no  order  for,  to  intimate,  that 
they  were  not  to  move  a  step  without  his  rule:  "They  have 
built  the  high  places  of  Tophet,  which  I  commanded  them  not, 
neither  came  it  into  my  heart,"  Jer.  vii.  31:  and  Nadab's  and 
Abihu's  strange  fire  was  not  commanded,  Lev.  x.  1:  so  charg- 
ing them  with  impudence  and  rashness  in  adding  something  of 
their  own,  after  he  had  revealed  to  them  the  manner  of  his 
service,  as  if  they  were  as  wise  as  God.  So  loath  is  man  to 
acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  Divine  understanding,  and  be 
sensible  of  his  own  ignorance. 

So  after  the  divulging  of  the  gospel,  the  corrupters  of  reli- 
gion did  not  lling  off  but  preserved  the  institutions  of  God,  but 
painted  and  patched  them  up  with  pagan  ceremonies;  imposed 
their  own  dreams  with  as  much  force  as  the  revelations  of 
God.  Thus  has  the  papacy  turned  the  simplicity  of  the  gos- 
pel into  pagan  pomp,  and  religion  into  politics;  and  revived 
the  ceremonial  law,  and  raked  some  limbs  of  it  out  of  the 
grave,  after  the  wisdom  of  God  had  rung  her  knell,  and 
honourably  interred  her;  and  sheltered  the  heathenish  super- 
stitions in  Christian  temples,  after  the  power  of  the  gospel  had 
chased  the  devils,  with  all  their  trumpery,  from  their  ancient 
habitations. 

Whence  should  this  proceed,  but  from  a  partial  atheism,  and 
a  mean  conceit  of  the  Divine  wisdom?  As  though  God  had 
not  understanding  enough  to  prescribe  the  form  of  his  own 
worship;  and  not  wisdom  enough  to  support  it,  without  the 
crutches  of  human  prudence. 

Human  prudence  is  too  low  to  parallel  Divine  wisdom;  it  is 
an  incompetent  judge  of  what  is  fit  for  an  infinite  Majesty.  It 
is  sufficiently  seen  in  the  ridiculous  and  senseless  rites  among 
-the  heathens;  and  the  cruel  and  devilish  ones,  brought  from 
them  by  the  Jews.  What  work  will  human  wisdom  make 
with  Divine  worship,  when  it  will  presume  to  be  the  director 
of  it,  as  a  match  with  the  wisdom  of  God?  Whence  will  it 
take  its  measures,  but  from  sense,  humour,  and  fancy?  As 
though  what  is  grateful  and  comely  to  a  depraved  reason, 
were  as  beautiful  to  an  unspotted  and  infinite  mind.  Do  not 
such  tell  the  world,  that  they  were  of  God's  cabinet  council, 
since  they  will  take  upon  them  to  judge,  as  well  as  God,  what 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (375 

is  well-pleasing  to  him?  Where  will  it  have  the  humility  to 
stop,  if  it  has  the  presumption  to  add  any  one  thing  to  revealed 
modes  of  worship.  How  did  God  tax  the  Israelites  with 
making  idols  according  to  their  own  understandings,  II"  .  xiii. 
2;  imagining  their  own  understandings  t<»  be  of  a  finer  make 
and  a  perfecter  mould  than  their  Creator's;  and  that  they  had 
fetched  more  light  from  the  chaos  of  their  own  brains,  than 
God  had  from  eternity  in  his  own  nature!  Eiow  slight  will  the 
excuse  be,  God  has  not  forbidden  this,  or  that,  when  God  shall 
silence  men  with  the  question,  where,  or  when  did  I  command 
this  or  that!  There  was  no  addition  to  be  made  under  the  law 
to  the  meanest  instrument  God  had  appointed  in  his  service. 
The  sacred  perfume  was  not  to  have  one  ingredient  more  put 
into  it,  than  what  God  had  prescribed  in  the  composition;  nor 
was  any  man,  upon  pain  of  death,  to  imitate  it;  nor  would 
God  endure,  that  sacrifices  should  be  consumed  with  any  other 
fire,  than  that  which  came  down  from  heaven.  So  tender  is 
God  of  any  invasions  of  his  wisdom  and  authority.  In  all 
things  of  this  nature,  whatsoever  voluntary  humility  and  re- 
spect to  God  they  may  be  disguised  with,  there  is  a  swelling 
of  the  fleshly  mind  against  infinite  understanding,  which  the 
apostle  nauseates,  Col.  ii.  IS. 

Such  mixtures  have  not  been  blessed  by  God:  as  God  never 
prospered  the  mixtures  of  several  kinds  of  creatures,  to  form 
and  multiply  a  new  species,  as  being  a  dissatisfaction  with  his 
wisdom,  as  Creator;  so  he  does  not  prosper  mixtures  in  wor- 
ship, as  being  a  conspiracy  against  his  wisdom,  as  a  Lawgiver. 
The  destruction  of  the  Jews  was  judged  by  some  of  their  doc- 
tors to  be,  for  preferring  human  traditions  before  the  written 
word;1  which  they  ground  on  Isa.  xxix.  13.  Their  fear  of  me 
was  taught  by  the  precepts  of  men.  The  injunctions  of  men 
were  the  rule  of  their  worship,  and  not  the  prescripts  of  my 
law. 

To  conclude,  such  as  make  alterations  in  religion,  different 
from  the  first  institution,  are  intolerable  busy-bodies,  that  will 
not  let  God  alone  with  his  own  affairs.  Vain  man  wotdd  be 
wiser  than  his  Maker,  and  be  dabbling  in  that  which  is  his  sole 
prerogative. 

[2.]  In  neglecting  means  instituted  by  God.  When  men  have 
risings  of  heart  against  God's  ordinances,  they  reject  tin1  coun- 
sel of  the  Lord  against  themselves,  or  in  themselves.  Luke  vii. 
30,»>fri7<jav.  They  disannulled  the  wisdom  of  God,  the  spring 
of  his  ordinances.  All  neglects  are  disregards  of  Divine  pre- 
scriptions, as  impertinent  and  unavailable  to  that  end  for  which 

i  Vaisin.  The  Talmud  takes  notice,  that  the  court  of  Bethany  waa  wasted 
three  years  before  Jerusalem,  because  they  preferred  their  own  wind-  before  the 

words  of  tin'  law. 


(376  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

they  were  appointed,  as  not  being  suited  to  the  common  dic- 
tates of  reason;  sometimes  out  of  a  voluntary  humility,  such 
as  Peter's  was,  when  he  denied  Christ's  condescension  to  wash 
his  feet,  John  xiii.  8,  and  thereby  judged  of  the  comeliness  of 
his  Master's  intention  and  action.  Such  as  continually  neglect 
the  great  institution  of  the  Lord's  supper,  out  of  a  sense  of  un- 
worthiness,  are  in  the  same  rank  with  Peter,  and  do,  as  well 
as  he,  fall  under  the  blame  and  reproof  of  Christ. 

Men  would  be  saved,  and  use  the  means;  but  either  means 
of  their  own  appointment,  or  not  all  the  means  of  God's  order- 
ing.x  They  would  have  God's  wisdom  and  will  condescend  to 
theirs,  and  not  theirs  conformed  to  God;  as  if  our  blind  judg- 
ments were  fittest  to  make  the  election  of  the  paths  to  happi- 
ness. Like  Naanian,  who  when  he  was  ordered  by  the  prophet, 
for  the  cure  of  his  leprosy,  to  wash  seven  times  in  Jordan,  would 
be  the  prophet's  director,  and  have  him  touch  him  with  his 
hand:  as  if  a  patient  sick  of  a  desperate  disease,  should  pre- 
scribe to  his  skilful  physician  what  remedies  he  should  order 
for  his  cure,  and  make  his  own  infirm  reason  or  his  gust  and 
palate  the  rule,  rather  than  the  physician's  skill. 

Men's  inquiries  are,  "Who  will  show  us  any  good?"  They 
rather  fasten  upon  any  means,  than  what  God  has  ordained. 
We  invert  the  order  Divine  wisdom  has  established,  when  we 
would  have  God  save  us  in  our  own  way,  not  in  his.2  It  is 
the  same  thing  as  if  we  would  have  God  nourish  us  without 
bread,  and  cure  our  diseases  without  medicines,  and  increase 
our  wealth  without  our  industry,  and  cherish  our  souls  without 
his  word  and  ordinances.  It  is  to  demand  of  him  an  alteration 
of  his  methods,  and  a  separation  of  that  which  he  has  by  his 
eternal  judgment  joined  together.  Therefore  for  a  man  to  pray 
to  God  to  save  him,  when  he  will  not  use  the  means  he  has 
appointed  for  salvation,  when  he  slights  the  word,  which  is  the 
instrument  of  salvation,  is  a  contempt  of  the  wisdom  of  Divine 
institutions. 

Also  in  omissions  of  prayer;  when  we  consult  not  with  God 
upon  emergent  occasions,  we  trust  more  to  our  own  wisdom 
than  God's,  and  imply,  that  we  stand  not  in  need  of  his  con- 
duct, but  have  ability  to  direct  ourselves,  and  accomplish  our 
ends  without  his  guidance.  Not  seeking  God,  is  by  the  pro- 
phet taxed  to  be  a  reflection  upon  this  perfection  of  God; 
"  They  look  not  unto  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  neither  seek  the 
Lord,"  Isa.  xxxi.  1,  2.  And  the  like  charge  he  brings  against 
them,  Hos.  viii.  9.  "  They  are  gone  up  to  Assyria,  a  wild  ass 
alone  by  himself,"  not  consulting  God. 

[3.]  In  censuring  God's  revelations  and  actions,  if  they  be 
not  according  to  our  schemes.     When  we  will  not  submit  to 

'  Pont.  Medit.  part.  3.  p.  3C6.  2  Durnnt.  de  Tent.  p.  403,  404. 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  tJ7? 

his  plain  will  without  penetrating  into  the  unrevealed  reason 
of  it,  nor  adore  his  counsels  without  controlling  them;  as  if  we 
could  correct  both  law  and  gospel,  and  frame  pi  better  method 
of  redemption  than  that  of  God's  contriving.  Thus  men  Blighted 
the  wisdom  of  God  in  the  gospel,  because  it  did  not  agree  with 
that  philosophical  wisdom  and  reason  they  had  sucked  in  by 
education  from  their  masters,  1  Cor.  i.  21,  22,  contrary  to  their 
practice  in  their  superstitious  worship;  where  the  oracles  they 
thought  Divine,  were  entertained  with  reverence,  not  with 
dispute;  and  though  ambiguous,  were  not  counted  ridiculous 
by  the  worshipper.  How  foolish  is  man  in  this,  wherein  he 
would  be  accounted  wise!  Adam  in  innocence  was  unfit  to 
control  the  doctrine  of  God,  when  the  eye  of  his  reason  was 
clear;  and  much  more  are  we,  since  the  depravation  of  our 
nature. 

The  revelations  of  God  tower  above  reason  in  its  purity; 
much  more  above  reason  in  its  mud  and  earthiness.  The  rays 
of  Divine  wisdom  are  too  bright  for  our  human  understandings, 
much  more  for  our  sinful  understandings.  It  is  base  to  set  up 
reason,  a  finite  principle,  against  an  infinite  wisdom;  much 
baser  to  set  up  a  depraved  and  purblind  reason,  against  an  all- 
seeing  and  holy  wisdom.  If  we  would  have  a  reason  for  all 
that  God  speaks,  and  all  that  God  acts;  our  wisdom  must  be- 
come infinite  as  his,  or  his  wisdom  become  finite  as  ours. 

All  the  censures  of  God's  revelations  arise  from  some  preju- 
dicate  opinions,  or  traditional  maxims,  that  have  enthroned 
themselves  in  our  minds,  which  are  made  the  standard  whereby 
to  judge  of  the  things  of  God,  and  receive  or  reject  them  as  they 
agree  with  or  dissent  from  those  principles,  Col.  ii.  8.  Hence 
it  was  that  the  philosophers  in  the  primitive  times  were  the 
greatest  enemies  to  the  gospel:  and  the  contempt  of  Divine 
wisdom,  in  making  reason  the  supreme  judge  of  Divine  revela- 
tion, was  the  fruitful  mother  of  the  heresies  in  all  ages  spring- 
ing up  in  the  church,  and  especially  of  that  Socinianism,  that 
daily  insinuates  itself  into  the  minds  of  men. 

This  is  a  wrong  to  the  wisdom  of  God.  He  that  censures 
the  words  or  actions  of  another,  implies  that  lie  is  in  his  cen- 
sure wiser  than  the  person  censured  by  him.  It  is  as  insup- 
portable to  determine  the  truth  of  God's  plain  dictates  by  our 
reason,  as  it  is  to  measure  the  suitableness  or  unsuitabieness  of 
his  actions  by  the  humour  of  our  will.  We  may  sooner  think 
to  span  the  sun,  or  grasp  a  star,  or  see  a  gnat  swallow  a  levia- 
than, than  fully  understand  the  debates  of  eternity. 

To  this  we  may  refer  too  curious  inquiries  into  Divine  me- 
thods, and  intruding  into  those  things  which  are  not  revealed, 
Col.  ii.  IS.  It  is  to  affect  a  wisdom  equal  with  God,  and  an 
ambition  to  be  of  his  cabinet  council.   We  are  not  content  to  be 


(578  0N  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

creatures,  that  is,  to  be  every  way  below  God;  below  him  in 
wisdom,  as  well  as  power. 

[4.]  In  prescribing  God's  method  of  acting;  as  when  we 
pray  for  a  thing  without  a  due  submission  to  God's  will;  as  if 
we  were  his  counsellors,  yea  his  tutors,  and  not  his  subjects, 
and  God  were  bound  to  follow  our  humours,  and  be  swayed 
according  to  the  judgment  of  our  ignorance;  when  we  would 
have  such  a  mercy  which  God  thinks  not  fit  to  give,  or  have  it 
in  this  method,  which  God  designs  to  convey  through  another 
channel.  Thus  we  would  have  the  only  wise  God  take  his 
measures  from  our  passions.  Such  a  controlling  of  God  was 
Jonah's  anger  about  a  gourd,  Jonah  iv.  9.  It  displeased  Jonah 
exceedingly,  and  he  was  very  angry. 

We  would  direct  him  how  to  dispose  of  us;  as  though  he 
that  had  infinite  wisdom  to  contrive,  and  rear  the  excellent 
fabric  of  the  world,  had  not  wisdom  enough,  without  our  dis- 
cretion, to  place  us  in  a  sphere  proper  for  his  own  ends,  and 
the  use  he  intends  us  in  the  universe.  All  the  speeches  of  men 
(would  I  had  been  in  such  an  office,  had  such  charge;  would  I 
had  such  a  mercy,  in  such  a  method,  or  by  such  instruments) 
are  intrenchments  upon  God's  wise  disposal  of  affairs. 

This  imposing  upon  God  is  a  hellish  disposition,  and  in  hell 
we  find  it.  The  rich  man  in  hell,  that  pretends  some  charity 
for  his  brethren  on  earth,  would  direct  God  a  way  to  prevent 
their  ruin,  by  sending  one  from  the  dead  to  school  them,  as  a 
more  effectual  means  than  Moses  and  the  prophets,  Luke  xvi. 
29,  30.  It  is  a  temper  also  to  be  found  on  earth:  what  else 
was  the  language  of  Saul's  saving  the  Amalekites'  cattle 
against  the  plain  command  of  God,  1  Sam.  xv.  15.  As  if  God 
in  his  fury  had  overshot  himself,  and  overlooked  his  altar,  in 
depriving  it  of  so  great  a  booty  for  its  service:  as  if  it  were  an 
unwise  thing  in  God,  to  lose  the  prey  of  so  many  stately  cattle, 
that  might  make  the  altar  smoke  with  their  entrails,  and  serve 
to  expiate  the  sins  of  the  people;  and  therefore  he  would  rec- 
tify that  which  he  thought  to  be  an  oversight  in  God,  and  so 
magnify  his  own  prudence  and  discretion  above  the  Divine. 

We  will  not  let  God  act  as  he  thinks  fit,  but  will  be  directing 
him,  and  teaching  him  knowledge,  Job  xxi.  22;  as  if  God  were 
a  statue,  an  idol,  that  had  eyes  and  saw  not,  hands,  but  acted 
not;  and  could  be  turned  as  an  image  may  be,  to  what  quarter 
of  the  heaven  we  please  ourselves.  The  wisdom  of  God  is 
unbiassed;  he  orders  nothing  but  what  is  fittest  for  his  end,  and 
we  would  have  our  shallow  brains  the  bias  of  God's  acting. 
And  will  not  God  resent  such  an  indignity,  as  a  reflection  upon 
his  wisdom  as  well  as  authority,  when  we  intimate  that  we 
have  better  heads  than  he,  and  that  he  comes  short  of  us  in 
understanding. 


<>\    I'll  I :   WISDOM  OF  00D.  C7<) 

[5.  J  In  murmuring  and  impatience.  One  demands  a  reason 
why  be  has  this  or  that  cross?  Why  he  has  hecu  deprived  of 
such  a  comfort,  lost  such  a  venture,  languishes  under  such  a 
sickness,  is  tormented  with  such  pains,  oppressed  hy  tyrannical 
neighbours,  is  unsuccessful  in  such  designs?  In  these,  and  such 
like,  tin;  wisdom  of  God  is  questioned  and  defamed.  All  im- 
patience is  a  suspicion,  if  not  a  condemnation  of  the  prudence 
of  God's  methods,  and  would  make  human  feebleness  and  folly 
the  rule  of  God's  dealing  with  his  creatures.  This  is  a  pre- 
suming to  instruct  God,  and  a  reproving  him  for  unreasonable- 
ness in  his  proceedings,  when  his  dealings  with  us  do  not  exactly 
answer  our  fancies  and  wishes;  as  if  God,  who  made  the  world 
in  wisdom,  wanted  skill  for  the  management  of  his  creatures 
in  it.  "Shall  he  that  contended!  with  the  Almighty  instruct 
him?  he  that  reproveth  God,  let  him  answer  it,"  Job  xl.  2. 
We  that  are  not  wise  enough  to  know  ourselves,  and  what  is 
needful  for  us,  presume  to  have  wit  enough  to  guide  God  in  his 
dealing  with  us.  The  wisdom  of  God  rendered  Job  more  use- 
ful to  the  world  by  his  afflictions,  in  making  him  a  pattern  of 
patience,  than  if  he  had  continued  him  in  a  continence  of  all 
worldly  comforts,  wherein  he  had  been  beneficial  only  in  com- 
municating his  morsels  to  his  poor  neighbours.  All  murmuring 
is  a  fastening  of  error  upon  unerring  wisdom. 

[G.]  In  pride  and  haughtiness  of  spirit.  No  proud  man  but 
sets  his  heart  as  the  heart  of  God,  Ezek.  xxviii.  2.  The  wis- 
dom of  God  has  given  to  men  divers  offices,  set  them  in  divers 
places;  some  have  more  honourable  charges,  some  meaner. 
Not  to  give  that  respect  their  offices  and  places  call  for,  is  to 
quarrel  with  the  wisdom  of  God,  and  overturn  the  rank  and 
order  wherein  he  has  placed  things. 

It  is  unfit  we  should  a  (front  God  in  the  disposal  of  his  crea- 
tures, and  intimate  to  him  by  our  carriage  that  he  had  done 
more  wisely  in  placing  another,  and  that  he  has  done  foolishly 
in  placing  this  or  that  man  in  such  a  charge.  Sometimes  men 
are  unworthy  the  place  they  fill;  they  may  be  set  there  in  judg- 
ment to  themselves  and  others;  but  the  wisdom  of  God  in  his 
management  of  things  is  to  be  honoured  and  regarded. 

It  is  an  infringing  the  wisdom  of  God,  when  we  have  a  vain 
opinion  of  ourselves,  and  are  blind  to  others.  When  we  think 
ourselves  monarchs,  and  treat  others  as  worms  or  llies  in  com- 
parison of  us.  He  who  would  reduce  all  things  to  his  own 
honour,  perverts  the  order  of  the  world,  and  would  constitute 
another  order  than  what  the  wisdom  of  God  has  established ; 
and  move  them  to  an  end  contrary  to  the  intention  of  God,  and 
charges  God  with  want  of  discretion  and  skill. 

[7.]  Distrust  of  God's  promise  is  an  impeachment  of  his 
wisdom.  A  secret  reviling  of  it,  as  if  he  had  not  taken  due  con- 


680  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

sideratfon  before  he  passes  his  word;  or  a  suspicion  of  his  power, 
as  if  he  could  not  accomplish  his  word.  We  trust  the  physi- 
cian's skill  with  our  bodies,  and  the  lawyer's  counsel  with  our 
estates;  but  are  loath  to  rely  upon  God  for  the  concerns  of  our 
lives.  If  he  be  wise  to  dispose  of  us,  why  do  we  distrust  him? 
If  we  distrust  him,  why  do  we  embrace  an  opinion  of  his  wis- 
dom? 

Unbelief  also  is  a  contradiction  to  the  wisdom  of  God  in  the 
gospel,  &c;  but  that  I  have  already  handled  in  a  discourse  of 
the  nature  of  unbelief. 

Use  (3.)  Of  comfort.  God  has  an  infinite  wisdom  to  con- 
duct us  in  our  affairs,  rectify  us  in  our  mistakes,  and  assist  us 
in  our  straits.  It  is  an  inestimable  privilege  to  have  a  God  in 
covenant  with  us;  so  wise,  to  communicate  all  good,  to  prevent 
all  evil;  who  has  infinite  ways  to  bring  to  pass  his  gracious  in- 
tentions towards  us.  "How  unsearchable  are  his  judgments, 
and  his  ways  past  finding  out!"  Rom.  xi.  33.  His  judgment 
or  decrees  are  incomprehensibly  wise,  and  the  ways  of  effect- 
ing them  are  as  wise  as  his  resolves  effected  by  them.  We  can 
as  little  search  into  his  methods  of  acting,  as  we  can  into  his 
wisdom  of  resolving;  both  his  judgments  and  ways  are  un- 
searchable. 

[1.]  Comfort  in  all  straits  and  afflictions.  There  is  a  wis- 
dom in  inflicting  them,  and  a  wisdom  in  removing  them.  He 
is  wise  to  suit  his  medicines  to  the  humour  of  our  disease, 
though  he  does  not  to  the  humour  of  our  wills:  he  cannot  mis- 
take the  nature  of  our  distemper,  or  the  virtue  of  his  own  phy- 
sic. Like  a  skilful  physician,  he  sometimes  prescribes  bitter 
potions,  and  sometimes  cheering  cordials,  according  to  the 
strength  of  the  malady,  and  necessity  of  the  patient  to  reduce 
him  to  health.  As  nothing  comes  from  him  but  what  is  for 
our  good,  so  nothing  is  acted  by  him  in  a  rash  and  temerarious 
way.  His  wisdom  is  as  infinite  as  his  goodness,  and  as  exact 
in  managing  as  his  goodness  is  plentiful  in  streaming  out  to  us. 
He  understands  our  griefs,  weighs  our  necessities,  and  no  reme- 
dies are  beyond  the  reach  of  his  contrivance.  When  our  feeble 
wits  are  bewildered  in  a  maze,  and  at  the  end  of  their  line  for 
a  rescue,  the  remedies  unknown  to  us  are  not  unknown  to  God. 
WThen  we  know  not  how  to  prevent  a  danger,  the  wise  God 
has  a  thousand  blocks  to  lay  in  the  way;  when  we  know  not 
how  to  free  ourselves  from  an  oppressive  evil,  he  has  a  thou- 
sand ways  of  relief. 

He  knows  how  to  time  our  crosses  and  his  own  blessings. 
The  heart  of  a  wise  God,  as  well  as  the  heart  of  a  wise  man, 
discerns  both  time  and  judgment,  Eccl.  viii.  5.  There  is  as 
much  judgment  in  sending  them,  as  judgment  in  removing 
them.     How  comfortable  is  it  to  think,  that  our  distresses,  as 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  C>8\ 

well  as  our  deliverances,  arc  the  fruits  of  infinite  wisdom!  No- 
thing is  done  by  him  too  soon  or  too  slow;  but  in  the  true 
point  of  time,  with  all  its  due  circumstances,  most  conveniently 
for  his  glory  and  our  good.  How  wise  is  God,  to  bring  the 
glory  of  our  salvation  out  of  the  depths  of  a  seeming  ruin,  and 
make  the  evils  of  allliction  subservient  to  the  good  of  the 
afflicted! 

[2.]  In  temptations;  his  wisdom  is  no  less  employed  in  per- 
mitting them,  than  in  bringing  them  to  a  good  issue.  His 
wisdom  in  leading  our  Saviour  to  be  tempted  of  the  devil,  was 
to  fit  him  for  our  succour;  and  his  wisdom  in  suffering  us  to  be 
tempted, is  to  fit  us  for  his  own  service, and  our  salvation.  He 
makes  a  thorn  in  the  llesh  to  be  an  occasion  of  a  refreshing 
grace  to  the  Spirit,  and  brings  forth  cordial  grapes  from  those 
pricking  brambles,  and  magnifies  his  grace  by  his  wisdom, 
from  the  deepest  subtleties  of  hell.  Let  Satan's  intentions  be 
what  they  will,  he  can  be  for  us  at  every  turn,  to  outwit  him 
in  his  stratagems,  to  bailie  him  in  his  enterprises;  to  make 
him  instrumental  for  our  good,  where  he  designs  nothing  but 
our  hurt.  The  Lord  has  his  methods  of  deliverance  from  him, 
"  The  Lord  knoweth  how  to  deliver  the  godly  out  of  tempta- 
tions," 2  Pet.  ii.  9. 

[3.]  In  denials,  or  delays  of  answers  of  prayer.  He  is 
gracious  to  hear;  but  he  is  wise  to  answer  in  an  acceptable 
time,  and  succour  us  in  a  day  proper  for  our  salvation,  2  Cor. 
vi.  2.  We  have  partial  affections  to  ourselves,  ignorance  is 
natural  to  us;  we  ask  we  know  not  what,  Rom.  viii.  26,  be- 
cause we  ask  out  of  ignorance.  God.  grants  what  he  knows, 
what  is  fit  for  him  to  do,  and  fit  for  us  to  receive;  and  the 
exact  season  wherein  it  is  fittest  for  him  to  bestow  a  mercy. 
As  God  would  have  us  bring  forth'  our  fruit  in  season,  so  he 
will  send  forth  his  mercies  in  season. 

He  is  wise  to  suit  his  remedy  to  our  condition,  to  time  it  so, 
as  that  we  shall  have  an  evident  prospect  of  his  wisdom  in  it: 
that  more  of  Divine  skill,  and  less  of  human,  may  appear  in 
the  issue.  He  is  ready  at  our  call;  but  he  will  not  answer, 
till  he  see  the  season  fit  to  reach  out  his  hand.  He  is  wise  to 
prove  our  faith,  to  humble  us  under  the  sense  of  our  own  un- 
worthiness,  to  whet  our  affections,  to  set  a  better  estimate  on 
the  blessings  prayed  for,  and  that  he  may  double  the  blessing, 
as  we  do  our  devotion:  but  when  his  wisdom  sees  us  fit  to 
receive  his  goodness,  he  grants  what  we  stand  in  need  of.  He 
is  wise  to  choose  the  fittest  time,  and  faithful  to  give  the  best 
covenant  mercy. 

[4.]  In  all  evils  threatened  to  the  church  by  her  enemies. 
He  has  knowledge  to  foresee  them,  and  wisdom  to  disappoint 
Vol.  I.— S6 


(J82  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

them;  "He  taketh  the  wise  in  their  own  craftiness:  and  the 
counsel  of  the  fro  ward  is  carried  headlong,"  Job.  v.  13. 

The  church  has  the  wisdom  of  God,  to  enter  the  lists  with 
the  policy  of  hell.  He  defeated  the  serpent  in  the  first  net  he 
laid,  and  brought  a  glorious  salvation  out  of  hell's  rubbish; 
and  is  yet  as  skilful  to  disappoint  the  after-game  of  the  serpen- 
tine brood.  The  policy  of  hell,  and  the  subtlety  of  the  world, 
are  no  better  than  folly  with  God,  1  Cor.  iii.  19.  All  creatures 
are  fools,  as  creatures,  in  comparison  with  the  Creator.  The 
angels  he  charges  with  folly,  much  more  us  sinners. 

Depraved  understandings  are  not  fit  mates  for  a  pure  and 
unblemished  mind.  Pharaoh,  with  his  wisdom,  finds  a  grave 
in  the  sea;  and  Ahithophcl's  plots  are  finished  in  his  own  mur- 
der: he  breaks  the  enemies  by  his  power,  and  orders  them  by 
his  skill  to  be  a  feast  to  his  people:  "  Thou  breakest  the  heads 
of  leviathan  in  pieces,  and  gavest  him  to  be  meat  to  the  people 
inhabiting  the  wilderness,"  Psal.  Ixxiv.  14.  The  spoils  of  the 
Egyptians'  carcasses  cast  upon  the  shore  served  the  Israelites' 
necessities  (or  were  as  meat  to  them;)  as  being  a  deliverance 
the  church  might  feed  upon  in  all  ages,  in  a  wilderness  condi- 
tion, to  maintain  their  faith,  the  vital  principle  of  the  soul. 

There  is  a  wisdom  superior  to  the  subtleties  of  men,  which 
laughs  at  their  follies,  and  has  them  in  derision,  Psal.  ii.  4. 
"There  is  no  wisdom — nor  counsel  against  the  Lord,"  Prov. 
xxi.  30.  You  never  question  the  wisdom  of  an  artist  to  use 
his  file,  when  he  takes  it  into  his  hand:  wicked  instruments 
are  God's  axes  and  files;  let  him  alone,  he  has  skill  enough  to 
manage  them:  God  has  too  much  affection  to  destroy  his  peo- 
ple, and  wisdom  enough  to  beautify  them  by  the  worst  tools 
he  uses.  He  can  make  all  things  conspire  in  a  perfect  harmony 
for  his  own  ends,  and  his  people's  good,  when  they  see  no  way 
to  escape  a  danger  feared,  or  attain  a  blessing  wanted. 

Use  (4.)  Is  for  exhortation. 

[1.]  Meditate  on  the  wisdom  of  God  in  creation  and  gov- 
ernment. How  little  do  we  think  of  God  when  we  behold 
his  works!  Our  sense  dwells  upon  the  surface  of  plants  and 
animals,  beholds  the  variety  of  their  colours,  and  the  progress 
in  their  motion:  our  reason  studies  the  qualities  of  them;  our 
spirits  seldom  take  a  flight  to  the  Divine  wisdom  which  framed 
them.  Our  senses  engross  our  minds  from  God,  that  we  scarce 
have  a  thought  free  to  bestow  upon  the  Maker  of  them. 
The  constancy  of  seeing  things  that  are  common,  stifles  our 
admiration  of  God,  due  upon  the  sight  of  them.  How  seldom 
do  we  raise  our  souls  as  far  as  heaven  in  our  views  of 
the  order  of  the  world,  the  revolutions  of  the  seasons,  the 
natures  of  the  creatures  that  are  common  among   us,  and 


ON  Till:  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  ,;<;> 

the  mutual  assistances  they  give  to  each  other!  Since  God  has 
manifested  himself  in  them,  to  neglect  the  consideration  of 
them,  is  to  neglect  the  manifestation  of  God,  and  the  way 
whereby  he  has  transmitted  something  of  his  perfections  to  our 
understanding.  It  renders  men  inexcusably  guilty  of  not  glori- 
fying of  God,  Rom.  i.  20,21.  We  can  never  neglect  the  medi- 
tation of  the  creatures,  without  a  blemish  cast  upon  the'  Crea- 
tor's wisdom.  As  every  river  can  conduct  us  to  the  sea,  so 
every  creature  points  US  to  an  ocean  of  infinite  wisdom.  Not 
the  minutest  of  them,  but  rich  tracts  of  this  may  he  observed  in 
them,  and  a  due  sense  of  God  result  from  them.  .  They  are 
exposed  to  our  view,  that  something  of  God  may  be  lodged  in 
our  minds;  that  as  our  bodies  extract  their  quintessence  for 
our  nourishment,  so  our  minds  may  extract  a  quintessence  for 
the  Maker's  praise, 

Though  God  is  principally  to  be  praised  in  and  for  Christ; 
yet  as  grace  does  not  raze  out  the  law  of  nature,  so  the  opera- 
tions of  grace  put  not  the  dictates  of  nature  to  silence,  nor  sus- 
pend the  homage  due  to  God  upon  our  inspection  of  his  works. 
God  has  given  full  testimonies  of  this  perfection  in  the  heavenly 
bodies,  dispersing  their  light,  and  distributing  their  influences 
to  every  part  of  the  world:  in  framing  men  into  societies, 
giving  them  various  dispositions,  for  the  preservation  of  gov- 
ernments; making  some  wise  for  counsel,  others  martial  for 
action;  changing  old  empires,  and  raising  new.  Which  way 
soever  we  cast  our  eyes,  we  shall  find  frequent  occasions  to 
cry  out,  "0  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and 
knowledge  of  God,"  Rom.  xi.  33. 

To  this  purpose,  we  must  not  only  look  upon  the  bulk  and 
outside  of  his  works,  but  consider  from  what  principles  they 
were  raised,  in  what  order  disposed,  and  the  exact  symmetry 
and  proportion  of  their  parts.  W  nen  a  man  comes  into  a  city 
or  temple,  and  only  considers  the  surface  of  the  buildings,  they 
will  amaze  his  sense,  but  not  better  his  understanding;  unless 
he  considers  the  methods  of  the  work,  and  the  art  whereby  it 
was  erected. 

This  was  an  end  for  which  they  were  created.  God  did 
not  make  the  world  for  man's  use  only,  but  chiefly  for  his  own 
glory;  for  man's  use  to  enjoy  his  creatures,  and  for  his  own 
glory  to  be  acknowledged  in  his  creatures,  that  we  may  con- 
sider his  art  in  framing  them,  and  his  skill  in  disposing  them; 
and  not  merely  gaze  upon  the  glass  without  considering  the 
image  it  represents,  and  acquainting  ourselves  whose  image  it 
is.  The  creatures  were  not  made  lor  themselves,  hut  for  the 
service  of  the  Creator,  and  the  service  of  man.  Man  was  not 
made  for  himself,  hut  lor  the  service  of  the  Lord  (hat  created 
him.    He  is  to  consider  the  beauty  of  the  creation,  thai  he  0 


684  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

thereby  glorify  the  Creator.  He  knows  in  part  their  excellency; 
the  creatures  themselves  do  not.  If  therefore  man  be  idle  and 
unobservant  of  them,  he  deprives  God  of  the  glory  of  his  wis- 
dom, which  he  should  have  by  his  creatures. 

The  inferior  creatures  themselves  cannot  observe  it.  If  man 
regard  it  not,  what  becomes  of  it?  his  glory  can  only  be  hand- 
ed to  him  by  man.  The  other  creatures  cannot  be  active  in- 
struments of  his  glory,  because  they  know  not  themselves,  and 
therefore  cannot  render  him  an  active  praise.  Man  is  therefore 
bound  to  praise  God  for  himself,  and  for  all  his  creatures;  be- 
cause he  only' knows  himself,  and  the  perfections  of  the  crea- 
tures, and  the  Author  both  of  himself  and  them. 

God  created  such  variety  to  make  a  report  of  himself  to  us; 
we  are  to  receive  the  report,  and  to  reflect  it  back  to  him.  To 
what  purpose  did  he  make  so  many  things,  not  necessary  for 
the  support  and  pleasure  of  our  lives,  but  that  we  should  be- 
hold him  in  them,  as  well  as  in  the  other? 

We  cannot  behold  the  wisdom  of  God  in  his  own  essence 
and  eternal  idea,  but  by  the  reflection  of  it  in  the  creatures;  as 
we  cannot  steadily  behold  the  sun  with  our  eye,  but  either 
through  a  glass,  or  by  reflection  of  the  image  of  it  in  the  water. 
God  would  have  us  meditate  on  his  perfections;  he  therefore 
chose  the  same  day  wherein  he  reviewed  his  work,  and  rested 
from  it,  to  be  celebrated  by  man  for  the  contemplation  of  him, 
Gen.  ii.  2,  3,  that  we  should  follow  his  example,  and  rejoice  as 
himself  did,  in  the  frequent  reviews  of  his  wisdom  and  good- 
ness in  them.  In  vain  would  the  creatures  afford  matter  for 
this  study,  if  they  were  wholly  neglected. 

God  offers  something  to  our  consideration  in  every  creature. 
Shall  the  beams  of  God  shine  round  about  us,  and  strike  our 
eyes,  and  not  affect  our  minds?  Shall  we  be  like  ignorant  chil- 
dren, that  view  the  pictures,  or  point  to  the  letters  in  a  book 
without  any  sense  and  meaning?  How  shall  God  have  the 
homage  due  to  him  from  his  works,  if  man  has  no  care  to  ob- 
serve them?  The  14Sth  Psalm  is  an  exhortation  to  this.  The 
view  of  them  should  often  extract  from  us  a  wonder  of  the 
like  nature  of  that  of  David's,  "  0  Lord,  how  manifold  are  thy 
works!  in  wisdom  hast  thou  made  them  all,"  Psal.  civ.  24. 
The  world  was  not  created  to  be  forgotten,  nor  man  created  to 
be  unobservant  of  it. 

If  we  observe  not  the  wisdom  of  God  in  the  views  of  the 
creatures,  we  do  no  more  than  brutes.  To  look  upon  the  works 
of  God  in  the  world,  is  no  higher  an  act  than  mere  animals 
perform.  The  glories  of  heaven,  and  beauties  of  the  earth  are 
visible  to  the  sense  of  beasts  and  birds.  A  brute  beholds  the 
motion  of  a  man,  as  it  may  see  the  wheels  of  a  clock,  but  un- 
derstands not  the  inward  springs  of  motion;  the  end  for  which 


ON  TIIK  WISDOM  OP  GOD. 

we  move,  or  the  soul  that  actuates  us  iu  our  motion;  much  It 
that  invisible  power  which  presides  over  the  creatures,  and 
conducts  their  motion.  If  a  man  do  no  more  than  this,  he  goes 
not  a  step  beyond  a  brutish  nature,  and  may  very  well  acknow- 
ledge himself,  with  Asaph,  a  foolish  and  ignorant  beast  before 
God,  Psal.  Ixxiii.  82.  The  world  is  viewed  by  beasts,  but  the 
Author  of  it  is  to  be  contemplated  by  man.  Since  We  arc  in 
a  higher  rank  than  beasts,  we  owe  a  greater  debt  than  beasts; 
not  only  to  enjoy  the  creatures,  as  they  do,  but  behold  God  in 
the  creatures,  which  they  cannot  do. 

The  contemplation  of  the  reason  of  God  in  his  works  is  a 
noble  and  suitable  employment  for  a  rational  creature:  we  have 
not  only  sense  to  perceive  them,  hut  souls  to  mind  them.  The 
soul  is  not  to  be  without  its  operation:  where  the  operation  of 
sense  ends,  the  work  of  the  soul  ought  to  begin.  We  travel 
over  them  by  our  senses,  as  brutes;  but  we  must  pierce  further 
by  our  understandings,  as  men,  and  perceive  and  praise  him 
that  lies  invisible,  in  his  visible  manufactures.  Our  senses  are 
given  us  as  servants  to  the  soul,  and  our  souls  bestowed  upon 
us  for  the  knowledge  and  praise  of  their  and  our  common  Cre- 
ator. 

This  would  be  a  means  to  increase  our  humility.  We  should 
then  flag  our  wings,  and  veil  our  sails,  and  acknowledge  our 
own  wisdom  to  be  as  a  drop  to  the  ocean,  and  a  shadow  to  the 
sun.  We  should  have  mean  thoughts  of  the  nothingness  of 
our  reason,  when  we  consider  the  sublimity  of  the  Divine  wis- 
dom. Who  can  seriously  consider  the  sparks  of  infinite  skill 
in  the  creature,  without  Killing  down  at  the  feet  of  the  Divine 
Majesty,  and  acknowledging  himself  a  dark  and  foolish  crea- 
ture? When  the  Psalmist  considered  the  heavens,  the  moon 
and  stars,  and  God's  ordination  and  disposal  of  them,  the  use 
that  results  from  it  is,  "What  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of 
him?"  Psal.  viii.  3,  4.  We  should  no  more  think  to  match  him 
in  prudence,  or  set  up  the  spark  of  our  reason  to  vie  with  the 
sun.  Our  reason  would  more  willingly  submit  to  the  revela- 
tion, when  the  characters  of  Divine  wisdom  are  stamped  upon 
it,  when  we  find  his  wisdom  in  creation  incomprehensible  to  us. 

It  would  help  us  in  our  acknowledgments  of  God,  for  his 
goodness  to  us,  when  we  behold  the  wisdom  of  God  in  crea- 
tures below  us,  and  how  ignorant  they  are  of  what  they  pos- 
sess. It  will  cause  us  to  reflect  upon  the  deeper  impressions 
of  wisdom  in  the  frame  of  our  own  bodies  and  souls,  an  excel- 
lency far  superior  to  theirs;  this  would  make  us  admire  the 
magnificence  of  Ins  wisdom  and  goodness,  and  sound  forth  his 
praise  for  advancing  us  in  dignity  above  other  works  ol  his 
hands,  and  stamping  on  us,  by  infinite  art.  a  nobler  image  of 
himself. 


686  °N  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

And  by  such  a  comparison  of  ourselves  with  the  creatures 
below  us,  we  should  be  induced  to  act  excellently,  according 
to  the  nature  of  our  souls;  not  brutishly,  according  to  the  na- 
ture of  the  creatures  God  has  put  under  our  feet. 

By  the  contemplation  of  the  creatures,  we  may  receive  some 
assistance  in  clearing  our  knowledge  in  the  wisdom  of  redemp- 
tion. Though  they  cannot  of  themselves  inform  us  of  it;  yet 
since  God  has  revealed  his  redeeming  grace,  they  can  illustrate 
some  particulars  of  it  to  us.  Hence  the  Scripture  makes  use 
of  the  creatures  to  set  forth  things  of  a  higher  orb  to  us.  Our 
Saviour  is  called  a  Sun,  a  Vine,  and  a  Lion;  the  Spirit  likened 
to  a  dove,  fire,  and  water.  The  union  of  Christ  and  his  church, 
is  set  forth  by  the  marriage  union  of  Adam  and  Eve. 

God  has  placed  in  corporeal  things  the  images  of  spiritual, 
and  wrapped  up  in  his  creating  wisdom  the  representations  of 
his  redeeming  grace:  whence  some  call  the  creatures,  natural 
types  of  what  was  to  be  transacted  in  a  new  formation  of  the 
world,  and  allusions  to  what  God  intended  in  and  by  Christ. 

The  meditation  of  God's  wisdom  in  the  creatures,  is  in  part 
a  beginning  of  heaven  upon  earth.  No  doubt  but  there  will 
be  a  perfect  opening  of  the  model  of  Divine  wisdom.  Heaven 
is  for  clearing  what  is  now  obscuve,  and  a  full  discovering  of 
what  seems  at  present  intricate.  "  In  his  light  shall  we  see 
light,"  Psal.  xxxvi.  9;  all  the  light  in  creation,  government, 
and  redemption.  The  wisdom  of  God  in  the  new  heavens 
and  the  new  earth,  would  be  to  little  purpose,  if  that  also  were 
not  to  be  regarded  by  the  inhabitants  of  them.  As  the  saints 
are  to  be  restored  to  the  state  of  Adam,  and  higher;  so  they 
are  to  be  restored  to  the  employment  of  Adam,  and  higher. 
But  his  employment  was  to  behold  God  in  the  creatures.  The 
world  was  so  soon  depraved,  that  God  had  but  little  joy  in, 
and  man  but  little  knowledge  of,  his  works. 

And  since  the  wisdom  of  God  in  creation  is  so  little  seen  by 
our  ignorance  here,  would  not  God  lose  much  of  the  glory  of 
it,  if  the  glorified  souls  should  lose  the  understanding  of  it 
above?  When  their  darkness  shall  be  expelled,  and  their  ad- 
vantages improved;  when  the  eye  that  Adam  lost  shall  be  fully 
restored,  and  with  a  greater  clearness;  when  the  creature  shall 
be  restored  to  its  true  end,  and  reason  to  its  true  perfection, 
Rom.  viii.  21,  22;  when  the  fountains  of  the  depths  of  nature 
and  government  shall  be  opened,  knowledge  shall  increase, 
and  according  to  the  increase  of  our  knowledge  shall  the  admi- 
ration of  Divine  wisdom  increase  also. 

The  wisdom  of  God  in  creation  was  not  surely  intended  to 
lie  wholly  unobserved  in  the  greatest  part  of  it;  but  since  there 
was  so  little  time  for  the  full  observation  of  it,  there  will  he  a 
time  wherein  the  wisdom  of  God  shall  enjoy  a  resurrection, 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (jg7 

and  be  fully  contemplated  by  his  understanding  and  glorified 
creature. 

[2.]  Study  and  admire  the  wisdom  of  God  in  redemption. 
Tins  is  the  duty  of  all  Christians.  We  arc  not  called  to  under- 
stand the  meal  depths  of  philosophy;  we  are  not  called  to  a 
skill  in  the  intricacies  of  civil  government,  or  to  understand  all 
the  methods  of  physic:  bul  we  arc  called  to  be  Christians,  that 
is,  studiers  of  Divine  evangelical  wisdom.  There  are  first 
principles  to  be  learned;  but  not  those  principles  to  be  listed 
in,  without  a  further  progress.  "Therefore  leaving  the  prin- 
ciples oi  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  let  us  go  on  unto  perfection," 
Heb.  vi.  1.  Duties  must  be  practised,  but  knowledge  is  not  to 
be  neglected.  The  study  of  gospel  mysteries,  the  harmony  of 
Divine  truths,  the  sparkling  of  Divine  wisdom,  in  their  mutual 
combination  to  the  great  ends  of  God's  glory  and  man's  salva- 
tion, is  an  incentive  to  a  duty,  a  spur  to  worship,  and  parti- 
cularly to  the  greatest  and  highest  part  of  worship,  that  part 
which  shall  remain  in  heaven;  the  admiration  and  praise  of 
God,  and  delight  in  him.  If  we  acquaint  not  ourselves  with 
the  impressions  of  the  glory  of  Divine  wisdom  in  it,  we  shall 
not  much  regard  it  as  worthy  our  observance  in  regard  of  that 
duty. 

The  gospel  is  a  mystery;  and,  as  a  mystery,  has  something 
great  and  magnificent  in  it,  worthy  of  our  daily  inspection;  we 
shall  find  fresh  springs  of  new  wonders,  which  we  shall  be 
invited  to  adore  with  a  religious  astonishment.  It  will  both 
raise  and  satisfy  our  longings.  Who  can  fully  reach  the  depths 
of  God  manifested  in  the  flesh  ?  How  amazing  is  it,  and 
unworthy  of  a  slight  thought,  that  the  death  of  the  Son  of  God 
should  purchase  the  happy  immortality  of  a  sinful  creature, 
and  the  glory  of  a  rebel  be  wrought  by  the  ignominy  of  so  meat 
a  Person  !  that  our  Mediator  should  have  a  nature  whereby  to 
covenant  with  his  Father,  and  a  nature  whereby  to  be  a  Surety 
for  the  creature!  How  admirable  is  it,  that  the  fallen  creature 
should  receive  an  advantage  by  the  forfeiture  of  his  happiness! 
How  mysterious  is  it,  that  the  Son  of  God  should  bow  down 
to  death  upon  a  cross,  for  the  satisfaction  of  justice;  and  rise 
triumphantly  out  of  the  grave,  as  a  declaration,  that  justice  was 
contented  and  satisfied!  that  he  should  be  exalted  to  heaven,  to 
intercede  for  us;  and  at  last  return  into  the  world,  to  receive 
us,  and  invest  us  with  a  glory  for  ever  with  himself! 

Are  these  things  worthy  of  a  careless  regard,  or  of  a  blockish 
amazement?  What  understanding  can  pierce  into  the  depths 
of  the  Divine  doctrine  of  the  incarnation  and  birth  of  Christ, 
the  indissoluble  union  o(  the  two  natures?  What  capacity  is 
able  to  measure  the  miracles  of  that  wisdom,  found  in  the 
whole  draught  and  scheme  of  the  gospel?    Does  it  not  merit 


(J88  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

then  to  be  the  object  of  our  daily  meditation?  How  comes  it  to 
pass  then,  that  we  are  so  little  curious  to  concern  our  thoughts 
in  those  wonders,  that  we  scarce  taste  or  sip  of  these  delica- 
cies? that  we  busy  ourselves  in  trifles,  and  consider  what  we 
shall  eat,  and  in  what  fashion  we  shall  be  dressed;  please  our- 
selves with  the  ingeniousness  of  a  lace  or  feather;  admire  a 
moth-eaten  manuscript,  or  some  half-worn  piece  of  antiquity; 
and  think  our  time  ill  spent  in  the  contemplating  and  celebra- 
ting that  wherein  God  has  busied  himself,  and  eternity  is  de- 
signed for  the  perpetual  expressions  of? 

How  inquisitive  are  the  blessed  angels!  with  what  vigour 
do  they  renew  their  daily  contemplations  of  it,  and  receive  a 
fresh  contentment  from  it;  still  learning,  and  still  inquiring! 
1  Pet.  i.  12:  their  eye  is  never  off  the  mercy-seat;  they  strive  to 
see  the  bottom  of  it,  and  employ  all  the  understanding  they 
have  to  conceive  the  wonders  of  it.  Shall  the  angels  be  ravished 
with  it,  and  bend  themselves  down  to  study  it,  who  have  but 
little  interest  in  it  in  comparison  of  us,  for  whom  it  was  both 
contrived  and  dispensed?  and  shall  not  our  pains  be  greater  for 
this  hidden  treasure?  Is  not  that  worthy  the  study  of  a  rational 
creature,  that  is  worthy  the  study  of  the  angelical?  There 
must  indeed  be  pains;  it  is  expressed  by  digging,  Pro  v.  ii.  4. 
A  lazy  arm  will  not  sink  to  the  depth  of  a  mine.  The  neglect 
of  meditating  on  it  is  inexcusable,  since  it  has  the  title  and  cha- 
racter of  the  wisdom  of  God. 

The  ancient  prophets  searched  into  it,  when  it  was  folded  up 
in  shadows,  when  they  saw  only  the  fringes  of  wisdom's  gar- 
ment, 1  Pet.  i.  10;  and  shall  not  we,  since  the  sun  has  mounted 
up  in  our  horizon,  and  sensibly  scattered  the  light  of  the  know- 
ledge of  this  and  the  other  perfections  of  God  ?  As  the  Jewish 
Sabbath  was  appointed  to  celebrate  the  perfections  of  God,  dis- 
covered in  creation;  so  is  the  Christian  Sabbath  appointed  to 
meditate  on  and  bless  God  for  the  discovery  of  his  perfections 
in  redemption.  Let  us  therefore  receive  it  according  to  its 
worth ;  let  it  be  our  only  rule  to  walk  by.  It  is  worthy  to  be 
valued  above  all  other  counsels;  and  we  should  never  think  of 
it  without  the  doxology  of  the  apostle,  "  To  God  only  wise,  be 
glory  through  Jesus  Christ  for  ever;"  that  our  speculations 
may  end  in  affectionate  admiration  and  thanksgivings,  for  that 
which  is  so  full  of  wonders.  What  a  little  prospect  should  we 
have  had  of  God,  and  the  happiness  of  man,  had  not  his  wis- 
dom and  goodness  revealed  things  to  us!  The  gospel  is  a 
marvellous  light,  and  should  not  be  regarded  with  a  stupid 
ignorance,  and  pursued  with  a  duller  practice. 

[3.]  Let  none  of  us  be  proud  of  or  trust  in  our  own  wis- 
dom. Man  by  affecting  wisdom  out  of  the  way  of  God,  got  a 
crack  in  his  head,  which  has  continued  five  thousand  years  and 


ON  THE  WISDOM  ol    GOD.  (J89 

upwards;  and  ever  since,  our  own  wisdom  and  knowledge  has 
perverted  us,  Isa.  xlvii.  10.  To  be  guided  by  tins,  is  to  be 
under  the  conduct  of  a  blind  Leader,  and  follow  a  traitor  and 
enemy  to  God  and  ourselves.  Man's  prudence  often  proves 
hurtful  to  him;  he  often  accomplishes  his  ruin  while  he  designs 
his  establishment,  and  finds  Ins  fall  where  he  thought  to  settle 
his  fortune  :  such  had  eyes  has  human  wisdom  often  in  its  own 
affairs.  Those  that  have  been  heightened  with  a  conceit  of 
their  own  cunning,  have  at  last  proved  the  greatest  fools.  God 
delights  to  make  foolish  the  wisdom  of  this  world,  1  Cor.  i.  20. 

Thus  God  wrote  folly  upon  the  crafty  brains  of  Ahithophel, 
and  simplicity  upon  the  subtle  projects  of  Herod  against  our 
Saviour;  and  the  devil,  the  prince  of  carnal  wisdom,  was  be- 
fooled into  a  furthering  our  redemption  by  his  own  projects  to 
hinder  it.  Carnal  policy,  against  the  prescripts  of  Divine  wis- 
dom, never  prospers:  ft  is  like  an  "ignis  fatuus,"  which  leads 
men  out  of  the  way  of  duty,  and  out  of  the  way  of  security, 
and  perverts  them  into  the  mire,  and  dangerous  precipices. 

When  Jeroboam  would  coin  a  religion  to  serve  his  interest 
of  state,  he  tore  up  the  foundations  both  of  his  kingdom  and 
family.  The  way  the  Jews  took  to  prevent  a  fresh  invasion  of 
the  Romans,  by  the  crucifying  Christ,  brought  the  judgment 
more  swift  upon  them,  John  xi.  48.  There  is  no  man  ruined 
here,  or  damned  hereafter,  but  by  his  own  wisdom  and  will. 
The  fear  of  the  Lord  and  departure  from  evil,  are  inconsistent 
with  an  overweening  conceit  of  our  own  wisdom;  and  leaning 
to  our  own  understanding,  is  inconsistent  with  a  trusting  in  the 
Lord  with  all  our  hearts,  Prov.  iii.  5.  7.  It  is  as  much  a  deify- 
ing ourselves  to  trust  to  pur  own  wit,  as  it  is  a  deifying  the 
creature,  to  affect  or  confide  in  it,  superior  to  God,  or  equally 
with  him. 

The  true  way  to  wisdom  is  to  be  sensible  of  our  own  folly. 
If  any  man  be  wise,  let  him  become  a  fool,  1  Cor.  iii.  18.  He 
that  distrusts  his  own  guidance,  will  more  securely  and  success- 
fully follow  the  counsel  of  another  in  whom  he  confides.  The 
more  water  or  any  other  liquor  is  poured  out  of  a  vessel  the 
more  air  enters.  The  more  we  distrust  our  own  wisdom,  the 
more  capable  we  are  of  the  conduct  of  God. 

Had  Jehoshaphat  relied  upon  his  own  policy,  he  might  have 
found  a  defeat  when  he  met  with  a  deliverance;  but  he  dis- 
owned his  own  skill  and  strength  in  telling  God,  We  know  not 
what  to  do,  but  our  eyes  are  towards  thee,  2  Chron.  XX.  12. 
Let  us  therefore  disesteem  our  own  understandings  to  esteem 
Divine.  Human  prudence  is  like  a  spider's  web,  easily  blown 
away,  and  swept  down  by  the  besom  of  some  unexpected  re- 
volution. God  by  his  infinite  wisdom  can  cross  the  wisdom  of 
man,  and  make  a  man's  own  prudence  hang  in  his  own  light. 
Vol.  I.— 87 


(390  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

"  The  understanding  of  their  prudent  men  shall  be  hid,"  Isa. 
xxix.  14. 

[4.]  Seek  to  God  for  wisdom.  The  wisdom  we  have  by 
nature  is  like  the  weeds  the  earth  brings  forth  without  tillage. 
Our  wisdom  since  the  fall  is  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent,  with- 
out the  innocence  of  the  dove:  it  flows  from  self-love,  runs  into 
self-interest.  It  is  the  wisdom  of  the  flesh,  and  a  prudence  to 
manage  means  for  the  contenting  our  lusts.  Our  best  wisdom 
is  imperfect,  a  mere  nothing  and  vanity,  in  comparison  of  the 
Divine,  as  our  beings  are  in  comparison  of  his  essence.  We 
must  go  to  God  for  a  holy  and  innocent  wisdom,  and  fill  our 
cisterns  from  a  pure  fountain.  The  wisdom  that  was  the  glory 
of  Solomon,  was  the  donation  of  the  Most  High.  "  If  any  of 
you  lack  wisdom,  let  him  ask  of  God,  that  giveth  to  all  men 
liberally,  and  upbraideth  not;  and  it  shall  be  given  him,"  James 
i.  5.  The  faculty  of  understanding  is  from  God  by  nature;  but 
a  heavenly  light  to  direct  the  understanding  is  from  God  by 
grace.  Children  have  an  understanding,  but  stand  in  need  of 
wise  masters  to  rectify  it,  and  form  judicious  notions  by  it. 

"  There  is  a  spirit  in  man,  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Almighty 
giveth  him  understanding,"  Job  xxxii.  S.  We  must  beg  of  God 
wisdom.  The  gospel  is  the  wisdom  of  God;  the  concerns  of 
it  great  and  mysterious,  not  to  be  known  without  a  new  un- 
derstanding, 1  John  v.  20.  A  new  understanding  is  not  to 
be  had  but  from  the  Creator  of  the  first.  The  Spirit  of  God  is 
the  searcher  of  the  deep  things  of  God;  the  revealer  of  them 
to  us,  and  the  enlightener  of  our  minds  to  apprehend  them; 
and  therefore  called  a  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation,  Eph.  i.  17. 
Christ  is  made  wisdom  to  us  as  well  as  righteousness;  not  only 
by  imputation,  but  effusion.1  Seek  to  God  therefore  for  that 
wisdom  which  is  like  the  sun,  and  not  that  worldly  wisdom 
which  is  like  a  shadow.  For  that  wisdom  whose  effects  are 
not  so  outwardly  glorious,  but  inwardly  sweet,  seek  it  from 
him,  and  seek  it  in  his  word,  that  is  the  transcript  of  Divine 
wisdom;  through  his  precepts  understanding  is  to  be  had,  Psal. 
cxix.  104.  As  the  wisdom  of  men  appears  in  their  laws,  so 
does  the  wisdom  of  God  in  his  statutes. 

By  this  means  we  arrive  to  a  heavenly  sagacity.  If  these 
be  rejected,  what  wisdom  can  be  in  us?  A  dream  and  conceit 
only.  "  They  have  rejected  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and  what 
wisdom  is  in  them?"  Jer.  viii.  9.  Who  knows  how  to  order 
any  concerns  as  he  ought,  or  any  one  faculty  of  his  soul? 
Therefore  desire  God's  direction  in  outward  concerns,  in  per- 
sonal, and  family,  in  private,  and  public:  he  has  not  only  a 
wisdom  for  our  salvation,  but  for  our  outward  direction.  He 
does  not  merely  guide  us  in  the  one,  and  then  leave  Satan  to 

1  Seaman's  Sermon  before  the  parliament. 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (;o) 

manage  na  in  the  other.  Those  that  go  with  Saul  to  a  witch 
of  En  dor,  go  to  hell  for  craft,  and  prefer  the  wisdom  of  i  h«- 
hostile  serpent,  before  the  holy  counsel  of  a  faithful  Creator. 
If  you  want  health  in  your  bod 7,  you  advise  with  B  physician; 
if  directions  for  your  estate,  you  resort  to  a  lawyer;  if  passage 
for  a  voyage,  you  address  to  a  pilot;  why  not  much  more  your- 
selves, your  all,  to  a  wise  God.  As  Pliny  said  concerning  a  wise 
niin.  Oh,  sir,  how  many  Catos  are  there  in  that  wise  person! 
how  much  mure  wisdom  than  men  or  angels  possess,  is  infi- 
nitely centred  in  the  wise  Cod! 

[5.]  Submit  to  the  wisdom  of  God  in  all  cases.  What  else 
was  inculcated  in  the  first  precept  forbidding  man  to  eat  of  the 
fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  but  that  he 
should  take  heed  of  the  swelling  of  his  mind  against  the  wis- 
dom of  God?  It  is  a  wisdom  incomprehensible  to  flesh  and 
blood.  We  should  adore  it  in  our  minds,  and  resign  up  our- 
selves to  it  in  our  practice.  How  unreasonable  are  repinings 
against  God,  whereby  a  creature's  ignorance  indicts  and  judges 
a  Creator's  prudence!  Were  God  weak  in  wisdom,  and  oidy 
mighty  in  power,  we  might  suspect  his  conduct.  Power  with- 
out wisdom  and  goodness  is  an  unruly  and  ruinous  thing  in  the 
world.  But  God  being  infinite  in  one  as  well  as  the  other,  we 
have  no  reason  to  be  jealous  of  him,  and  repine  against  his 
methods:  why  should  we  quarrel  with  him  that  we  are  not  as 
high  or  as  wealthy  as  others;  that  we  have  not  presently  the 
mercy  we  want?  If  he  be  wise,  we  ought  to  stay  his  time,  and 
wait  his  leisure^  because  he  is  a  God  of  judgment,  Isa.  xxx.  is. 
Presume  not  to  shorten  the  time  which  his  discretion  has  fixed, 
it  is  a  folly  to  think  to  do  it.  By  impatience  we  cannot  hasten 
relief;  we  alienate  him  from  us  by  debasing  him  to  stand  at 
our  bar,  disturb  ourselves,  lose  the  comfort  of  our  lives  and  the 
sweetness  of  his  mercy.  Submission  to  God  we  are  in  no  case 
exempted  from,  because  there  is  no  case  wherein  God  does  not 
direct  all  the  acts  of  his  will  by  counsel.  Whatsoever  is  drawn 
by  a  straight  rule  must  be  right  and  straight;  the  rule  that  is 
right  in  itself,  is  the  measure  of  the  straightuess  of  every  thing 
else:  whatsoever  is  wrought  in  the  world  by  God,  must  he 
wise,  good,  righteous;  because  God  is  essentially  wisdom,  good- 
ness, and  righteousness. 

Submit  to  God — in  his  revelations. 

.Measure  them  not  by  reason:  the  truths  of  the  gospel  must 
be  received  with  a  self-emptiness  and  annihilation  of  the  crea- 
ture. If  our  reason  seems  to  lift  up  itself  against  revelation, 
because  it  finds  no  testimony  for  it  in  its  own  light;  consider 
how  crazy  it  is  in  natural  and  obvious  things,  and  therefore 
sure  it  is  not  strong  enough  to  enter  into  the  depths  of  Divine 
wisdom.     The  wisdom  of  God  in  the  gospel  is  too  great   an 


692  0N  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

ocean  to  bo  contained  or  laded  out  by  a  cockle-shell.  It  were 
not  infinite,  if  it  were  not  beyond  our  finite  reach;  our  reason 
must  as  well  stoop  to  his  wisdom,  as  our  wills  to  his  sovereign- 
ty. How  great  a  vanity  is  it  for  a  glow-worm  to  boast  that  it 
is  as  full  of  light  as  the  sun  in  the  firmament!  For  reason  to 
leave  its  proper  sphere,  is  to  fall  into  confusion,  and  thicken  its 
own  darkness.  We  should  settle  ourselves  in  the  belief  of  the 
Scripture,  and  confirm  ourselves  by  a  meditation  on  those  many 
undeniable  arguments  for  its  Divine  authority;  the  fulfilling  of 
its  predictions,  the  antiquity  of  the  writing,  the  holiness  of  the 
precepts,  the  heavenliness  of  the  doctrine,  the  glorious  effects 
it  has  produced,  and  does  yet  produce,  different  from  human 
methods  of  success,  and  submit  our  reason  to  the  voice  of  so 
high  a  Majesty. 

Do  not  be  too  curiously  inquisitive  into  what  is  not  revealed. 
There  is  something  hid  in  whatsoever  is  revealed.  We  know 
the  Son  of  God  was  begotten  from  eternity,  but  how  he  was 
begotten  we  are  ignorant.  WTe  know  there  is  a  union  of  the 
Divine  nature  with  the  human,  and  that  the  fulness  of  the  God- 
head dwells  in  him  bodily;  but  the  manner  of  its  inhabitation 
we  are  in  a  great  part  ignorant  of.  We  know  God  has  chosen 
some  and  refused  others,  and  that  he  did  it  with  counsel;  but 
the  reason  why  he  chose  this  man,  and  not  that,  we  know  not; 
we  can  refer  it  to  nothing  but  God's  sovereign  pleasure.  It  is 
revealed  that  there  will  be  a  day  wherein  God  shall  judge  the 
world;  but  the  particular  time  is  not  revealed.  We  know  that 
God  created  the  world  in  time;  but  why  he  did  not  create  the 
world  millions  of  years  before,  we  are  ignorant  of,  and  our 
reasons  would  be  bewildered  in  their  too  much  curiosity.  If 
we  ask  why  he  did  not  create  it  before,  we  may  as  well  ask 
why  he  did  create  it  then?  And  may  not  the  same  question  be 
asked,  if  the  world  had  been  created  millions  of  years  before 
it  was?  That  he  created  it  in  six  days,  and  not  in  an  instant, 
is  revealed;  but  why  he  did  not  do  it  in  a  moment,  since  we 
are  sure  he  was  able  to  do  it  is  not  revealed.  Are  the  reasons 
of  a  wise  man's  proceedings  hid  from  us,  and  shall  we  pre- 
sume to  dive  into  the  reason  of  the  proceedings  of  an  only  wise 
God,  which  he  has  judged  not  expedient  to  discover  to  us? 
Some  sparks  of  his  wisdom  he  has  caused  to  issue  out,  to  ex- 
ercise and  delight  our  minds;  others  he  keeps  within  the  centre 
of  his  own  breast:  we  must  not  go  about  to  unlock  his  cabinet. 
As  we  cannot  reach  to  the  utmost  lines  of  his  power,  so  we 
cannot  grasp  the  intimate  reasons  of  his  wisdom.  We  must 
still  remember,  that  which  is  finite  can  never  be  able  to  com- 
prehend the  reasons,  motives,  and  methods  of  that  which  is 
infinite.  It  does  not  become  us  to  be  restive,  because  God  has 
not  admitted  us  into  the  debates  of  eternity.      We  are  as  little 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  Cm |.  (H>;; 

to  be  curious  at  what  God  has  hid,  as  to  be  careless  of  what 
God  has  manifested.  Too  great  an  inquisitiveness  beyond  our 
line  is  as  much  a  provoking  arrogance,  as  a  blockish  negligence 
of  what  is  revealed  is  a  slighting  ingratitude. 

Submit  to  God — in  liis  precepts  and  methods.  Since  they 
are  the  results  of  infinite  wisdom,  disputes  againsl  them  are  not 
tolerable:  what  orders  an;  given  out  by  infallible  wisdom  are 
to  be  entertained trith respect  and  reverence, though  the  reason 
of  them  be  not  visible  to  our  purblind  minds.  Shall  God  have 
less  respect  from  us  than  earthly  princes,  whose  laws  we  ob- 
serve without  being  able  to  pierce  into  the  exact  reason  of  them 
all?  Since  we  know  he  has  not  a  will  without  an  understand- 
ing, our  observance  of  him  must  be  without  repining;  we  must 
not  think  to  mend  our  Creator's  laws,  and  presume  to  judge 
and  condemn  his  righteous  statutes.  If  the  flesh  rise  up  in 
opposition,  we  must  cross  its  motions,  and  silence  its  murmur- 
ings;  his  will  should  be  an  acceptable  will  to  us,  because  it  is  a 
wise  will  in  itself.  God  has  no  need  to  impose  upon  us  and 
deceive  us;  he  has  just  and  righteous  ways  to  attain  his  glory 
and  his  creatures'  good.  To  deceive  us,  would  be  to  dishonour 
himself  and  contradict  his  own  nature.  He  cannot  impose 
false,  injurious  precepts,  or  unavailable  to  his  subjects'  happi- 
ness: not  false,  because  of  his  truth  ;  not  injurious,  because  of 
his  goodness:  not  vain,  because  of  his  wisdom.  Submit  there- 
fore to  him  in  his  precepts,  and  in  his  methods  too.  The  ho- 
nour of  his  wisdom  and  the  interest  of  our  happiness  call  for  it. 
Had  Noah  disputed  with  God  about  building  an  ark,  and  lis- 
tened to  the  scoffs  of  the  senseless  world,  he  had  perished  under 
the  same  fate,  and  lost  the  honour  of  a  preacher  and  worker  of 
righteousness.  Had  not  the  Israelites  been  their  own  enemies, 
if  they  had  been  permitted  to  be  their  own  guides,  and  return 
to  the  Egyptian  bondage  and  furnaces,  instead  of  a  liberty  and 
earthly  felicity  in  Canaan  ?  Had  our  Saviour  gratified  the  Jews 
by  descending  from  the  cross  and  freeing  himself  from  the 
power  of  his  adversaries,  he  might  have  had  that  faith  from 
them  which  they  promised  him,  but  it  had  been  a  faith  to  no 
purpose,  because  without  ground;  they  might  have  believed 
him  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  but  he  could  not  have  been  the 
Saviour  of  the  world:  his  death,  the  great  ground  and  object 
of  faith,  had  been  unaccomplished,  they  had  believed  a  God 
pardoning  without  offering  content  to  Ins  justice,  and  such  a 
faith  could  not  have  rescued  them  from  falling  into  eternal 
misery.  The  precepts  and  methods  of  Divine  wisdom  must  be 
submitted  to. 

Submit  to  God — in  all  crosses  and  revolutions.  Infinite  wis- 
dom cannot  err  in  any  of  his  paths,  or  step  the  least  hair's 
breadth  from  the  way  of  righteousness:  there    is   the  under- 


(594  0N  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

standing  of  God  in  every  motion  ;  an  eye  in  every  wheel,  even 
the  wheel  that  goes  over  us  and  crushes  us.  We  are  led  by 
fancy  more  than  reason:  we  know  no  more  what  we  ask  or 
what  is  fit  for  us,  than  the  mother  of  Zebedee's  children  did, 
when  she  petitioned  Christ  for  her  sons'  advancement  when  he 
came  into  his  temporal  kingdom,  Matt.  xx.  22.  The  things  we 
desire  might  pleasure  our  fancy  or  appetite,  but  impair  our 
health.  One  man  complains  for  want  of  children,  but  knows 
not  whether  they  may  prove  comforts  or  crosses;  another  for 
want  of  health,  but  knows  not  whether  the  health  of  his  body 
may  not  prove  the  disease  of  his  soul.  We  might  lose  in 
heavenly  things,  if  we  possess  in  earthly  things  what  we  long 
for.  God  in  regard  of  his  infinite  wisdom  is  fitter  to  carve  out 
a  condition  than  we  ourselves:  our  shallow  reason  and  self- 
love  would  wish  for  those  things  that  are  injurious  to  God,  to 
ourselves,  to  the  world;  but  God  always  chooses  what  is  best 
for  his  glory,  and  what  is  best  for  his  creatures,  either  in  regard 
of  themselves,  or  as  they  stand  in  relation  to  him,  or  to  others, 
as  parts  of  the  world. 

We  are  in  danger  from  our  self-love;  in  no  danger  in  com- 
plying with  God's  wisdom;  when  Rachel  would  die  if  she  had 
no  children,  she  had  children,  but  death  with  one  of  them, 
Gen.  xxx.  1.  Good  men  may  conclude,  that  whatsoever  is 
done  by  God  in  them  or  with  them,  is  best  and  fittest  for  them; 
because  by  the  covenant  which  makes  over  God  to  them,  as 
their  God,  the  conduct,  of  his  wisdom  is  assured  to  them  as  well 
as  any  other  attribute;  and  therefore,  as  God  in  every  transac- 
tion appears  as  their  God,  so  he  appears  as  their  wise  Director; 
and  by  this  wisdom  he  extracts  good  out  of  evil,  makes  the 
affliction  which  destroys  our  outward  comforts,  consume  our 
inward  defilements,  and  the  waves  which  threatened  to  swallow 
up  the  vessel,  to  cast  it  upon  the  shore.  And  when  he  has 
occasion  to  manifest  his  anger  against  his  people,  his  wisdom 
directs  his  wrath.  In  judgment  he  has  a  work  to  do  upon 
Zion,  and  when  that  work  is  done,  he  punishes  the  fruit  of  the 
stout  heart  of  the  king  of  Assyria,  Isa.  x.  12.  As  in  the  answers 
of  prayer  he  does  give  oftentimes  above  what  we  ask,  or  think, 
Eph.  iii.  20;  so  in  outward  concerns  he  does  above  what  we 
can  expect,  or  by  our  short-sightedness  conclude  will  be  done. 
Let  us  therefore  in  all  things  frame  our  minds  to  the  Divine 
wisdom,  and  say  with  the  psalmist,  "  The  Lord  shall  choose 
our  inheritance  and  condition  for  us,"  Psal.  xlvii.  4. 

[6.]  Censure  not  God  in  any  of  his  ways.  Can  we  under- 
stand the  full  scope  of  Divine  wisdom  in  creation,  which  is 
perfected  before  our  eyes?  Can  we  by  a  rational  knowledge 
walk  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  earth,  and  wade  through 
the  sea  ?     Can  we  understand  the  nature  of  the  heavens  ?    Are 


ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD.  (,(),-, 

all,  or  most,  or  the  thousandth  part  of  the  particles  of  Divine 
skill  known  hy  us,  yea,  or  any  of  them  thoroughly  known  ? 
How  can  we  then  understand  his  deeper  methods  in  things 
that  are  hut  of  yesterday,  thai  we  have  not  had  a  time  to  view? 
We  should  not  be  too  quick  or  too  rash  in  our  judgments  of 
him:  the  best  that  we  attain  to,  is  hut  feeble  conjectures  at  the 
designs  of  God. 

As  there  is  something  hid  in  whatsoever  is  revealed  in  his 
word,  so  there  is  something  inaccessible  to  us  in  his  works,  as 
well  as  in  his  nature  and  majesty.  In  our  Saviour's  act  in 
washing  his  disciples'  feet,  he  checked  Peter's  contradiction, 
"What  I  do  thou  knowest  not  now;  hut  thou  shalt  know  here- 
after," John  xiii.  7.  God  were  not  infinitely  wise  if  the  reason 
of  all  his  acts  were  obvious  to  our  shallowness.  lie  is  no  pro- 
found statesman,  whose  inward  intention  can  he  sounded  by 
vulgar  heads  at  the  fust  act  he  starts  in  his  designed  method. 
The  wise  God  is  in  this  like  wise  men,  that  have  not  breasts 
like  glasses  of  crystal,  to  discover  all  that  they  intend.  There 
are  secrets  of  wisdom  above  our  reach,  Job  xi.  6;  nay,  when 
we  see  all  his  acts,  we  cannot  see  all  the  draughts  of  his  skill 
in  them.  An  unskilful  hearer  of  a  musical  lesson  may  receive 
the  melody  with  his  ear,  and  understand  not  the  rarities  of  the 
composition  as  it  was  wrought  by  the  musician's  mind.  Under 
the  Old  Testament  there  was  more  of  Divine  power,  and  less 
of  his  wisdom  apparent  in  his  acts.  As  his  laws,  so  his  acts 
were  more  fitted  to  their  sense.  Under  the  New  Testament 
there  is  more  of  wisdom  and  less  of  power;  as  his  laws,  so  his 
acts  are  more  fitted  to  a  spiritual  mind;  now  wisdom  is  less 
discernible  than  power.  Our  wisdom  therefore  in  this  case,  as 
it  does  in  other  things,  consists  in  silence  and  expectation  of  the 
end  and  event  of  a  work.  We  owe  that  honour  to  God  that 
we  do  to  men  wiser  than  ourselves,  to  imagine  he  has  reason 
to  do  what  he  does,  though  our  shallowness  cannot  compre- 
hend it.  We  must  suffer  God  to  be  wiser  than  ourselves,  and 
acknowledge  that  there  is  something  sovereign  in  his  ways  not 
to  be  measured  by  the  feeble  reed  of  our  weak  understandings. 
And  therefore  we  should  acquiesce  in  his  proceedings;  take 
heed  we  be  not  found  slanderers  of  God,  but  be  adorers  in- 
stead of  censurers;  and  lift  up  your  hands  in  admiration  of 
him  and  his  ways,  instead  of  citing  him  to  answer  it  at  our  bar. 
Many  things  in  the  first  appearance  may  seem  to  be  rash  and 
unjust,  which  in  the  issue  appear  comely  and  regular.  If  it 
had  been  plainly  spoken  before  that  the  Son  of  God  should  die, 
that  a  most  holy  Person  should  be  crucified;  it  would  have 
seemed  cruel  to  expose  a  Son  to  misery;  unjust  to  inflict  pun- 
ishment upon  one  that  was  no  criminal;  to  join  together 
exact  goodness  and  physical  evil;  that  the   Sovereign  should 


(596  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

die  for  the  malefactor,  and  the  observer  of  the  law  for  the 
violators  of  it.  But  when  the  whole  design  is  unravelled, 
what  an-admirable  conjunction  is  there  of  justice  and  mercy, 
love  and  wisdom,  which  before  would  have  appeared  absurd 
to  the  muddy  reason  of  man. 

We  see  the  gardener  pulling  up  some  delightful  flowers  by 
the  roots,  digging  up  the  earth,  overwhelming  it  with  dung; 
an  ignorant  person  would  imagine  him  wild,  out  of  his  wits, 
and  charge  him.  with  spoiling  his  garden.  But  when  the  spring 
is  arrived,  the  spectator  will  acknowledge  his  skill  in  his  for- 
mer operations. 

The  truth  is,  the  whole  design  and  methods  of  God  are  not 
to  be  judged  by  us  in  this  world;  the  full  declaration  of  the 
whole  contexture  is  reserved  for  the  other  world,  to  make  up  a 
part  of  good  men's  happiness  in  the  amazing  views  of  Divine 
wisdom,  as  well  as  the  other  perfections  of  his  nature.  We  can 
no  more  perfectly  understand  his  wisdom,  than  we  can  his 
mercy  and  justice,  till  we  see  the  last  lines  of  all  drawn,  and 
th<3  full  expressions  of  them;  we  should  therefore  be  sober  and 
modest  in  the  consideration  of  God's  ways;  his  judgments  are 
unsearchable,  and  his  ways  past  finding  out.  The  riches  of  his 
wisdom  are  past  our  counting,  his  depths  not  to  be  fathomed; 
yet  they  are  depths  of  righteousness  and  equity,  though  the 
full  manifestation  of  that  equity,  the  grounds  and  methods  of 
his  proceedings,  are  unknown  to  us.  As  we  are  too  short  fully 
to  know  God,  so  we  are  too  ignorant  fully  to  comprehend  the 
acts  of  God:  since  he  is  a  God  of  judgment,  we  should  wait 
till  we  see  the  issue  of  his  works,  Isa.  xxx.  18;  and  in  the 
mean  time,  with  the  apostle  in  the  text,  give  him  the  glory  of 
all,  in  the  same  expressions;  "To  God  only  wise,  be  glory, 
through  Jesus  Christ  for  ever.     Amen." 


END  OF  VOLUME  I. 


